Summer Art History Course: Comic Books and High Art in the 21st Century

ARTH389E is a seminar called "Dark Knight and Da Vinci: Comic Books and 'High' Art in the 21st Century" offered as a Summer Session I course.

The course explores contemporary comic books and how their position as a hybrid medium of the pictorial and the visual.  Students consider the aesthetic choices made by artists and the ways in which comics allow for new and novel creation of meaning. There aren't any prerequisites for ARTH389E and it is appropriate for under- and upperclassmen. By far the majority of my students over the past two years have been English majors, and they reported a great deal of enjoyment and correlation between the close reading of comics and their English studies.

ARTH389E - Dark Knight and Da Vinci: Comic Books and High Art in the 21st Century

Comics are a hybrid medium, drawing from the realms of word and image to create new systems of meaning through visual representation. The works of contemporary creators like David Mazzucchelli, Scott McCloud, and Marjane Satrapi, as well as mainstream superhero comics and indie comics, provide a point of entry for students to engage with comics and explore the medium's limits, possibilities, and relevance to the modern world.

This year, ARTH389E will also delve into hybrid storytelling in video games, another constantly evolving 21st century art form, and students will visit several museums and galleries over the course of the semester. Students in ARTH389E are encouraged to explore their own interests in art, literature, design, games, and popular culture. This three-credit seminar meets daily in Summer Session I, May 29 – July 6, 2:00-3:20 pm.

For more information email the instructor, Abram Fox, at abramfox@gmail.com>.

To see the class on Testudo and to register, visit: http://bit.ly/ARTH389E2012