Art History: Drink the Wild Air

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Preferred majors for this course: Art, Psychology, Art History, History, Mass Communications, English, Marketing Ralph Waldo Emerson told the world of the 19th century that to live well and with one's whole heart meant having to "drink the wild air." Our course will show you how to do that, as we explore how artists have worked for centuries to raise up and topple political regimes and dominant concepts of beauty and aesthetic theory. You’ll have only two weeks in our amazing classroom cities, but our goals will be ambitious: You’ll see some of the greatest architecture in the world every day, as we explore public gardens and incomparable cathedrals and monuments first in London and then Paris. While you stand face to face with the most consequential paintings and sculptures in the cannon of European art. As you interrogate, too, the scope of the world that Europe conquered, looted and then lost. Every step of the way, you'll learn how ideas and practices of patronage, politics and art have changed over time. From great museums to lesser collections and buzzy galleries, the beauty that is London and Paris will be your classroom each day. 3 credit hours. (All Catalyst courses meet for 54 hours of contact, so if your university runs its courses on a 4 hour format instead of a three hour one this course may be able to count for 4 hours. You should consult with your advisor.)

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