ARTH 264 Modern Art [GEKA]

An introduction to the development of modern art in Europe and the United States during the 19th and 20th centuries. Examines transformations within painting alongside radical challenges to painting, with an emphasis on the social and political contexts for artistic change.

Credit 3 hrs May not be repeated for additional credit
Grade Mode Normal (A-F) Course Rotation Fall and Winter

Prerequisites -
Other Restrictions -
Restriction by Major -
Restriction by Class - Undergraduate standing

Rationale for Knowledge of the Disciplines - Modern art is getting older, but has it gotten easier? Many famous examples of modern art are now more than one hundred years old, yet they remain as challenging to contemporary viewers as they did to their original audiences. From the mid-19th to the mid-20th century, artists asked renewed questions and explored new ideas about the nature of art and its place in society. Who is an artist, and what do artists do? What is an artwork, and how should it be made? How does the work of art-making relate to other kinds of work—and how could or should this change in the face of an industrializing world? This introductory course teaches students to look at modern art; to recognize its relationship to the changing historical conditions we call “modernity”; and to understand and employ the basic tools of art-historical inquiry and interpretation. Through the close examination and comparative analysis of artworks and the study of relevant historical texts, students will gain familiarity with the major artistic innovations of this period and the historical attitudes and values that shaped them. Because ARTH 264 teaches students to engage with artworks and art history as perspectives for understanding our world, it meets the outcomes for a Knowledge of the Disciplines - Arts course in the General Education Program.

Keywords: art, history
Equivalent Courses: ART 215, ART 215W, FA 215
Updates: Approved for GEKA 11/2019, effective Fall 2020; Change to title, description, and prerequisite 3/2019, effective Fall 2019; Course Rotation added 9/2014; GEWI approval rescinded 6/2014, effective Fall 2014

Winter 2025 Course Sections

Summer 2025 Course Sections

Fall 2025 Course Sections