Undergraduate Courses

The courses listed below are provided by Student Information Services (SIS). This listing provides a snapshot of immediately available courses within this department and may not be complete. Course registration information can be found at https://sis.jhu.edu/classes/.

Please consult the online course catalog for cross-listed courses and full course information.

Column one has the course number and section. Other columns show the course title, days offered, instructor's name, room number, if the course is cross-referenced with another program, and a option to view additional course information in a pop-up window.

The Art of Colonial Latin America
AS.010.210 (01)

This course offers a broad introduction to the arts of colonial Latin America: students will become familiar with the artistic production in the areas of Latin America invaded and controlled by the Spanish Crown from the time of the conquests in the sixteenth century to independence movements in the early nineteenth century. We will explore a wide range of materials from maps to featherwork, paintings to urban grids, cathedrals to mummy bundles. The course is thematically organized, such that students will not only become familiar with the art of Latin America, but will come to understand critical topics related to the study of early modern colonialism: conquest, race, missionary control, literacy, extraction, and indigenous and imperial systems of governance.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 14/25
  • PosTag(s): HART-RENBAR

Freshman Seminar: Investigating Gender and Sexuality in Mesopotamian Art
AS.010.104 (01)

Specifics of gender and sexuality are not universal norms, but rather are the product of particular cultural formations. Works of art are especially critical in shaping and conveying these particularities. This seminar examines how artistic products expressed and constructed gender identities and notions of sexuality in ancient Mesopotamia from the 4th millennium to the Hellenistic period. As a group, we will explore a variety of case studies, through which students will be introduced to ancient Mesopotamian culture and will develop skills in specific research skills such as critical reading, analysis, and interpretation.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 7/12
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to the History of Western Art II
AS.010.102 (03)

A survey of painting, sculpture, and architecture from the Renaissance to the present.

  • Credits: 4.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Waitlist Only
  • Seats Available: 0/12
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to the History of Western Art II
AS.010.102 (04)

A survey of painting, sculpture, and architecture from the Renaissance to the present.

  • Credits: 4.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Waitlist Only
  • Seats Available: 0/12
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to the History of Western Art II
AS.010.102 (01)

A survey of painting, sculpture, and architecture from the Renaissance to the present.

  • Credits: 4.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 3/12
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Mirror Mirror: Reflections in Art from Van Eyck to Velázquez
AS.010.212 (01)

Explores the different ways Early Modern painters incorporated mirrors and optical reflections into their works for the sake of illusion and metaphor, deception and desire, reflexivity and truth-telling. By exploding the boundaries of sense perception and human knowledge, embedded mirror images often made claims about the nature of the self, the powers of art, and the superiority of painting in particular.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Canceled
  • Seats Available: 20/20
  • PosTag(s): n/a

By the Book: Illuminated Manuscripts in the Middle Ages
AS.010.260 (01)

This course aims to introduce students to Western medieval book painting from the birth of the codex to the advent of the printed book, between 400 and 1500 C.E. Each week we will study a theme of particular importance for the period. Besides learning about questions central to medieval art and history (artistic practices, patronage, gender, race, and representation of power), we will pay particular attention to the issue of how these manuscripts were read, perceived, and used. To this end, the course will have an interdisciplinary approach to codices. Beside art history, we will mobilize the tools of history, history of religion, manuscript and book studies, anthropology, and psychology. Taking advantage of the rich collections of Johns Hopkins and Baltimore, we will study original manuscripts, facsimiles, and incunabula every week.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 4/10
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Medieval Spaces: Site, Image, and Viewer in the Middle Ages
AS.010.251 (01)

This course serves as an introduction to medieval art by analyzing the formal relationships between architecture and images at important cultural sites between the third century and the fourteenth century. The course will focus primarily on how those relationships structured viewers’ experiences of the divine and other ideological forces by understanding how works of art functioned for specific audiences in a particular spatial context. Along the way we will encounter a wide array of geographical sites and histories, including early Christian examples in Rome and Byzantium (e.g. the Roman catacombs and Hagia Sophia); monastic settlements in France and Germany during the eighth and ninth centuries (e.g. St. Gall); the interaction of Islamic and Christian visual culture in Spain and North Africa; twelfth century architectural sculpture along the pilgrimage routes; French, German, and Italian Romanesque and Gothic churches; and monumental painting cycles in Italy (e.g. the Arena Chapel in Padua).

