Beyond Limits: Transgression, Controversy, and Censorship in Modern Art

This course will examine some of the public controversies that surrounded the development of modern art over the last 150 years to probe the question of the social and political functions of transgressive art. After reviewing key theories of the avant-garde, we analyze both the persona of the modern artist (e.g., Van Gogh, Picasso, Pollock) and the place of women artists in the revolutions of modernism (e.g., Cassatt, Hoch, Kahlo). A key issue to address is how modernism tests limits by asking what is (and is not) art (e.g., Duchamp, Brancusi). Some of the most controversial exhibitions in this time frame, from the Salon des Refuses in 1863 to Mirroring Evil in 2002, highlight the challenges raised by modern artists' treatment of the body. Controversies over public funding of contemporary art, debates waged over public art in St. Louis, and the recent episodes of iconoclasm with respect to Confederate monuments and memorials will close the course. Prerequisites: L01 215 and any 300-level course in Art History or permission of instructor.
Course Attributes: FA AH; EN H; BU Hum; AS HUM; GF AH; FA HUM; AR HUM; FA CPSC

Beyond Limits: Transgression, Controversy, and Censorship in Modern Art

ART HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY 4914

Section 01