Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/University of San Diego/The Year 1500 - A Global History of Art and Architecture (Fall 2024)

This introductory survey course invites students to take an imaginary voyage that selectively explores the history of art and architecture throughout the globe around the year 1500—a cultural and artistic period in western Europe described as the “Renaissance,” which will serve as our foundational beginning point. The burgeoning interest during the Renaissance in subjects such as optics, geometry, perspective, and humanism paralleled advancements made in navigation and map-making, resulting in travel to and explorations of the terra incognita (unknown land). Together, we will survey the complex global connections and relationships that intertwined Europe with Asia, Africa, and America during this “Age of Exploration.” Often, the European Renaissance is framed as a fundamentally unique cultural phenomenon that is distinct from other visual cultures across the globe. In turn, binary-based comparisons tend to overly focus on the differences. This course aims to reframe the methodological approach by identifying the commonalities of some of the world’s diverse visual traditions and perspectives to illustrate their interconnections, along with their differences, and to highlight the enduring legacies and beliefs from this dynamic period. In the end, we will study how the movement of various commodities, objects, ideas, motifs, materials, and techniques resulted in innovative cultural transfers that reveal new functions, meanings, and identities.