This interdisciplinary seminar is about looking—close looking at works of art as well as literary texts. Prioritizing seeing over knowing, this unconventional course works back and forth between the classroom and the gallery. About a third of class time is spent on-site in different London museums and galleries, engaging with specific works. Painting, photography, sculpture, and installation are all in the mix, along with a variety of shorter literary and theoretical texts (the one novel being Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse).
The lively discussion in “Reading Pictures, Seeing Stories” is guided by participants’ interests. Over the course of the semester, students develop the skills and discover the pleasures of looking closely at works of art, visual and verbal. From their engagement with works of art in situ through individual seeing, thinking, and writing exercises, they also gain confidence in working in and analyzing a variety of public art institutions. The result is a genuinely hands-on London course, one which past students have remembered decades afterwards.
No prior knowledge of visual art is expected (this is not an art history course). Students from all disciplines are welcome; those from Architecture and Studio Arts are especially encouraged to join.
Department: English and Textual Studies
Location: London
Semesters: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3