As Virginia Woolf, an astute observer of modern art, once wrote, “Painting and writing have much to tell one another.” This course explores the intersection of the visual arts and poetry and the distinct ways in which notable artists and poets have inspired and informed each other's work. Examples of the rich, historical cross-fertilization between the two art forms will be wide-ranging and include Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations for Oscar Wilde's play Salome; Sonia Delaunay's extensive collaboration with poet Blaise Cendrar; and Robert Rauschenberg's “Thirty-Four Drawings for Dante's Inferno.” Further discussion topics will include ekphrastic poems by the likes of John Keats, Gertrude Stein, W.H. Auden, and Anne Sexton; the close connection between poetry and painting in Chinese and Japanese culture; and the use of calligraphy in medieval manuscripts and Islamic art. We will study William Blake's poetry, fused with his own drawings and woodcuts; Charles Demuth's use of William Carlos Williams' poem "The Great Figure" for his symbolic portrait of its author; and Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem, “Requiem for a Friend,” commemorating painter Paula Modersohn-Becker. We will also consider René Magritte’s cryptic use of words and phrases in his surrealist paintings; modern graffiti art; and miscellaneous writings by visual artists, such as Michelangelo’s Sonnets, Delacroix’s Journals, and Warhol’s The Philosophy of Andy Warhol. Special attention will be given to the works of text-based artists, such as Laurence Weiner, Ed Ruscha, Glenn Ligon, Barbara Kruger, and Jenny Holzer. Throughout, our task will be to rethink words and images not as competing entities but, as Goethe once observed, "correlates that eternally search for one another."
Continuing Education Units (CEU) : 0.5

You'll walk away with

• Familiarity with the works of famous artists and poets
• An understanding of the relationship between fine art and literature
• A new appreciation for familiar artworks

Ideal for

• Art enthusiasts
• Aspiring and working arts professionals