Italy in Brooklyn

This course will examine how artworks from Italy were acquired, studied, and displayed at the Brooklyn Museum from circa 1900-55. Making extensive use of the museum’s collections, library, and archives, with an eye toward a future exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, it will examine the museum’s history of collecting and interpreting works from Italy during this period across multiple curatorial departments. This course will consider Renaissance painting and sculpture, and decorative arts, including: glass; ceramics; textiles; and, furniture. It will also explore the American production, reception, and perception of the idea of Italy in the modern era via works in the museum’s collection by Monet, Sargent, Whistler, Chase, and others. Particular attention will be focused on the seminal installation of the Museum’s Renaissance Gallery in the 1930s, and the exhibition “Italy at Work,” hosted by the Museum in 1950 that helped to introduce Americans to modern Italian design. Our object-focused study will raise questions around the practice of connoisseurship, and will be framed by related readings on immigration, environmentalism, and tourism, among other areas. Classes will take place at the Brooklyn Museum. 3 credits.