This course introduces some lesser-known trends in late-nineteenth- to early-twentieth-century European art that deal with the darker side of the human psyche rather than with light and air. While Freud pioneered his psychiatric research, Symbolist and Decadent artists disregarded surface realism in favor of mysticism and dream imagery, mining the imagination in search of a visual language of the soul. Illustrated lectures also explore how Aestheticism rejected moral and social themes in art, elevating purely aesthetic values (“art for art’s sake”) and Secessionist movements broke away from traditional art academies. Finally, this course examines how Symbolism and related currents flourished in Art Nouveau design.

For more information and to register, visit Summer Art History Courses.

About the Instructor

Rebecca Albiani

Albiani, a Seattle-based art historian, is a Ph.D. candidate in Renaissance art history, and received an M.A. from Stanford University and a B.A. from University of California Berkeley, where she majored in art history and spent her junior year in Venice. As a student, she was a graduate lecturing fellow at Washington's National Gallery and a Fulbright Scholar in Venice. Since 1997 she has taught the Frye art history lecture series.
albianiart.com