Courses for Fall 2025 | Penn History of Art

	Title	Instructor	Time	Description	Cross Listings	Fulfills
ARTH 0221-401	Material World in Archaeological Science	Marie-Claude Boileau Deborah I Olszewski Vanessa Workman	TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM	By focusing on the scientific analysis of inorganic archaeological materials, this course will explore processes of creation in the past. Class will take place in the Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials (CAAM) and will be team taught in three modules: analysis of lithics, analysis of ceramics and analysis of metals. Each module will combine laboratory and classroom exercises to give students hands-on experience with archaeological materials. We will examine how the transformation of materials into objects provides key information about past human behaviors and the socio-economic contexts of production, distribution, exchange and use. Discussion topics will include invention and adoption of new technologies, change and innovation, use of fire, and craft specialization.	ANTH2221401, ANTH5221401, CLST3302401, MELC2960401, MELC6920401
ARTH 1010-001	World Art before 1400	Ann L Kuttner	MW 12:00 PM-12:59 PM	This course serves as a double introduction to art history. First, it surveys the visual arts in a global context from prehistory to the dawn of the modern era. Focusing on multiple premodern cultures and traditions, the course examines a wide variety of art forms, from public monuments and architecture to paintings, textiles, and illustrated books. We will consider this rich material in its historical context and ask how art was made, used, seen, and valued by people in the past. Special emphasis will be placed on cross-cultural connections, interactions, and analogies. Second, the course will introduce you to the practice of art history. You will develop the skills of visual analysis and critical reading and learn the basic methods that scholars employ to interpret works of art and architecture. In the process, you will gain a deeper understanding of the intersection of art, society, and human experience at large. Lectures and group discussions will be complemented by visits to museums and other collections on campus and beyond.		Arts & Letters Sector (all classes)
ARTH 1040-401	Art of Global Asia	Sonal Khullar	TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM	This course surveys flows of ideas, images, and objects across, within, and beyond Asia. It considers how the art of Asia is and has been global from antiquity through the present, and introduces 'Asia,' 'globality,' and 'art' as key terms and concepts that shift over time and place. Artistic traditions are presented within broader historical, cultural, social, and economic frameworks, with attention to their local and regional significance. Trade, exchange, and interaction between cultures and groups, including but not limited to artists, pilgrims, merchants, warriors, and rulers, and the transmission of concepts through languages, religions, and philosophies, will be highlighted throughout. We shall address problems of iconophilia and iconoclasm, narrative and temporality, archeology and historiography, ritual and religion, sovereignty and kingship, gender and sexuality, colonialism and nationalism, diasporas and migration as they pertain to the images, objects, and sites of our study. We shall make use of local resources at the Penn Museum and Penn Libraries, as well as other sites, to show how objects retain and inflect these ideas. The course builds out from a central focus on the arts of South Asia or the arts of East Asia, depending upon the specialty of the faculty member teaching the course, with additional faculty offering guest lectures as available. Students with a background in art history, studio art, architecture, history, religion, literature, anthropology, and/or South or East Asian Studies are especially welcome.	VLST2340401	Arts & Letters Sector (all classes)
ARTH 1060-001	Architect and History	Mantha Zarmakoupi	MW 1:45 PM-2:44 PM	The built environment shapes our lives and this course tackles its underpinning design principles and qualities as well as social and cultural contexts. It is an interpretative look at the built environment or, more precisely, at the ways in which monuments and cities are designed, represented, perceived and construed over time. It introduces students to the interrelated fields of architecture, art history, and urbanism and explores great architectural monuments and cities from the modern to the ancient period, from the US across Europe and from the Mediterranean to Asia. We will assess the built environment as culturally meaningful form and examine a body of historical and cultural material relevant to its interpretation. In doing so, the course seeks to foster a critical understanding of the cultural and artistic processes that have influenced architectural and urban design. The focus will be on understanding these works as results of skilled workmanship as well as social and cultural products. We will tackle ancient and modern perceptions of these monuments and cities by analyzing form, design, structure and by addressing their perceptual qualities through 3D reconstructions and virtual environments, as well as sketchbook assignments. This course fulfills Sector IV, Humanities and Social Sciences.		Hum & Soc Sci Sector (new curriculum only)