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 13/25
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to the History of Western Art II
AS.010.102 (02)

A survey of painting, sculpture, and architecture from the Renaissance to the present.

  • Credits: 4.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Waitlist Only
  • Seats Available: 0/12
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Introduction to the Art of Asia
AS.010.103 (01)

A survey of the art and architecture of Asia, from the ancient world to the present and including the Indian subcontinent, China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Lower Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Waitlist Only
  • Seats Available: 0/25
  • PosTag(s): ISLM-ISLMST

Venice: Art, Architecture and Ecology from the Late Middle Ages to the Present
AS.010.316 (01)

This course is an investigation into the fashioning of Venetian identity in architecture and the visual arts, with a particular address to the encounter with Byzantine and Islamic traditions and exchanges with other centers of the Italian peninsula.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 19/25
  • PosTag(s): n/a

The Idea of Athens
AS.010.309 (01)

This course will explore the art, architecture, material culture, and textual evidence from the ancient city of Athens, the many cultures and social positions that made up the ancient city, and the idea of the city as something far beyond its reality.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Waitlist Only
  • Seats Available: 0/18
  • PosTag(s): HART-ANC, ARCH-ARCH

Interrogating the Material Turn
AS.010.415 (01)

This course considers the turn to centering materials and materiality in the history of art. Since the publication of Michael Baxandall’s Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy (1972) and in particular since the turn of the millennium, critical engagement with the materiality of art has proliferated. This seminar will tackle renewed investment in materiality within the discipline of art history and draw on perspectives from archaeology, philosophy, anthropology, conservation science, feminist and queer theory, and postcolonial studies, among others. Particular emphasis will be placed on the polycentrism of materiality as a theoretical lens that cuts across seemingly disjunct cultural, social, and political frames and subject positions. While this course focuses on the art of the ancient Mediterranean, students will be encouraged to bring their own subfields to bear on the material turn and to pursue research topics related their individual research goals. Open to interested students from all disciplines.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 4/6
  • PosTag(s): HART-ANC

Modern and Contemporary Art in South Asia
AS.010.423 (01)

How does modernism operate in the colonial context, work with and against the nationalisms of new countries (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh), challenge existing norms of the art world and the art market, engage with the difficult and violent upheavals of Partition and sectarian conflict, and allow for experimentations and new forms all the while? This course will explore the history of the art of the subcontinent from c. 1880 to the present by critical engagement with the art, artists, and theories at play in the South Asian region.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 3/15
  • PosTag(s): HART-NW, HART-MODERN, ISLM-ISLMST

Babylon: Myth and Reality
AS.010.364 (01)

Babylon – the name resonates even today, from the biblical whore of Revelation to sci-fi. It evokes exotic places and time long past. But what do we really know about the ancient city and the civilization that flourished there thousands of years ago? The first part of this course examines the archaeological city of Babylon, located in the modern state of Iraq, and considers its artistic and architectural achievements in the context of Mesopotamian history. The second part of the class explores the ongoing impact of Babylon in the cultural imagination of later periods, from the Classical and biblical authors, to European artists, Hollywood movies, science fiction, and contemporary political movements.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 1/20
  • PosTag(s): ARCH-ARCH

Tombs for the Living
AS.010.398 (01)

Centering on the tomb as the unit of analysis, this course examines the cultural and material aspects of death and funerary ritual. Case studies are drawn from North America, Mesoamerica, and the Andes. Collections study in museums.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 7/35
  • PosTag(s): ARCH-ARCH

Theories and Works of “The Baroque”
AS.010.409 (01)

