Department of Visual Studies

University of Karachi
Contextual Studies

1. Course Description:
This course will investigate the contemporary happenings from the times of Mohenjo-daro till 1000 AD.. It will help
the students start connecting happenings of different time periods while living in 21st century. The essences will be
taught and student will dwell in swings from Pyramids to Pre-Socratics and from Ancient Chinese thought to Early
Cathedrals and so on and so forth. This course will be interactive in nature, involving lectures, debates, assigned
readings & listening, videos, JSTOR research etc.
2.Course Objectives:
It is a reading-intensive course which places a fundamental emphasis on the Art, Cultural expressions, and Social
Institutions. To organize what is admittedly an enormous amount of information, this course examines what
happened, why it happened, and how to use (and how much to trust) historical sources.
3. LearningOutcomes:
This course is conceived as an extensive historical survey aimed at providing both a foundation and a framework for
making conceptual sense of different world cultures. It is a reading-intensive course which places a fundamental
emphasis on the Art, Cultural expressions, and Social Institutions. To organize what is admittedly an enormous
amount of information, this course examines what happened, why it happened, and how to use (and how much to
trust) historical sources.

4. Text Books
Marilyn Stokstad and Michael W. Cothern, Art History. Vol.1 & 2. 2011by Pearson Education, Inc.
Will Durant, The Story of Civilization
Janson History of Art. 8th Edition, The Western Tradition. 2011by Pearson Education, Inc.
E. Gombrich, The Story of Art. Phaidon, London, 1999
Donald Williams, From Caves to Canvas. McGrawHill 2nd Edition.
Mark M. Jarzombek, Vikramaditya Prakash, Francis D. K. Ching. A Global History of Architecture.. Wiley; 2
edition (December 14, 2010)

5. Reference Books
Roy C. Craven. A Concise History of Indian Art. Great Britain 1976 Rita Gilbert, Living with Art. McGraw Hill
R.A. Jairazbhoy, The Origin & Spread of Ancient Civilizations. Menander Publications, Karachi,1994
Michael Wood, Legacy of the Great Civilizations. BBC Books, London, 1996.
J.C. Harle, The Art & Architecture of the Indian Sub-Continent. Penguin, Middlesex, 1986 . Mary Tregear,
Chinese Art. Thames & Hudson, London, 1997

Lecture
2,3

Lecture
4,5

Egyptian Civilization: Religious belief system, gods, afterlife,

book of dead, mummification
Writing: sacred, royal, popular. Rosetta Stone as key
for unraveling hieroglyphs.
Pyramids

GREEK ART : Geometric Period, Archaic Period, Classical

Period, Hellenistic Period with special emphasis on :
Rhythm, Textural Contrast, Chiastic Balances, Contraposto,
Ethos, Pathos.
Discussion will be conducted on the basis of the following
works:

Assigned Reading:
E. Gombrich, The Story of Art. Art
for Eternity pg. 55 - 73
VIEWINGS:
BBC documentary
Pyramids
Valley of the Kings
Assigned Reading:
E. Gombrich, The Story of Art. The
Great Awakening pg. 75 - 97

Geometric Archaic:
01_ Bronze Horse | 02_ Diplyon Master | 03_ Gorgon Bowl |
04_ Achilles and Ajax Playing Dice | 05_The Blinding of Polyphemus
06_ Auxerre Goddess | 07_ Hera of Samos | 08_Peplos Kore |
09_Sounion Kouros | 10_Dying Warrior | 11_ Kritios Boy |
12_Charioteer of Delphi | 13_ Apollo Decreeing Order |
14_ Discobolus_Myron | 15_ Achillies slaying Penthesilea
16_Spear Bearer_Polykleitos | 17_ Three fates | 18_ Lapith and Centaur
19_Water Carriers
Classical Period:
01_Nike figure | 02_ Caryatids-Erechtheum |
03_ Tomb Stele of Hegeso_Kallimachos | 04_ Ilissos Stele: Father and Son |
05_ Apoxyomenos of Lysippos |
Hellenistic Period:
01_Dying Gaul | 02_Boy strangling a goose | 03_ Crouching Aphrodite |
04_ Veiled Masked Dancer | 05_ Nike Samothrace | 06_ Eros Sleeping |
07_ Laocoon

Lecture
6,7

INDIA:
How the Iron Revolution in India Transformed the Social
Structure of India in the contemporary times of Greek Art
Aryans and Zoroastrians.
Axial People. What people in Central Asia and Persia were
doing in the times of Joseph and Moses.

Lecture
8,9

China! Age of the Artists.

Religious Beliefs, Paintings, Paper, Books to Terracotta Army
and Wall of China

Indus Valley Civilization : Social and Cultural History

Assigned Reading:
Karen Armstrong, The Great
Transformation. Empathy. Pg. 232 244
READINGS:
Karen Armstrong, The Great
Transformation. Axial People Pg.
3 12
READINGS:
Bentley & Zeigler, Traditional
Encounters. Society and Family in
Ancient China, Early Chinese
Writing and Cultural
Development. Pg. 120 129
Assigned Reading: Bentley &
Zeigler, Traditional Encounters.
Harappan Society and Culture.
Pg. 89 95