Modern Art

Dr. Heather Cammarata-Seale, Assistant Professor of Art History (adjunct), Drew University
5 Thursday afternoons, 1:30-3:30 pm, April 9, 16, 23, 30, and May 14, 2026. (skip May 7)

In this course, we will discuss the development of Modern art through works produced in Europe and the United States between c.1850 and c.1950, focusing on revolutionary artistic movements including Realism, Impressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism, and Mexican Muralism. We will investigate the stylistic and theoretical attributes of these movements as well as their relationship to political, philosophical, technological, and social changes. The rise of the artistic manifesto and the development of abstraction will also be considered. Covering a wide range of artists  - from Rosa Bonheur, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, and Vincent Van Gogh to Hilma af Klint, Pablo Picasso, Jacob Lawrence, and Frida Kahlo - this course will provide a richly diverse opportunity to explore a transformative period in art history.

Heather Cammarata-Seale, PhD, earned her BA from Drew University and her MA and PhD from Rutgers University. She is an independent scholar, educator, and curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. Her research interests, which focus on the work of women artists, the human-animal relationship, and new materialism, are interdisciplinary, extending beyond art history into posthumanism, ecocriticism, and animal studies. She has worked in the curatorial departments of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Princeton University Art Museum, and other institutions. She is currently an adjunct assistant professor at Drew University and has previously taught at other colleges and universities, including the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University and the Fashion Institute of Technology.