This course examines the global phenomenon of 20th century abstract art, concentrating on the medium of painting—broadly defined—from the immediate postwar period through the early 1970s. Rather than attempting a comprehensive survey, weekly readings will engage students with recent scholarship on abstraction in a variety of contexts, including Europe, the Americas, Asia, and the Arab World. The seminar will balance investigations into cultural contacts, transnational networks, comparative models, and shared concerns (materiality, color, composition, gesture, and subjectivity) with attention to autochthonous practices and specific regional and national conditions. The politics of abstraction will likewise be approached from several distinct perspectives, highlighting entanglements in both cultural imperialism and decolonial movements as well as issues of gender, race, and class. close