ARTH 1065-001	What is the Future of Architecture?	Ana Ozaki	TR 12:00 PM-12:59 PM	"What is the Future of Architecture?" explores historical visions of the future through built and unbuilt architecture. Inspired by the writer Amitav Ghosh's generative provocation that "the climate crisis is also a crisis of culture, and thus of the imagination" (2016), this lecture course contextualizes architectural notions of the environment, climate, and nature and asks: What can histories of the future in architecture teach us about ongoing solutions and discourses surrounding the current climatic crisis? The course encourages students to reckon with normative conceptions of the built environment -- such as continuations of empire and colonialism, fossil capital, geoengineering, and other mitigation strategies regarding climate change -- and read "climate" and environments through agencies of infrastructure, technology, and grassroots movements. This survey assesses primary and secondary sources to contend with themes from political and architectural movements, postcolonial and decolonial critiques, and other theoretical frameworks from marginalized geographies and methods. Primary sources include land treaties, architectural manifestoes, professional statements, speculative designs, scientific reports, artistic genres, and speculative fiction.
ARTH 2290-401	Architects and Empire: Roman Architecture and Urbanism	Mantha Zarmakoupi	MW 5:15 PM-6:44 PM	Architecture is the most striking legacy of Rome and the well-preserved remains of Roman buildings dominate our vision of the empire. Although Roman architecture has been studied since the Renaissance, it is only since the middle of the 20th century that it has come to be appreciated for the developments in concrete construction, which led to a revolution in the treatment of interior space and landscape architecture. Indeed, Rome’s architectural revolution radically changed both cities and countryside. Romans developed a wide range of new architectural forms and technological innovations in order to meet the increasingly sophisticated and diverse needs of their society. The purpose of the course is to shed light on Roman architectural and urban projects within their social, political, religious, and physical contexts. Throughout, the emphasis will be on concepts of organizing space, issues of structure, materials, decoration and proportion, the role of architecture in Roman society, and on the varied ways that architecture was employed by individuals and communities to express and enhance their status.	AAMW6290401, ARTH6290401, CLST3415401
ARTH 2610-601	Northern Renaissance Art		TR 5:15 PM-6:44 PM	This course critically examines concepts traditionally associated with the Renaissance by focusing on the exchange of artistic ideas throughout the Holy Roman Empire and across different media, such as the altarpieces of Jan van Eyck, the expressive drawings of Albrecht Durer and Hans Baldung Grien, the peasant studies of Pieter Bruegel and the prints of satirists who wished to remain anonymous. The material is organized thematically around four topics: religious art as piety and politics; antiquity as a source of tradition and imagination; the formulation of a public discourse that exposed social threats; and the distinctiveness of artistic claims of individual achievement. A motif throughout the course is the question of how the survival of fragments may be presented in museum contexts as parts standing in for an absent whole. We will also consider how historians approach designs for works of art now lost or never completed. Encouraging encounters with art and artifacts around the city, assignments focus on objects in Philadelphia collections.	GRMN1301601
ARTH 2930-401	British Cinema: Film, Television, and Transatlantic Screen Culture	James English	TR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM	This course explores an aspect of cultural studies intensively. See the English Department's website at www.english.upenn.edu for a description of the current offerings.	CIMS2420401, COML2420401, ENGL2420401
ARTH 3120-401	Indian Art Seminar: Indian Painting	Sonal Khullar	R 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	This seminar addresses topics in the art of India from antiquity to the present emphasizing global connections and comparisons. Topics vary from year to year and might include the arts of the book in South Asia; Indian painting, 1100-now; history and theory of museums in the colony, 1750-1950; photography, cinema, and performance art in South Asia; and art, ecology, and environment in South Asia. We shall explore objects in area collections and incorporate special excursions and programs when possible. A background in South Asian studies or languages is not required. Students from related disciplines such history, anthropology, literary studies, religious studies, feminist studies, cinema and media studies, and architecture are welcome.	SAST3120401
