ARTH 1160

FWS: Dangerous Women

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2018-2019.

Upon viewing Carolee Schneemann's Fuses, fellow avant-garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas proclaimed it the film of the year, saying, "It is so gorgeous… so dangerous." While Fuses was censored as pornographic, Schneemann reflects that it's lasting impact as a work of art can be attributed to how it differed from pornography, in visually conveying female pleasure: "There's no objectification or fetishization of the woman." In pushing boundaries of representation, Schneemann and her feminist cohort were considered dangerous, and they are not alone in the history of art. Female artists can be situated among other educated women in their presumptive ability to disrupt the natural (patriarchal) order of things. This course considers: women artists connoted as dangerous, from Frida Kahlo to Kara Walker; how women have been villainized in the visual record, from witches to suffragettes; and the pioneering scholars who uncover and interpret these issues, from Linda Nochlin to Deborah Willis. Ultimately, we will connect danger to power.

When Offered Spring.

Satisfies Requirement First-Year Writing Seminar.

View Enrollment Information