Course description
This course is a comparative study of the art, visual culture, and architecture of the 20th century single-party states of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and more recent developments related to the legacy of totalitarian culture. The learning outcomes are three-fold: Historical, theoretical, and historiographic.
Historical Component: This part examines art and visual culture within the context of broader historical and political developments. A key feature of this historical component is the comparative study of the cultural manifestations of ideologically distinct political regimes. We begin by considering historical precedents for the entanglement of art and politics, such as public monuments in Imperial Rome and the Catholic Church’s deployment of art as propaganda during the Counter Reformation. We then explore the culture of each regime with close attention to their distinguishing characteristics and ideological differences. The couse concludes by considering the legacy of totalitarianism in contemporary art and culture.
Theoretical Component: The central theoretical issue explored in this section is the relationship of Modernity (the economic and social transformations that accompanied industrialization) and Modernism (the emergence of a new culture that rejected tradition). Italian Fascism, German Nationalist Socialism, and Soviet Communism all have their origins as responses to Modernity; they are political systems that sought to contain and control the certain aspects of Modernity. Similarly, Modernism is often conceived as a cultural response to Modernity, an attempt to overcome the potentially negative aspects of modern mass culture. Through tutorial discussions of key texts of modernist theory, such as Walter Benjamin’s “Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” and Clement Greenberg’s “Modernist Painting”, students will develop a nuanced understanding of the entanglement of art and politics in 20th century art theory.
Historiographic Component: Modernism and modernity are also important concepts in relation to the central historiographic issue explored by the course: The exclusion of the art produced under these regimes from most histories of 20th century art. What are the grounds for this exclusion? What does this exclusion reveal about the limits of art history as a historical practice? What does it reveal about the ideological nature of modernist art history? How might we rethink these histories in the wake of the Cold War, the onset of the “War on Terror”, and the return of authoritarian politics in Europe and the USA? As such, this course encourages students to think critically about the genealogy of modernist art history and, more generally, about the potential biases of art history as a field of knowledge.

Aims and objectives
By the end of the semester, students should have:
_To deepen students' knowledge of the range of art produced under the patronage of a variety of 20th century political regimes and to develop a critical understanding of the political, artistic, and ethical issues relevant to studying this art.
_To encourage students to consider the significance of this art and its reception to the broader histories of 20th century and contemporary art.
_To develop communication, research, and visual analysis skills.

Course duration: 40 hours of tuition
Credits equivalence: 6 ECTS

Last updated: June 12, 2026