Naked Truth: Approaches to the Body in Early 20th Century German-Austrian Art (in English)
In this team-taught course we will examine conceptions of the human body and the manner of its visualization in Germany and Austria in the period leading up to and following the First World War. Part of our inquiry will involve the planning of an exhibition of original artworks from the holdings of the Sabarsky Foundation (New York City), provisionally entitled Naked Truth, at the Middlebury College Museum in the fall semester of 2015. With the help of primary source readings from the period, and secondary readings in philosophy, critical and literary theory, and art history, we will consider how German and Austrian artists turned to the nude body as the site through which questions of personal and political freedom, desire, beauty, nature, culture, and their antonyms could be negotiated and represented. Taking these ideas as one critical point of departure, the class will work with select drawings, paintings, and etchings by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, Otto Dix, and Käthe Kollwitz, among others. 3 hrs. sem.