Students will learn about Western art from ancient Greece through the present day by
focusing on the major artists and artifacts of Western culture.  Underlying social, cultural, as well
as historical circumstances for each artistic period will be stressed.  By the end of this course,
students will be familiar with artists from Praxiteles to Picasso.  They will understand the social,
cultural, and historical contexts in which these and many other artists worked.
Using the seventeen-part public television series "Art of the Western World," produced by
the Annenberg Foundation and the Public Broadcasting Corporation, as well as the companion
text, the course will be able to provide extensive documentation via the film and book to educate
students regarding the major cultural monuments of the western world.