COURSE: ARTH*3360-01 | Power of Images (1.0) | Fall 2026
TIME: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:30am–12:50pm
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
This course examines the role images play in religious, political, aesthetic and art historical frameworks and how they powerfully reveal themselves in a variety of historical and contemporary contexts. Images are ubiquitous: they shape our perceptions, communicate messages, and evoke emotions. This course investigates the semantic power of images, and evaluates how they embody gender, ethnicity, sexuality, "race", Indigeneity, colonisation, and power and considers in what ways they are created, recycled, and consumed. Restriction(s): ARTH*3220. Requisites: 7.50 credits or 1.50 credits in Art History - Must be completed prior to taking this course.
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course will examine the critical, material, aesthetic, and sociopolitical significance of British graphic satire of the ‘long eighteenth century’ (1680s-1830s), a form of artistic print production which in this period applied ridicule, irony, sarcasm, and humour to critically engage with contemporary issues including vice, excess, immorality, folly, fashion, politics, empire, economics, and art.
GOALS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES:
The goal of this class is to contextualize graphic satire within the histories of aesthetics as well as the socio-political issues this genre responded to and reflected. In this class, students will learn to identify the major debates that have shaped the discipline of art history and visual culture and situate methodologies and approaches within or outside these historiographical contexts; locate, interpret and analyze primary and secondary sources relevant to research questions; develop and implement the critical skills necessary for complex visual analysis; and communicate ideas using visual, oral and written arguments and presentation skills.
REQUIRED TEXT:
There is no specific text. Readings will be assigned on a weekly basis and will be made available on Courselink/ARES.
METHOD OF EVALUATION:
|
1 |
Group Seminar Presentations: Due: Weekly (consult Groups on Courselink for group/date of presentation). *Please see related handouts on Courselink under the “Assignments” tab. |
20% |
|
2 |
Mid-Term Exam: Date: October 22 (in class). This (multiple-choice) exam will cover material from the lectures and the weekly readings. Further instructions will be given in class. |
30% |
|
3 |
Gulliver’s Travels Exhibition Catalogue Entry*: Due: November 17th (via Dropbox on Courselink). *Please see related handout on Courselink under the “Assignments” tab. |
15% |
|
4 |
Final Exam: Date/Time/Location: TBD The exam will be delivered during the Exam Period. This (multiple-choice) exam will cover material from the lectures and the weekly readings up to and including the presentation on December 3rd. Further instructions will be given in class. |
35% |
Policy on Artificial Intelligence and other forms of Academic Misconduct*:
Students’ work must reflect their unique intellectual capacity and demonstrate the application of critical thinking and problem solving. Unauthorized use of AI (ChatGPT or equivalent) to complete assessments (including summarizers) violates the fundamental intellectual purposes of the University and does not demonstrate student achievement of course learning outcomes. Submission of materials completed by AI without permission of the instructor constitutes an offence under the University's academic misconduct policies, either as a form of plagiarism or the use of unauthorized aids. Please familiarize yourself with all other regulations regarding Academic Misconduct: https://calendar.uoguelph.ca/undergraduate-calendar/undergraduate-degree-regulations-procedures/academic-misconduct/ [1]
*Please be advised that the use of AI is not authorized for any course assignments/examinations.
