Marguerite Lenius

An Introduction to Global Visual Culture
This course is an introduction to the visual cultures of the world, with an emphasis on how images, objects, and monuments are made, experienced, exchanged, and used by groups of people with diverse religious, socio-economic, and cultural backgrounds. We will focus on themes that have been taken up by different cultures and adapted over time, such as monumentality, the sacred, embodiment, science, and technology. Through a close study of these themes, we will consider how materials, cultures, and histories are transformed and negotiated through making and viewing works of art. In the process, we will challenge the art historical canon by shedding light on marginalized periods, regions, and artworks. 2 hrs. lect./1 hr. disc.

Beyond Boundaries: Ancient Arts of the Nile and Niger Rivers
In this course we will push beyond longstanding foreign conceptualizations of Africa by exploring the continent’s deep histories and the transcultural nature of ancient civilizations and kingdoms that coalesced around the Nile and Niger Rivers from approximately 3000 B.C.E. through the 19th century. Through lectures, readings, written and verbal reflections, and museum visits, we will examine artistic exchanges between ancient Egypt and Nubia; creative flows among Ife, Owo, Benin, and producers of the Lower Niger Bronze complex; and cross-cultural connections among Sahelian empires and medieval Europe. In so doing, we will comprehend the beauty, richness, diversity, and global nature of artistic traditions in these regions. As Yoruba people say, “Our culture is like a river, it is never at rest.”

Seeing Double: Ideas of Duality in Sub-Saharan African Art
From idealized sculptural pairs to hermaphroditic figures, ideas of doubling and duality are enduring concerns in many sub-Saharan African cultures. In this seminar, we will explore this theme by closely analyzing artworks from Mali to Madagascar from the 12th to the 21st century whose iconography features couples and dualistic imagery as well as bipartite figurative and masquerade traditions, among others. Through weekly readings, written and verbal reflections, and museum visits, we will elucidate relationships between the objects and the worldviews that inspired them. Culminating in a virtual group exhibit and complementary individual research papers and presentations, we will learn how these artworks make visible powerful abstract forces that influence the behaviors, well-being, and lives of their users.

Masks and the Senses in Sub-Saharan Africa
Multi-sensorial spectacles involving visual and performing arts, masquerades are among Africa’s oldest and most dynamic expressive forms, long used to negotiate power, heal, and entertain across the continent and Diaspora. In this seminar, we place the sensing body at the heart of our exploration of masquerades, asking how sensory perception informs artistic creation and interpretation. Using case studies, and emphasizing how masquerades adapt to historical change, we consider the history of the senses, their differences across cultures and time, and their hierarchies to understand their role in knowledge production. Through discussions, readings, written reflections, videos, and museum visits, we move beyond the limitations of our sensoria to deepen our understanding and appreciation of African arts.