There is perhaps no more confounding, though also no more persistent, art historical concept than that of “the Baroque.” This course introduces students to foundational histories and critiques of “the Baroque” while exploring works of art that have proved central to these formulations. That is, this course will balance careful reading of historiography with close examination of works of art (both digitally presented and visited in local collections). Students will come away with a layered understanding of the Baroque objects—from relatively small-scale museum works to major architectural and sculptural monuments—and their place within the broader evolution of the history of art. Particular attention will be given to newer global and (post-)colonial approaches to notions of the Baroque, ultra-Baroque, and neo-Baroque.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 1/5
  • PosTag(s): HART-RENBAR

Historical and Conceptual Bases of Art History
AS.010.413 (01)

Critical readings in the intellectual foundations of the modern discipline of art history, with close attention to its most influential figures and innovative practitioners. Texts by Wölfflin, Riegl, Warburg, Benjamin, Panofsky, Schapiro, Gombrich, Baxandall, Alpers, Clark, and others. There will be two papers and short weekly writing assignments; no exams.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 9/20
  • PosTag(s): HART-THRY

World of Things
AS.389.303 (01)

The course introduces and applies new concepts about materials, and materiality to museum objects. It treats the museum as a site for investigating the relationship between people and things.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 7/15
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Ancient Americas Metallurgy
AS.010.407 (01)

This course addresses the technology, aesthetics, and social significance of metals. Case studies are drawn from North America, Mesoamerica, and the Andes. Collections study in museums.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 7/25
  • PosTag(s): ARCH-ARCH

Critical Issues in Art Conservation
AS.389.340 (01)

The course examines recent controversies in the conservation of major global art works and sites, raising questions concerning the basic theoretical assumptions, practical methods and ethical implications of art conservation. Cross-Listed with History of Art and Anthropology

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Waitlist Only
  • Seats Available: 0/15
  • PosTag(s): ARCH-ARCH

Curatorial Seminar
AS.389.420 (01)

In collaboration with a local museum, conceptualize and develop an exhibition, potentially including but not limited to: checklists, exhibition texts, interpretive strategies, and programming. Exhibition theme varies year to year. Concepts, ethics and practicalities of curation are key concerns. Research visits to regional museums and private collections as relevant.

  • Credits: 4.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Approval Required
  • Seats Available: 7/12
  • PosTag(s): n/a

Revolution in European Theater & Film
AS.211.305 (01)

Contemporary local and global social movements such as the uprisings in Egypt, Gezi Park, Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter create modes of non-hierarchical politics beyond established institutions of representation. Artists continue to join this venture by critically examining institutional as well as aesthetic forms of representation and by searching for artistic expressions that accompany and inspire politics in new public spaces. Concomitantly, art institutions – from film festivals to galleries and museums – display a certain hunger for ‘political art’. But what makes art political? Is only socially engaged art political? And how can we characterize the specific forms and modes of engagement? In order to assess these questions, the course will take you onto a journey into the rich history of art and political movements in Europe after World War II with a special emphasis on Germany. We will focus on theater and film as genres that presuppose and promote collective experiences, and discuss how artists such as Chris Marker, Bertolt Brecht, Helke Sander, Christoph Schlingensief, the Black Audio Collective and others reflected upon, represented, transformed and performed ideas of ‘revolution’. You will practice the analysis of film and theater, will examine key words of the debate on art and politics (such as “autonomy”, “realism”, “documentary” and fiction”) and will explore ideas that continue to shape and inspire contemporary aesthetic practices and notions of “revolution”

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Open
  • Seats Available: 7/15
  • PosTag(s): GRLL-ENGL, GRLL-GERM, INST-GLOBAL

Classics Research Lab: The Symonds Project
AS.040.420 (01)

This course gives participants a unique opportunity to engage directly in empirical research and its interpretation and dissemination. Topics vary. This semester’s offering is organized around a project to reconstruct digitally the library of the nineteenth-century writer John Addington Symonds, author of one of the first studies of ancient sexuality. No prerequisites, but potential students should contact instructor for permission to enroll.

