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MW 1:00PM-2:30, 130 Tappan Hall First Year Seminar in
History of Art: The medieval city, with its colorful market squares, decorated churches, and drab domestic spaces, was a magnificent hothouse of artistic and social activity. How were these cities constructed and organized and how did the lords, monks, artists, laborers and lepers all negotiate their social interaction through the built space? Which interpretive models willpermit us today to enter into this space? This course introduces students to major issues in the study of medieval urbanism and to related areas of medieval art. We will examine how specialists define cities, as well as how cities might be "un-defined" or deconstructed. We will look to historical and economic models, but ourfocus will be on the built environment-the architecture of churches, palaces, and fortifications-and on issues of planning and topography. Case studies will be drawn from well-known examples (Paris, London, Florence) and lesser-known examples (new towns, late antique settlements, Carolingian outposts). One of our challenges will be to assess the role of other types of art-e.g., sculpture and the minor arts-in the "urbanization" of medieval society. Special topics will include pilgrimage and urbanization; utopian and imaginary cities; relics, rituals and urban processions; ancient and medieval urban theory; the politics of urban art; public order and disorder; the rhetoric of public and private space; and medieval visions of cities. (Maxwell) |
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