Seminar in 19th-Century Art: Art and Nihilism: Goya and Blake

This seminar explores nihilism as an artistic response to social-political upheaval, cruelty, and violence, focusing on the work of Francisco Goya (1746-1828) and William Blake (1757-1827). How have artists found form and language for a nihilistic worldview, and to what ends? How can Goya and Blake's work in various media show us nihilism's power, danger, and emancipatory potential? Anchoring our investigation is close study of works in campus collections and local museums.