ARTH 3305-401	Topography and Monuments of Ancient Rome	Charles Brian Rose	TR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM	An intensive exploration of Rome's urban topography during the Republican and Imperial periods (6th c. B.C. through 4th c. A.D.) Using archaeological and textual sources, including the Etruscan and Roman collections of the Penn Museum, the goal will be to reconstruct the built environment and decoration of Rome over the course of a millennium. Of interest to students of classics, archaeology, art history, and architecture. Some familiarity with Rome will be a plus, but is not required.	AAMW5305401, ARTH5305401, CLST3305401, CLST5305401
ARTH 3841-401	Russian Modernism: Art, Life, and Culture	Djamilia Nazyrova	MW 1:45 PM-3:14 PM	This course examines the history and core ideas behind major Russian modernist movements—including Symbolism, Futurism, Cubism, Cosmism, and abstract/non-figurative art—and explores how these movements differed from similar art styles and trends in other parts of the world. We will focus on understanding the Russian modernists’ relentless emphasis on the inner world, defiance of social and moral conventions, and drive to experiment in art and life. In Russian modernism, art held spiritual power more profoundly than in comparable Western movements and was tasked with engineering social change. Russian Symbolists and avant-gardists engaged with abstract themes—such as eternal beauty and immortality—as well as urgent societal issues tied to modernization, including gender, sexuality, family structure, feminism, and socialist communities. While the ideas developed by modernist movements often prioritized intellectual ideals over practical solutions, they remain essential for interpreting modernist art and connecting with its enduring emotional resonance. The readings include short literary works, philosophical fragments, and artistic manifestos. All materials and discussions are in English.	REES1173401
ARTH 3874-401	History of Children's TV	Linda R. Simensky	M 3:30 PM-6:29 PM	This course will survey the history of children’s television from the invention of television through the present, with an emphasis on series development and production, artistry, and the colorful personalities who built this industry. We’ll consider important figures including Fred Rogers, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, Joan Ganz Cooney, Jim Henson and Walt Disney. We will discuss the history of animated cartoons that were made specifically for television, Saturday morning production, the rise of Japanese cartoons from the 1960s through Pokemon, and the growth of children’s cable channels in the 90s, as well as other landmark moments. We’ll also assess the impact of streaming platforms on television and the future of children’s media.	CIMS3204401, ENGL0594401
ARTH 3940-401	Chinese and Sinophone Cinemas	Chenshu Zhou	W 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	This course is a survey of Chinese and Sinophone cinemas from the silent era to the present. The Sinophone refers to Sinitic film cultures both inside and outside the People’s Republic of China that have been in relatively marginalized positions against the Han-Chinese mainstream, such as Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Tibetan, and transpacific cinemas. One major goal of the course is to interrogate the national cinema framework and to show how the meaning of “Chineseness” has been problematized by filmmakers and critics throughout modern history. Students will learn about important film movements and trends such as leftist cinema from the 1930s, socialist cinema, Taiwanese and Hong Kong New Waves, the Fifth and Sixth Generation filmmakers, and contemporary transnational productions. Attention will be paid to both films known for awards and artistic achievements and popular genres including thrillers, horror, and wuxia (martial art).	CIMS3940401, EALC1331401
ARTH 3989-401	"In the Dark We Can All Be Free": Black Queer, Feminist & Trans Art(s) of Abolition	Che Gossett	TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM	If the afterlife of slavery, as Saidiya Hartman argues, is an aesthetic problem, what then is the relationship between abolition and aesthetics? How has the ongoing project of abolition been an aesthetic enterprise, and how does art shape its aims and horizon -- historically, presently and in afro-futuristic imaginary of the to come? How might the analytics of black studies, feminist theory, and trans studies, in their co-implicacy and entanglement, prompt a rethinking of aesthetics -- both its limits and possibilities? In this course we will consider the art(s) of the Black radical tradition, trans art, queer art and feminist art and theory, alongside a grounding in aesthetic theory, and explore the work of a constellation of scholars in Black studies, art history and artists including Saidiya Hartman, Laura Harris, Fred Moten, Huey Copeland, American Artists, fields harrington, Denise Ferreira da Silva, Tourmaline, Juliana Huxtable, Kiyan Williams, Simone Leigh, Alvin Baltrop, Tina Campt, (and more) to consider how abolition is activated in contemporary Black queer, trans and feminist visual art.	AFRC2800401, GSWS2800401
