IWP 724
4 Credits
This course examines the creation and development of the visual culture of democracy from its origins in ancient Greece to the present day. Beginning with Periclean Athens we will trace the use of classical architectural idioms as an expression of democratic values that have come to influence subsequent art and architectural movements. Through attention to classical revival in the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, we will consider how the founding fathers appropriated art to symbolize the values of our nascent nation from the planning of Washington, D.C., as the capital city, to the Jeffersonian ideals of Palladian and Roman design as a model for civic and domestic architecture. At its essence, this course contributes to the expanding methodological approaches to the field of cultural diplomacy by privileging the role of visual culture in theoretical constructions of soft power. The course will not only involve lectures and discussions, but also on-site tours of significant monuments and historical sites in Washington, D.C. that have had an inestimable influence on the visual culture of American democracy.
