Students must choose a minimum of 12 credits from among the following course options. Note that Humanities 199 is a required course and that three 4-credit courses is considered a full load.
HUM 199, French Life and Culture, 4 Credits
Taught by the AIFS faculty in Paris. Two hours per week is “survival French language.”* Two more hours per week are either lectures on French culture, or, more often, field trips to historic and artistic sites in and around Paris. Topics include history of Paris, cultural differences, art nouveau walk, French cinema, and field trips to the Louvre, Musee D’Orsay, and Versailles. All students are required to take this 4 credit course.
*Students have the option to sign up for two additional hours per week of French. The cost is about $200 for 20 additional hours. Payment for additional hours goes directly to American Institute for Foreign Study.
ART 181, Painting I, 3 credits
In this course students will learn the basic techniques of oil or acrylic painting.
Weeks 1-3 Begin with a study of color and basic compositional elements based on Impressionistic and Post-Impressionistic work at the Musée d’Orsay with a focus on the structural quality and color of Cezanne’s works, and the techniques of Manet, Monet, Renoir, van Gogh and Gauguin. Students will create symbolic or expressionistic works that relate personally to their experience in Paris.
Weeks 4-6 Modernism is emphasized during the next three weeks with a visit to the Musée Picasso to analyze his Cubist style. Then the class will visit the Centre Pompidou and focus on Henri Matisse to understand the mixing and use of color, and his simplified forms will be used to study the design quality of compositions. Jean Dubuffet’s work will inspire experimentation with texture and more expressive abstract techniques.
Weeks 7-10 The last three weeks of the term will focus on the Renaissance and Dutch master works at the Louvre, and students will experiment with painting light using a glaze medium.
ARH 203, History of Western Art: Baroque-Modern, 4 credits
Introduction to Western art from 1600 AD to Modern. Museum visits weekly followed by classroom discussions:
Weeks 1-2 Louvre—Baroque and Rococo
Weeks 3-5 Musee D’Orsay—Romanticism, Neo-Classicism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism
Week 6 Picasso Museum—Cubism
Weeks 7-9 Centre Pompidou—Modernism, Post-Modernism
Week 10 Contemporary Galleries
Art 101, Survey of Visual Arts, 4 credits (Lecture and studio)
Survey of traditional and contemporary art forms with emphasis on the observer, the artist and the critic. Subject matter is selected based on actual work available in Paris. Focused on basic design principles and the practice of learning to look, this course will include field trips to museums, galleries, and/or studios. Includes discussions of artist’s materials, hands-on projects, historical genres and gallery exhibits.
Week 1—Paleolithic Art, Lascaux Caves, France (Perhaps a visit to the replica)
Week 2— Mesopotamia, Louvre visit to the Mesopotamian Galleries
Week 3—Egypt, Louvre visit to the Egyptian Galleries
Week 4—Mixed media project based on symbolism learned in Ancient art. The symbolism used will address contemporary themes, yet applicable as timeless, universal archetypes.
Week 5—Medieval, Notre-Dame Cathedral visit
Week 6—Renaissance, Louvre, Renaissance sculpture and painting galleries (Da Vinci and Raphael paintings and Michelangelo sculpture.)
Week 7—Impressionism and Post-Impressionism at the Musee D’orsay (also perhaps Monet’s studio at Giverny)
Week 8—Modernism at Centre Pompidou
Weeks 9-10—Final Art Project
WR 240, Creative Writing: Nonfiction, 4 credits
Focuses on creative nonfiction and the writing of essays which use creative writing techniques. The context of study abroad in Paris offers students the opportunity to explore the genre of travel writing in particular; by reading travel writers and working on their own travel narratives, students would gain an understanding of ways to process other cultures, to interpret their experiences as foreigners, and to translate their travels into real knowledge through writing. Some themes would include concepts such as the self and other, national versus cultural identity, and writing in exile.
ENG 254, Survey of American Literature, 4 credits
Concerns the writings about the interests, preoccupations, and experiences of the peoples creating and recreating American culture. By examining the works and lives of American writers who either traveled or relocated to Paris from the eighteenth century to the present, students could trace the French and European influences on American culture and identity through the last three centuries. Focuses on the “Lost Generation” of writers who lived in Paris after World War I until the Great Depression, as well as the large group of African-American personalities who fled to Europe in the 1920’s to escape the violence and racism of the American South and created what was known as “the Harlem of Paris.” Students will have the opportunity to visit the places where these writers created some of their most famous works, as well as benefit from a shared experience of living as an expatriate.
ENG 105, Introduction to Literature: Drama, 4 credits
Enhances enjoyment of plays as literature, increases understanding of the conventions of drama and the theater, and encourages exploration of human experience. For the Paris program, focus on French playwrights from Moliere to Jean Genet. Since Paris has been the epicenter of French drama for centuries, visits to historical sites, museums, and theaters in Paris would enhance students’ understanding of the conventions, history and cultural context behind each text and its playwright.