ARTH 263 Aspects of the History of the Print
- Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:45-5:30 pm
- Instructor: Laurence Garneau
This course explores European printmaking from the 15th and 16th centuries, with a particular focus on artistic exchanges between Germany and Italy, as well as an interest in Dutch, French, Spain and Britain productions. It takes a historical approach to cover the emergence of Renaissance woodcuts and engravings, while recognizing the influences of East Asian technologies. In addition to assimilating different techniques (chiaroscuro woodcut, intaglio and etching) and studying a wide range of iconographies (mythology figures, biblical stories, medical treaties, maps, military books and more), students will learn about the political and social role of printmaking in religious, urban, scientific, technical and economic contexts.
Through a combination of lectures, discussions, workshops, readings, and visual analysis, we will try to answer questions such as these: How did the circulation of images impact the Renaissance democratization of art? What was the role of print in the Protestant Reformation? How did scientific knowledge inform artistic practice? Was printmaking challenging for artists’ status? The discussions will also invite students to develop a critical eye towards historic artistic objects, such as printed representations of women through a feminist lens.
This course provides an opportunity to discover an important corpus of woodcuts and engravings from the Renaissance. It also allows students to study the cultural osmosis between urban centres and to understand how print was rooted in social and political aspects. By the end of the semester, they will have mastered technical vocabulary, will be able to explain relationships between prints and historical events, and will have the capacity to analyze 15th-16th century woodcuts and engravings.
