ARTH 28.05 Art & Society in the Age of the Rococo
This course explores the transformative period in European art and culture between 1700 and 1800, when the playful decadence of the Rococo gave way to the morally purified art of Neoclassicism. We will study the “high arts” of painting, sculpture & architecture in the context of an expanded realm of visual culture, including interior design and decorative objects, clothing and fashion, hairstyles and luxury goods, the art market and the print trade. We will investigate the political and social uses of art at the time paying special attention to alternative discourses of power spoken through fashion, gesture and influence. We will examine court culture, the new public sphere, the growth of the middle class, the Grand Tour, the expanded role of women in the 18th century as patrons and artists, and the socio-political changes leading up to the French Revolution. Artists include Hogarth, Watteau, Boucher, Kauffman, Reynolds, Adam, Greuze, among others.
Instructor
O'Rourke