Seminar description
In this course we will consider a number of major art controversies over the past 50 years, from the time of the Vietnam War up into the present-day United States and Canada.
Art works and art exhibitions cause scandals called “moral panics” for many reasons. Some of the public may have aesthetic objections: they may think a given work is ugly or too big or just too “abstract” to be meaningful. Other works strike some people as obscene, or racist or sacrilegious. Yet others have political messages that enrage factions of an increasingly polarized and often misinformed public.
The possible consequences for artists from these scandals have included censorship, legal action, cuts to government funding for artists and exhibitions, vandalism, or even destruction of the art-work in question. Today, what do we make of these scandals once we know the historical contexts in which they arose? The larger question is: does art matter?
Get to know your professor
Elizabeth Legge
You can call me…
Professor, Prof.
I just can't live without…
Coffee.
I just can't live without…
Coffee
My hometown is…
Toronto, ON.
For my undergraduate degree…
English at the University of Toronto, art history at Cambridge (2 BAs!).
I am surprisingly good at…
Nothing I’m good at is really surprising.
Fun fact:
I met John Lennon.
If I wasn't teaching, I would be a…
I would open a tea room.
A fun fact about my field of study is…
Art history books have a lot of pictures.
In a sentence, what you’ll learn in my course:
Think about why people get more upset about art than about other social realities.
One of my favourite things about teaching first-year students is…
They are not yet specialized in a field, and so, bring diverse points of view to questions of art.
What I'm working on now is…
The representation of children in contemporary art.
Lately, something that has been exciting me about my research/scholarship is…
Learning about the aesthetics of cuteness.
A fun fact about my field of study is…
Because it extends into the present, the art that I deal with changes all the time.
I was inspired to get into this field because…
I like pictures. And I like looking closely at the visual environment.
My first-year seminar in five words:
- Art
- Controversy
- Society
- Values
- Politics
In a sentence, what you’ll learn in my course:
You will learn how art can entertain, inform, and cause moral panics
One of my favourite things about teaching first-year students is…
Having a conversation about the many ways of understanding art and what it does.
My best advice for those starting their first year…
Try to find out what interests you!
NAME: Chelsea Rochman.