ARTH 366 - Studies in 19th-Century Art and Architecture: Fashion and Modernity

• Fridays, 12:15-14:45
• EV-1-615
• Instructor: Paula Alaszkiewicz

“Modernity” has been studied extensively in relation to particular movements and styles of nineteenth-century art, but “the modern” also manifests itself across many other aspects of culture. In Charles Baudelaire’s frequently cited accounts of nineteenth-century Paris, la mode (fashion) is central to la modernité (modernity), eventually becoming the very metaphor through which modern life was most effectively described. Using this dual theorizing of fashion and modernity as a starting point, this course will explore the many intersections between fashion and visual culture – in the broadest sense – across the bourgeoning industrial cities of Western Europe and North America in the nineteenth century. This geographic focus will address questions of empire and colonialism, nationalism, race, class, gender, sexuality, labour, and cross-cultural exchange. Across the course we will study visual, textual, and material artefacts related to painting, print culture, consumer culture, urban life, department stores, international and museum exhibitions, and haute couture, amongst others. This course offers an opportunity to use the methods and approaches of art history to analyze fashion beyond its surface.