  • Credits: 3.00
  • Level: Upper Level Undergraduate
  • Status: Approval Required
  • Seats Available: 2/12
  • PosTag(s): GRLL-ENGL, GRLL-ITAL

Course # (Section) Title Day/Times Instructor Room PosTag(s) Info
AS.010.210 (01)The Art of Colonial Latin AmericaMW 3:00PM - 4:15PMHyman, Aaron M.Gilman 119HART-RENBAR
AS.010.104 (01)Freshman Seminar: Investigating Gender and Sexuality in Mesopotamian ArtT 1:30PM - 4:00PMFeldman, MarianGilman 177
AS.010.102 (03)Introduction to the History of Western Art IIMW 12:00PM - 1:15PM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PMWarnock, MollyHodson 311
AS.010.102 (04)Introduction to the History of Western Art IIMW 12:00PM - 1:15PM, F 12:00PM - 12:50PMWarnock, MollyHodson 311
AS.010.102 (01)Introduction to the History of Western Art IIMW 12:00PM - 1:15PM, F 10:00AM - 10:50AMWarnock, MollyHodson 311
AS.010.212 (01)Mirror Mirror: Reflections in Art from Van Eyck to VelázquezTTh 12:00PM - 1:15PMMerback, Mitchell 
AS.010.260 (01)By the Book: Illuminated Manuscripts in the Middle AgesM 1:30PM - 2:45PM, W 1:30PM - 2:45PMMednyanszky, OrsolyaGilman 177
AS.010.251 (01)Medieval Spaces: Site, Image, and Viewer in the Middle AgesTTh 10:30AM - 11:45AMLakey, ChristopherGilman 177
AS.010.102 (02)Introduction to the History of Western Art IIMW 12:00PM - 1:15PM, F 11:00AM - 11:50AMWarnock, MollyHodson 311
AS.010.103 (01)Introduction to the Art of AsiaMW 1:30PM - 2:45PMBrown, Rebecca MaryGilman 119ISLM-ISLMST
AS.010.316 (01)Venice: Art, Architecture and Ecology from the Late Middle Ages to the PresentTTh 1:30PM - 2:45PMCampbell, StephenGilman 119
AS.010.309 (01)The Idea of AthensMW 12:00PM - 1:15PMStager, Jennifer M SGilman 177HART-ANC, ARCH-ARCH
AS.010.415 (01)Interrogating the Material TurnF 1:30PM - 4:00PMStager, Jennifer M SGilman 177HART-ANC
AS.010.423 (01)Modern and Contemporary Art in South AsiaM 4:30PM - 7:00PMBrown, Rebecca MaryGilman 119HART-NW, HART-MODERN, ISLM-ISLMST
AS.010.364 (01)Babylon: Myth and RealityTTh 12:00PM - 1:15PMFeldman, MarianGilman 177ARCH-ARCH
AS.010.398 (01)Tombs for the LivingTTh 10:30AM - 11:45AMDeleonardis, LisaHodson 305ARCH-ARCH
AS.010.409 (01)Theories and Works of “The Baroque”Th 1:30PM - 4:00PMHyman, Aaron M.Gilman 177HART-RENBAR
AS.010.413 (01)Historical and Conceptual Bases of Art HistoryTTh 12:00PM - 1:15PMMerback, MitchellGilman 119HART-THRY
AS.389.303 (01)World of ThingsT 1:30PM - 4:00PMKingsley, Jennifer PGilman 313
AS.010.407 (01)Ancient Americas MetallurgyTTh 1:30PM - 2:45PMDeleonardis, LisaHodson 305ARCH-ARCH
AS.389.340 (01)Critical Issues in Art ConservationF 1:30PM - 4:00PMBalachandran, SanchitaGilman 150AARCH-ARCH
AS.389.420 (01)Curatorial SeminarTh 4:00PM - 6:30PMKingsley, Jennifer PHodson 301
AS.211.305 (01)Revolution in European Theater & FilmM 2:30PM - 5:00PMKetteler, ChristianeAmes 218GRLL-ENGL, GRLL-GERM, INST-GLOBAL
AS.040.420 (01)Classics Research Lab: The Symonds ProjectTTh 3:00PM - 4:15PMButler, Michael Shane, Dean, GabrielleGilman 108GRLL-ENGL, GRLL-ITAL