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Course Description

Summary

This seminar explores how art and visual culture in France, Britain, and South Asia catalyzed and were informed by an emerging culture of modernity in the 18th century. By situating the relationship between art and modernity within global networks of trade, diplomacy, and colonial power, the course also offers students an opportunity to asses the ways in which art instantiated and thwarted the universal--as well as differences--between the modern and the pre-modern. Topics will include, but are not limited to: chinoiserie and the Rococo; portraiture in Mughal and Rajput courts; the British conversation piece; botanical drawings, academic history painting. Pre-requisites: One Art History, History, or Anthropology class.