La Méditerranée, une lumière jamais éteinte : Histoire, arts et civilisations des Cyclades aux temps modernes. / Mediterranean History, Arts, and Civilization from the Cyclades to Modernity

This course will begin with the study of the mysterious civilization on the Cyclades Islands 2,000 years before Christ and will cover the classical period of ancient Greece, Imperial Rome, the fall of the Roman Empire, the birth of Christianity, the Middle ages in Europe, Byzantine art in Venice and in Ravenna, the religious schism between the Western and the Eastern churches, the Venetian Empire, the Renaissance in Europe, Luther’s Reformation and the crisis of the arts in Northern Europe. Texts: Jean Carpentier et François Lebrun, Histoire de la Méditerranée, éd du Seuil, Paris 1998. ISBN 2-02-03062-0; Gilles Sauron , La grande Fresque de la Villa des Mystères à Pompéi, éd Picard, Paris, 1998. ISBN 2-7084-0545-4.

(Besides the regular credits, this course may also count for one unit of credit (i.e. 3 semester hours) in the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies program).

Summer 2009, Summer 2010

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5th Century BC Greco-Roman Culture and its Influences until the Renaissance

This class will be developing the influence of Greek art on Roman Empire and Renaissance period. Then we will concentrate on the female nude evolution, its despairing during middle age and reemerging during Renaissance (Botticelli, Raphaël, etc.). Giotto masterpiece, starting point of the Humanism Cultural Revolution, will be subject of this study. Finally we shall spend time on 15th and 16th century painters such as Masaccio, Piero della Francesca, Mantegna and Michel-Angelo.

This course may be applied toward the MA in Mediterranean Studies

Summer 2011, Summer 2012

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L’Histoire de Paris, de Lutèce à nos jours. / The History of Paris from Lutetia to the Present

In this course we shall study the main stages in the development of Paris, from the Gallo-Roman city of Lutetia to our days. The resources used will be: archeological finds, engravings, city maps, paintings and photographs (19th C.). Methodology will be based on urban sociology, history of urban development, history and art history.

The first part will be devoted to Lutetia, the Gallo-Roman city (52-253AD) and we shall study the archeological finds, the temples, the baths and the theaters. We shall also stress the importance of the progress of Christianity after the Edict of Milan by Emperor Constantine.

The next part will be about Paris in the Middle-Ages: the problem of the fortifications, Philippe-Auguste, Charles V, the king’s Palace, the Ile de la Cité and the Notre-Dame cathedral. In the third part we shall deal with the introduction of Italian architectural models in the 16th C. and their adaptation to the situation in Paris, and with royal urban development in the 17th C. We shall then concentrate on the history of the Louvre, from the original Castle in 1210 to the Greater Louvre by Pei in 1997. The following part will take us to a fundamental shift in the development of Paris: the urban restructuring imposed by Napoleon III and carried out by the Seine prefect Haussmann (1853-1870). The World Fairs will be studied, specifically that of 1889 with the Eiffel tower. The final chapter will be about the Orsay railway station (1900) and its transformation into a museum in 1986. The Défense business quarter will be the final object of our study.

Text: Students will have at their disposal a 70-page document including a list of all the slides used and the introductions for each part as well as a bibliography.

Summer 2008

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Mediterranean History, Arts, and Civilization from the Cyclades to Modernity *

This course will begin with the study of the mysterious civilization on the Cyclades Islands 2,000 years before Christ and will cover the classical period of ancient Greece, Imperial Rome, the fall of the Roman Empire, the birth of Christianity, the Middle ages in Europe, Byzantine art in Venice and in Ravenna, the religious schism between the Western and the Eastern churches, the Venetian Empire, the Renaissance in Tuscany, Luther’s Reformation and the crisis of the arts in Northern Europe. The course will conclude with a study of the Muslim World and the Mediterranean.

*(Besides regular credit this course may also count for one credit in the M.A. in Mediterranean Studies program)

*Mediterranean History, Arts, and Civilization from the Cyclades to Modernity

Summer 2009

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Modernity in Italy (1860-1990)

The aim of this course is to study the artistic evolution of modernism in Italy beginning with the Macchiaioli and the impressionists. The course will then consider three subsequent stages: Giorgio de Chirico, Carlo Carr, G. Morandi (metaphysical painting, oneirism and Surrealism); the two phases of Futurism (Balla, Boccioni, Severini, Fillia, Depero, Prampolini); and finally the post-WWII stages, including the birth of Design in Italy, Bauhaus, the crisis of the 1970s, the anti-design of Memphis Milano.

Materials for this course will be provided by the instructor.

Summer 2008

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Italian Baroque in Turin, Rome, and Lecce: Architecture, Society, Art and History

This course will trace Italian baroque in the urbanistic and artistic developments of three unique Italian cities. Turin, Rome and Lecce. The course will offer close analyses of their rich cultural histories and students will examine the diversities of the fascinating Italian cultural patrimony. In addition, the course will study the Catholic Counterreformation, the order of the Jesuits, and the Conflicts between the Vatican and Martin Luther's Reformation; a situation which largely explains the baroque architecture, painting and sculpture, in contrast to the Protestant Iconoclasm.

Required Texts: A course-pack will be available at the bookstore

Summer 2011

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