Beyond Primitivism:
African/Afro-American Art in Museums

AAS/ART 674

This course is a topics course that changes each semester. During the spring semester of 2010, the topic will be art collections in the museum, beginning with the study of the Chazen print and drawing collection of contemporary African and African-American art. It will also engage the larger collection of conventional African sculpture. The objective is to facilitate close inspection of the object, its form, iconography, condition, life in the museum collection, and the larger problem of curation. Beyond conventional art historical questions, thought about the preservation and use value of the object to the educational mission of the museum will also be significantly engaged. Required readings will consist of texts that span art history, museum studies, and visual culture, including blockbuster exhibition catalogues on African art, museum curriculum resource units, and periodical readings on hypervisible artists of Africa and the African Diaspora. (Consent of Instructor Requ ired)