Through close examination of original works of art, complemented by close readings of primary sources and recent texts in the history and criticism of modern art, this seminar will address tensions between figurative art and the beginnings of non-objective art in European painting and sculpture of the late 19 c. / early 20 c. We will also explore how those tensions between “figuration” and “abstraction” relate to the forms of seeing variously demanded by works of art composed in a range of media and aiming to achieve a diversity of effects. Our close looking will focus on works by Rodin, Cézanne, Matisse, Brancusi, Kandinsky, and others.