ARTH 5231-401	Archaeological Field Methods	Holly Pittman	F 8:30 AM-11:29 AM	This seminar will prepare students for participation in the excavations at the site of ancient Lagash, modern Tell al-Hiba, in southern Iraq that are scheduled to take place in the fall semester. The topics to be considered are introduction to the recording methods, use of equipment, review of the ceramic sequence, methods of recording, drawing, photography. Permission of the instructor required for participation in the class.	AAMW5231401
ARTH 5305-401	Topography and Monuments of Ancient Rome	Charles Brian Rose	TR 12:00 PM-1:29 PM	An intensive exploration of Rome's urban topography during the Republican and Imperial periods (6th c. B.C. through 4th c. A.D.) Using archaeological and textual sources, including the Etruscan and Roman collections of the Penn Museum, the goal will be to reconstruct the built environment and decoration of Rome over the course of a millennium. Of interest to students of classics, archaeology, art history, and architecture. Some familiarity with Rome will be a plus, but is not required.	AAMW5305401, ARTH3305401, CLST3305401, CLST5305401
ARTH 5400-401	Medieval Art Seminar: Relics, Pilgrimage and Material Culture	Sarah M. Guerin	T 5:15 PM-8:14 PM	This course focuses on issues relevant in medieval art history. Topics vary from semester to semester, and range from materiality, relics and reliquaries, to issues of facture and urban development.	AAMW5400401
ARTH 5780-301	American Art Seminar: Collecting American Art	Gwendolyn D Shaw	R 12:00 PM-2:59 PM	This seminar focuses on special topics in the art of the United States. Recent examples have included: portraiture in the US, Philadelphia as an art center, early mass visual culture, and Abstract Expressionism. It is open to all graduate students and undergraduate students with permission of the instructor.
ARTH 5960-401	Contemporary Art Seminar: Art and Environment in East Asia		T 10:15 AM-1:14 PM	This course focuses on contemporary art. Open to graduate students and undergraduate students with permission of the instructor.	FNAR6050401
ARTH 6290-401	Architects and Empire: Roman Architecture and Urbanism	Mantha Zarmakoupi	MW 5:15 PM-6:44 PM	Architecture is the most striking legacy of Rome and the well-preserved remains of Roman buildings dominate our vision of the empire. Although Roman architecture has been studied since the Renaissance, it is only since the middle of the 20th century that it has come to be appreciated for the developments in concrete construction, which led to a revolution in the treatment of interior space and landscape architecture. Indeed, Rome’s architectural revolution radically changed both cities and countryside. Romans developed a wide range of new architectural forms and technological innovations in order to meet the increasingly sophisticated and diverse needs of their society. The purpose of the course is to shed light on Roman architectural and urban projects within their social, political, religious, and physical contexts. Throughout, the emphasis will be on concepts of organizing space, issues of structure, materials, decoration and proportion, the role of architecture in Roman society, and on the varied ways that architecture was employed by individuals and communities to express and enhance their status.	AAMW6290401, ARTH2290401, CLST3415401
ARTH 7010-301	Methods Seminar	Sarah M. Guerin	M 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	This course is designed to build skills of analysis and argumentation essential to the conduct of creative and responsible work in History of Art. Its goals include presenting the history of the field in a manner attentive to the complexities of its institutional and professional formations, purposes, and effects; encouraging appreciation of historiography, specifically the time, place, and political and social circumstances in which a given text was composed; promoting awareness of the ethics of scholarship (inclusive and expansive in every sense); familiarizing students with the strengths and weaknesses of distinct methodological traditions that have shaped the field; considering the audiences served by art historical scholarship (the academy, the museum, local and global publics) and the forms scholarship might take to effectively reach those audiences. The course is required for first-year graduate students in History of Art and open to others with permission of the instructor.
