Art History Courses          

Art History is a most important ancillary to the study of painting and other fine arts. No education in the fine arts is complete without it. At the very least students should acquire a basic knowledge of the history of art and ideas in order to understand better where their own work stands a propos of the numerous aesthetic traditions rebellions throughout time. Art history also helps students sharpen their critical thinking skills, comprehension of the unity of form and meaning, and sensitivity to symbolism. Please click on the course titles below to view descriptions of the subject matter.

Instructor: Terrington Calas
Color slide discussions on the nature of American realist and figurative art.  Special topics will include The American Still Life, Portraiture, History Painting, Landscape, The Human Figure, American Romanticism, Classical Realism, Modernist Figuration, American Impressionism, Social Realism, Figurative Sculpture, and Folk Art.

Emphasis will be placed on a comparison between the American and European approaches to figuration and realism.

Featured artists include Copley, Stuart, the Peales;  Cole,Bierstadt, Bingham, Mount;  Audubon, Remington, Cassatt, Sargent, Homer, Eakins, Ryder, Harnett, Peto;  Henri, Bellows, Sheeler, Demuth, O'Keefe, Benton, Wood; Burchfield, Hopper, Graves, the Soyers, Levine, Shahn, Lawrence; Tooker, Albright, Wyeth; J. Graham, F. Porter, Diebenkorn, Warhol, Segal,  Hockney, Thiebaud, Perlstein, Neel, Katz, Close, Estes, Hanson, Gillespie, Bailey, Andrejevic, Ligare, Golub, Salle, Rothenberg, Fischl, others. . .


-Terrington Calas

Instructor: Terrington Calas
A series of color slide discussions focusing on artists associated with New Orleans. The course will cover artists from the late 19th century to the present, including all the legendary figures and several new to the local scene. Special emphasis will be placed on making stylistic links to national and international art movements. Another concern will be the uniqueness of New Orleans as an inspiration to artists.

Instructor: Ivan Eubanks Ph. D., Princeton University
All art forms have the potential to transform experience into a profound expression of what it means to be human. In their endeavors to do so, many artists throughout history have revisited the archetypes and symbols of the myths that form a cornerstone of European culture. While the myths remain consistent, each artist portrays the subject matter in a unique voice. This course will therefore explore the life of a myth in the history of European art, from its origins in ancient Greece to its representations in the twentieth century. The myth we will study has proven one of the most famous and frequently adapted by artists—the great saga relating the stories of Europa, Cadmus, Oedipus and Antigone. Studying this myth in its various artistic manifestations shall lead to a better understanding of the nature of myth itself and the diverse ways in which artists incorporate universal archetypes into their work. It shall also help us develop new ways of conceiving the wisdom we hope to share with the world through our own creative pursuits. Each week will involve a lecture, slide show, and discussion of specific works of art.

Instructor: Terrington Calas
Color slide discussions on the art movements of the 19th century--Realism through Post-Impression.

Instructor: Ivan Eubanks Ph. D., Princeton University
This course covers one of the most exciting times in European cultural history--the birth of secular culture in Russia. Over the century and a half following Peter the Great's social reforms, Russia made the transition from a "Medieval" type society to full scale European modernity--a process that Western nations had undergone already but spent several hundred years doing so. We will examine the development of Russian painting during the 18th century and into the Romantic, pre-Realist period of the 19th century, comparing it to the artistic movements in France and elsewhere in the West. We will pay especial attention to process of consciously creating a national tradition of art, the artists Catherine the Great invited to her court, the calculated importation of aesthetic and philosophical principles for the purposes of engineering a culture, and the organic blend of Eastern traditions with Western conventions.

Instructor: Ivan Eubanks Ph. D., Princeton University
This course examines the political, ethical and aesthetic dimensions of "Realism," focusing on the "Itinerant" movement of Russian Realist painters (the Peredvizhniki) within their cultural and historical context. We also juxatopose Russian Realism with subsequent movments, both those that rejected it (the Russian Avant Garde--Primitivism, Futurism, Cubo-Futurism, Rayonism, etc.) as well as those that adopted it and modified it for political purposes (Socialist Realism, not to be confused with Social Realism). Every class meeting includes a lecture, slide show, and discussion session.