History of Art Seminars

Seminar topics are determined by the directions of the current research of faculty members and by the interests of students. Students may also register for units of independent work on topics of particular concern to them individually.

In addition to History of Art courses, graduate students may enroll in GSems (Group Seminars), team-taught by professors from the Graduate Group in Archaeology, Classics, and History of Art. These seminars are organized around interdisciplinary topics in theory, methodology, and interpretation. See also departmental course information. 

Spring 2025 Graduate Course Offerings

Course # Course Title Instructor Class Hours
HART B620 Topics in Chinese Art: Art and Environment in Traditional China J. Shi Thu. 2:10 - 4:00 p.m.
HART B676 Topics: Interpretation and Theory: Affect, Art, & Psychoanalysis C. McKee Mon. 2:10 - 4:00 p.m.
HART B680 Topics in Film Studies: Digital Media Art H. King Wed. 2:10 - 4:00 p.m.
HART B699 Advanced Research Methods L. Saltzman Tue. 2:10 - 4:00 p.m.
GSEM B608 Material Geologies S. Hearth, A. Walker Wed. 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Fall 2025 Graduate Course Offerings

Course # Course Title Instructor Class Hours
HART B610 Topics in Medieval Art: Kings, Caliphs, and Emperors A. Walker Thu. 2:10 - 4:00 p.m.
HART B620 Topics in Chinese Art: Chinese Painting J. Shi Wed. 2:10 - 4:00 p.m.
HART B680 Topics in Film Studies: Art & Film in Philadelphia H. King Wed. 2:10 - 4:00 p.m.
GSEM B625 Dots and Loops: Form and Aesthetics Across Time and Media P. Dabashi, C. McKee Tue. 2:10 - 4:00 p.m.

Spring 2026 Graduate Course Offerings

Course # Course Title Instructor Class Hours
HART B620 Topics in Chinese Art: Logistics/Space/Ancient China J. Shi Fri. 12:10 - 2:00 p.m.
HART B640 Topics in Material Culture S. Houghteling Mon. 1:10 - 3:00 p.m.
HART B675 Topics in Contemporary Art: Visual Culture & the Holocaust L. Saltzman Thu. 2:10 - 4:00 p.m.
HART B699 Advanced Research Methods H. King Tue. 2:10 - 4:00 p.m.

List of Graduate Seminars and Courses

Seminar topics are determined for each semester in consultation with the graduate students.

  • 622 Topics in Netherlandish Art (Hertel)
  • 625 Vermeer (Hertel)
  • 630 Topics in Renaissance Art: Mannerism (Cast): This seminar concerns the history and the historiography of Mannerism. The first subjects here are those works of art, described as Mannerist, that were produced in Italy in the XVIth century in various mediums and in various cultural centers. We will also investigate the influence of these works on art in other countries of Europe, bound to the Italian tradition. But we are concerned also, and very seriously, with the critical history of these works and the attention they have been given within the history of art, especially in Germany in the first years of the last century. We will also examine how far and how useful the designation Mannerist, with or without a capital letter, can helpfully be used in from other moments and other cultural contexts. It is this interest that allows us to think about art beyond the XVIth century, from the first years of the last century onwards, even to the present.
  • 636 Vasari (Cast)
  • 638 Problems in the Renaissance (Cast)
  • 643 Velázquez (McKim-Smith)
  • 644 Interpretation of Technical Data (McKim-Smith)
  • 645 Problems in Representation (McKim-Smith)
  • 650 Topics in Modern Art: Self-Portraiture (Levine)
  • 655 Topics in Contemporary Art (Saltzman)
  • 657 Manet (Levine)
  • 661 Film Theory (King)
  • 665 Topics in Contemporary Art: Postwar Germany (Saltzman)
  • 668 Anselm Kiefer (Saltzman)
  • 669 Art and Psychoanalysis (Levine)
  • 670 German Art Criticism and Aesthetics in the 20th Century (Hertel)
  • 671 Topics in German Art (Hertel): In his introduction to The Life and Art of Albrecht Dürer, Erwin Panofsky observes that “German psychology is marked by a curious dichotomy clearly reflected in Luther’s doctrine of “Christian Liberty,” as well as in Kant’s distinction between an ‘intelligible character’ which is free even in a state of material slavery and an ‘empirical character’ which is predetermined even in a state of material freedom. The Germans, so easily regimented in political and military life, were prone to extreme subjectivity and individualism in religion, in metaphysical thought, and, above all, in art.” In part this observation resonates with the book’s date of publication, 1943; in part it addresses German Renaissance culture. In this seminar we will explore the possibility in German Renaissance art of the simultaneous affirmation and negation of a topic, point of reference or tradition iconographically represented or invoked by a work of art. This practice may be implicit or explicit, an inadvertent byproduct or a form of resistance; it may stay within the parameters of an established genre and/or medium (altarpiece, portrait, history; sculpture, painting, print) or use a satirical mode. We will explore this phenomenon empirically, through a series of case studies in the art of Veit Stoss, Tilman Riemenschneider, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Baldung Grien, Hans Holbein and others. We will also explore it theoretically, for example as dialectic (Benjamin), latency (Freud), melancholia (Kristeva), negativity Agamben), and through particular interpretive paradigms in art history (Panofsky, Baxandall, Hults, Koerner and others). In their research projects seminar participants will work with these or choose their own artistic examples and interpretive paradigms.
  • 673 Postwar American Art 1945-1970 (Saltzman)

List of 300-level courses

Note: 300-level courses are seminars offering discussion of theoretical or historical texts and/or the opportunity for original research.