ARTH 7750-301	19th Century Art in Europe: Art & Ideas, c. 1900	Andre Dombrowski	T 3:30 PM-6:29 PM	This graduate seminar covers aspects of the arts, visual and material cultures of the long nineteenth century (c. 1789-1914) in Europe in a global context.
ARTH 7770-401	The Long Nineteenth Century: Literature, Philosophy, Culture	Vance Byrd	M 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	The present course will discuss German literature and thought from the period of the French Revolution to the turn of the twentieth century, and put it into a European context. In regard to German literature, this is the period that leads from the Storm and Stress and Romanticism to the political period of the Vormärz, Realism, and finally Expressionism; in philosophy, it moves from German Idealism to the philosophy of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and neo-Kantian thought. It is also the period that saw the rise of the novel, and new forms of dramatic works. Painting moved out of the studio into plein air; the invention of photography made an imprint on all arts, and the rise of the newspaper led to new literary genres such as the feuilleton. Economically, Germany experienced the industrial revolution; politically, it was striving for a unification that was finally achieved in 1871. The nineteenth century saw the establishment of the bourgeoisie, the emergence of the German working class, and the idea of the nation state; it also saw Jewish emancipation, and the call for women’s rights. This course is taught in German. Readings will focus on a variety of literary, political, and philosophical texts and consider a selection of art works.	COML5660401, GRMN5580401
ARTH 7782-401	Local Media	Shannon Mattern	T 1:45 PM-4:44 PM	We may be tethered to global networks, streaming content from around the planet, joining in conversation (or conspiracy) with folks from all corners of the earth, but we also live in places with local characters and concerns, among people with local needs and contributions. What happens when we lose the local media — the newspapers and broadcast outlets — that bind and inform our localized communities? In this course we’ll consider the important roles served by our place-based media, as well as what’s lost when our local modes of communication collapse. But we’ll also consider what might be gained if we think more generously about what constitutes local media — and if we imagine how they might be redesigned to better serve our communities, our broader society, and our planet. Through readings, listening and screening exercises, occasional in-class field trips and guest speakers, and low-barrier-to-entry in-class labs, we’ll study local news; local book cultures, including libraries and bookshops and independent printers; local music scenes, including performance venues and record shops and music reviewers; local infrastructures of connection and distribution, including post offices and community digital networks; local data creators and collectors; local signage and interactive public media; local emergency communication resources; local whisper networks and town gossip; and a selection of other case studies that reflect students’ interests. Students can tentatively expect to contribute brief dossiers to our class discussions; participate in a few small (and ideally enjoyable!) design workshops and group exercises; and, in lieu of a final exam, contribute a creative, research-based, illustrated entry to our collective class publication, a local media field guide that we’ll design and publish in collaboration with local makers.	CIMS6782401, ENGL6782401, URBS6782401
ARTH 7940-301	Contemporary Art Seminar: Forms of Liberation and the Liberation of Forms	Hannah Feldman	W 12:00 PM-2:59 PM	This graduate seminar covers various topics and concerns with regards to the arts, visual and material cultures of the contemporary period, variously defined, and with differing regional and theoretical points of focus.