2025-2026 Academic Year

Fall 2025

ARTH 205 Buddhist Art & Architecture
Cross-listed with EASN 205-01. Conventionally, Buddhism has been studied in terms of its beliefs and practices of renunciation and austerity, but it was also shaped and strengthened by very material concerns about property, patronage, and wealth. From the construction of the earliest Buddhist monasteries to the contemporary collection and display of Buddhist artworks, this course offers a broad introduction to Buddhism’s material concerns through its art and architecture. Over the course of the semester, we will conduct close readings of primary sources and visual analysis of art and architecture to examine how these concerns have been understood by monks, artists, and donors throughout history. We’ll place special emphasis on the earliest developments in South Asia, and then explore the diverse forms and functions of Buddhism as it spread to China, Korea, and Japan.

EASN 205 Buddhist Art & Architecture
Cross-listed with ARTH 205-01. Conventionally, Buddhism has been studied in terms of its beliefs and practices of renunciation and austerity, but it was also shaped and strengthened by very material concerns about property, patronage, and wealth. From the construction of the earliest Buddhist monasteries to the contemporary collection and display of Buddhist artworks, this course offers a broad introduction to Buddhism’s material concerns through its art and architecture. Over the course of the semester, we will conduct close readings of primary sources and visual analysis of art and architecture to examine how these concerns have been understood by monks, artists, and donors throughout history. We’ll place special emphasis on the earliest developments in South Asia, and then explore the diverse forms and functions of Buddhism as it spread to China, Korea, and Japan.

ARTH 314 Contemporary Art
This course addresses a period of artistic production from the late 1960s to the present. It showcases key artists and artistic movements within a broad historical framework, highlighting major issues and important debates. Some of the themes discussed in the course include the changing nature of artistic practice in recent decades; the intersection of the body in contemporary art with issues of gender, sexuality, ethnicity and race; the role of art in public spaces; the rise of new media; the place of art within galleries, museums and other art-world institutions; the global nature of contemporary art; and art as an agent of protest and social change. Assigned readings include a variety of art historical analyses, artist interviews and writings, essays by art critics and other writers with backgrounds in such areas as philosophy, gender studies and critical race theory. Prerequisite: 102 or permission of the instructor.

ARTH 407 Art History Senior Seminar
An intensive seminar wherein students conduct original research on selected works of art as part of curating a formal, public exhibition in The Trout Gallery. Research is directed towards interpretive essays that go through multiple writing revisions, resulting in a publishedexhibition catalogue edited by the seminar faculty member and Trout Gallery Staff, and designed by Dickinson College Design Services Staff. Students work collaboratively as curators and contributors to the catalogue, and undertake a professional-level experience, most often reserved for graduate study or museum professionals. All of the senior majors' art historical knowledge and critical skills will be put to use in the Senior Seminar with the goal of further refining their ability to conduct advanced research and formal, polished writing.Prerequisite: Senior Art History majors only.