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ARTHIST 1BLecture: 01Units: 5Class#: 3109
Autumn 2024

How to Look at Art and Why: An Introduction to the History of Western Painting

Department of Art & Art History

9/23/24 - 12/6/24
Instructor: Information Not Available

Enrollment Status

  • Open Seats: 100
  • Enrolled: 100
  • Capacity: 200
  •  
  • Waitlist: 0
  • Waitlist Max: 100

Course Description

This course explores the relation of art to life - how and why works of art, even from hundreds of years ago, matter in a person's life. It trains students to find the words to share their thoughts about art with their peers, friends, and family. Some fundamental questions the course considers: How do we get beyond the idea that the study and making of art are elite, 'privileged' activities apart from the real world? How do we develop a sense of discernment - of deciding for ourselves which artists matter, and which don't - without being a snob? How can works of art teach us to feel the wonder of being alive and our deep debt to the past, to the dead? Focusing on painters such as Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Goya, Manet, Morisot, and Charlotte Salomon, this course will pursue these questions with the aim of challenging and encouraging students to develop their own ways of thinking and feeling - generously and ethically - about the past and the present. Sections will focus on original works of art at the Cantor Arts Center. No prerequisites required.

Additional Information

Important: prerequisite and other requisite information may also be located in the course description.

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Find textbook and materials for this class at the Stanford Bookstore. Please note textbooks and materials for past terms and for some future terms may not be available.