ARTS1976B: ART IN THE TIME OF PLAGUE

Abstract

Life as we know it has been dramatically altered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing health crisis – in many of the same ways that deadly pandemics and plagues have caused upheavals and decimated human life in past centuries. Through the medium of painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, decorative arts and satirical and ephemeral imagery, artists have powerfully represented and expressed the impact of plagues and their reverberations in society. In turn, the devastation caused by pandemics have had transformative effects on the character and course of art. As a fundamentally visual medium, art itself has been experienced as a vital medium and tool, alternately dangerous and beneficial, to engage with or counter the invisible but deadly threat posed by germs and infectious disease. This course explores the history of art prompted by or made in reaction to historic pandemics and plagues. We will deal with art produced across all media and in various geographic regions from ancient times to the present, and will engage with topics such as: the power of art to counteract disease and human suffering; art as a material, visualized expression of the unseen threat of disease; the political use of disease and pandemics; the impact of pandemics and disease on artistic style and the concept of art; art as an expression of spirituality and enhanced religious fervor in the face of suffering and death; and contemporary echoes of themes from the art of past centuries.