This course is an introduction to the consolidation of Modernist tendencies in
European art from the nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. While focusing on the
various types of modernisms, we will follow a chronological route marking the major
artists, movements, styles, and monuments, together with their relating manifestos
and individual texts. The course will commence with Cezanne, Impressionism, Post-
Impressionism, and Symbolism. From the threshold of the fin-de siécle we will
explore Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Geometrical Abstraction, Dada and Surrealism,
and Ab-Ex. While charting these developments we will survey approaches to gender,
race and class identities, nature, technology and science, through visual media. The lectures aim to impart historical knowledge and to develop students’ critical thinking
and visual analytic skills.