ARTH 264 Aspects of the History of Ceramics

• Fridays, 11:45 am-2:30 pm
• Blended course
• Instructor: Dr. Susan Surette

During the last three thousand years, ceramic tiles have performed the function of containing, cladding and dressing buildings. However, in the twentieth century this rich history was largely eclipsed by modernist architecture’s rejection of ornament. By the mid-twentieth century, ceramic tiling practice and discourse in the West was relegated to the periphery of the arts, but interest re-emerged in late modern and postmodern expressions, testified to by the wide variety of artistic approaches within the art, craft and architectural communities. Turning to examples of tile forms, their glazed and relief decorative surfaces, sculptural variations, and applications to buildings from the first millennium BCE to the present, this course explores how such contemporary Western expressions have revisited historical precedents while improvising and innovating. Specific historical tile productions to be covered include, among others, European medieval, Islamic, Hispano-Moresque, Arts and Craft, Art Deco, mid-20thc Subway tiles, and later twentieth-century ceramic murals. These objects will be considered within their original and present architectural spaces along with their modes of production and will be situated within social, cultural and even political contexts. This interdisciplinary course looks to art and craft histories and material culture and explores issues pertaining to ornament and decoration, Orientalism, heritage and the applied arts.