ARTH 024. Visualizing Africa and Renaissance Europe (c. 1440-1610)

In this course we will evaluate the complicated relationship between Europe and Africa-in particular sub-Saharan Africa-during the Renaissance, the period often described as the European "Age of Discovery." Specifically, we will analyze visual images as evidence of the varied perceptions that developed on account of increased trade and contact between the two continents during the fifteenth through early seventeenth centuries. Such sustained economic and cultural engagement profoundly impacted artistic production in certain centers on both continents, while also stimulating the development of ideas about racial identity and cultural difference that have persisted to this day. This dynamic subject matter only recently has received critical attention from scholars, especially those working within a western perspective. Therefore, in this class we will participate in the developing discourse by examining afresh both familiar and less familiar artists and objects produced in various contexts and locations.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Catalog chapter: Art and Art History: Art History
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/art

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