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Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
1. Recognize the global contributions of women to the visual arts from the Renaissance to the
present.
2. Locate and explain the cultural context as well as the chronological and geographical
framework of works featuring women as producers, patrons, subjects, and/or audience.
3. Apply feminist and revisionist critiques to traditional art historical methodologies.
4. Understand the intersection of sex, gender, race, socio-economic, national, and political
identities in the visual arts.
5. Critique the social perceptions and obstacles relevant to women and the visual arts.
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I. Introduction: Women and Art History - Traditional vs. Feminist and Revisionist Art Historical
Methodologies
II. 11th-15th Centuries
A. Europe in the Middle Ages - Historical background regarding the role of women in art in
the Middle Ages
B. Global attitudes towards women in art during the Middle Ages
III. 15th, 16th, and 17th Century
A. The Renaissance in Italy and Northern Europe
1. Guild exclusion of women and other obstacles for women and art
2. Portraits of women as indication of status and the feminine ideal
3. First famous women artists
4. Role of royal women as patrons
B. Global attitudes towards women in art during the 15th-17th centuries
IV. 18th Century
A. France and England
1. Enlightenment philosophy and changing attitudes toward women
2. The Royal Academies and their restrictions against women
B. Global attitudes towards women in art in the 18th century
V. 19th Century
A. Victorian England
1. Attitudes toward female sexuality.
2. The emancipation of women and the impact on women in art
3. The role of decorative vs. "fine" arts
B. America and France:
1. Social reform and women's rights led to educational reform and greater opportunities for
women in the arts
2. Women and the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movements
C. Colonialism, race, sex, gender, and art
VI. Early 20th Century Modernism - Role of women in major, global art movements such as:
A. Expressionism
B. Cubism
C. Abstraction
D. Dadaism
E. Surrealism
VII. Post WWII Modernism
A. The Americas and Great Britain
1. 1930s New Deal programs and public funding of women artists in the U.S.
2. Mid-1950s to mid-1960s: recognition of women artists signals a new level of acceptance
3. 1970s: women artists band together to protest exclusion from male-dominated
exhibitions and institutions
B. The development of feminism as an international movement and its impact on global art
VIII. Post-Modernism: 1980s and 1990s
A. Backlash against women in the U.S., Britain, and Europe under conservative political
administrations
B. Renewed women's social activism gains global momentum
IX. International Post-Modernism in the 1990s: The Globalization of Culture
A. Dramatic increase in the world-wide participation of women in the visual arts - Exposure
and recognition of Western and non-W Western female artists
B. Artistic migration and cross-cultural collaboration among women artists
C. Post-colonialism: the hybridization of Western culture with non-Western traditions
D. International feminism
E. Contribution of women artists to international visual culture
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1. Write a research paper, museum/gallery response paper, and/or a formal analysis essay that
analyzes the forms, content, and context of selected works of art (minimum of 2-3 pages/paper)
2. Identify works of art using written and/or verbal observations
3. Take two to four examinations that consist of slide identifications, slide comparisons,
vocabulary recognition, and multiple-choice questions
4. Reading (10 to 20) pages per week
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Women, Art and Society. 5th ed. Chadwick, Whitney. Thames and Hudson. 2012 (classic)
A World of Our Own: Women as Artists Since the Renaissance. Borzello, Frances. Watson-Guptill. 2000 (classic)
Women Artists in History. 4th ed. Slatkin, Wendy. Pearson. 2000 (classic)