Whereas 'The Materials of Art & Architecture' is focused on the physical object, 'Reinventing Antiquity' deals with one the most fundamental characteristics of the discipline, its historical perspective. By taking up the theme of the revival and reinterpretation of classical antiquity, lectures and seminars will examine how a history came to be ascribed to art and how ideas about the past have influence in the present. As will become apparent, similar forms can take on dramatically different meanings at certain historical moments. For example we may look at how Christianity adapted pagan building types and iconography for new sacred purposes; at how classicism has been the visual language of political power from Constantine to Mussolini; at how mythic narratives provided resource for the exploration of the unconscious in the modern period. The reception and interpretation of antiquity has been dramatically affected by stunning rediscoveries and archaeological finds which gives us cause to think carefully about treating history in a strictly linear fashion.
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Reinventing Antiquity- Module number
HOA00004C
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