ARTH 498 Special Topics in the History of Art and Architecture: Art Nouveau, Art Deco and Decolonizing Design's Histories

• Mondays, 11:45am-2:15pm
• Online: Access through Moodle
• Instructor: Dr. John Potvin

This seminar course sets out to explore and investigate various competing and overlapping issues within two different European-based styles: Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Though very different from each other, both influential styles have made a significant impact on the development of art, design and interiors. More importantly these styles had deep roots in colonial and imperial networks, practices and influence. Using the large range of materials that Art Nouveau and Art Deco offer as focused case studies, we will explore how best to attempt a decolonisation of these styles. The course will largely focus on design, interiors and material culture, for which these styles were best known, within the prism of more recent calls to decolonise design studies. The challenge, then, will be to apply these emerging theories to historical material.