This seminar explores the intertwined histories of colonialism in the Americas through the lens of art and material culture, from Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Caribbean in 1492 to Haitian independence in 1804. Crossing the cultural and political borders that traditionally divide studies of art in North and South America, the course considers how objects were a site for cultural negotiation between the many peoples and empires crossing the hemisphere. Examining a wide range of works including paintings, maps, architecture and the decorative arts, the course considers how artists blended European, Africa, Asian, and Indigenous styles, material, and techniques to create hybrid objects of the New World.
