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France Courses

Visual Arts - Brian Kelly

VIAR 321/HUMN 300/HONR 365 - Drawn and Pressed: Connecting the Belle Époque, Chéret, and the Moulin Rouge to the Hand Pulled

Printmaking is both a tool and artistic practice that brings images to the public through illustrated books, newspapers, board sides, posters, and through the production of artistic prints. The industrialized revolution helped transform Paris in the late 1880’s by bringing a period of economic growth that coincided with a period of peace and frivolity known as the Belle Époque. During this period Paris artists were heavily influenced by the Ukiyo-e prints being produced in Japan, Jules Cheret’s development of chromo-lithography and his development of color lithography, and the production of The Maires de I’Affiche that gave birth to the L'affichomania or the “Passion for the French Poster”. During this period prints were mass produced and created for the middle and lower class providing access to artworks produced by artists such as Cherate, Mucha, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard, Grasset, among others.
While in Paris and its surrounding regions, students will explore the influence of the print on both art and society and will also visit the Toulouse-Lautrec museum, the Imprimatur de Ch. Lahure, the Musée d'Orsay, Louvre Museum, Centre Pompidou, the Musee d'Art Moderne de Paris, to study prints, drawings, and paintings first hand.

The student’s study will be complemented with visits to France printmaking workshops to meet artists and master printmakers allowing students a first-hand experience and technical understanding of how different types of prints are made. Students will also visit historical book-binding and papermaking workshops and have opportunities to make real hand-pulled prints, make and bind books, and make paper and of course visit the world-famous Moulin Rouge to have dinner with the ghosts of the Belle Époque period.

VIAR 309/HUMN 300/HONR 365 - Paris: Observed, Marked, and Pressed

The Belle Époque period has long been associated with the development of modern lithography, the golden era of illustration and graphic design, and poster art. Paris has been the home and has served as a source of inspiration for artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Charles Gesmar, Jean Béraud, Paul César Helleu, James Whistler, Jacques Emile Blanche, John Singer Sargent, Giovanni Boldini, Henri Gervex and Louis Marie De Schryver. 

Like Paris’s great artists of the past, students will be guided by their individual interests and artistic medium while examining and using Paris’s landscape, museums and culture as sources for creative exploration and research. You will visit some of the most important museums in Florence and they will serve as our classroom including the Toulouse-Lautrec museum, the Imprimatur de Ch. Lahure, the Musée d'Orsay, Louvre Museum, Centre Pompidou, the Musee d'Art Moderne de Paris, to study prints, drawings, and paintings first hand. These locations will serve as sources of inspiration allowing you to develop a greater awareness of the role of drawing as an investigative process in the development of creative work and it’s use as an expressive means of communication.

We’ll complement your study a series of drawing workshops and drawing sessions to provide a technical understanding of how different types of mediums such as acrylic paint, water color, printmaking, oil pastel, charcoal, conte’, and graphite can be incorporated into a drawing. Additionally, you will participate in structured drawing sessions to help develop ideas related to the work the student intends to make on site in Italy, as well as watch lectures on artists that we will study while in Paris.

Architecture and Design - William Riehm

DSGN 471 (G) - Grand Paris Design: Louis XIII to Louis Vuitton

Find the subtleties of Parisian grandeur by studying great work of architecture and exploring intimate interior spaces and the history of French luxury goods. From Luis XIII Renaissance rebuilding of the Louvre to Frank Gehry’s 21st century design for La Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris has history of grand architectural interventions that have set trend and moved architectural history for half a millennium. But it is not only architecture that Paris brings us, luxurious interiors and designed goods have frequently defined global style. Designed objects like Boulle furniture, Eighteenth Century woven upholstery, and the fashions of Christian Dior are explored in an academic and historical context that help students weave a story of Parisian grandeur through sketch and personal reflection.

DSGN 474 (G) - Parisian Design: Understanding Everyday Life

What was it like to live in the shadow of the Eifel tower when it was under construction, or to be the first in your family to live in a Parisian Townhouse? How do luxury good come to be so valuable and why to we continue to admire exuberant construction that bankrupted countries? These are questions you will ask while visiting Paris through reading and discussion of Design History, Material Culture Studies, and Social History.(This is a companion course to DSGN 471g Field Drawing and it is strongly recommended that the two courses be taken together.)

Nursing - Dawn Morris

NURS 397/HUMN 300/HONR 345 – History of Healthcare

This course will evaluate the history of healthcare and innovation through the exploration of European influence on science and medicine. We will utilize resources such as museum and hospital tours, conversations with nurses, physicians and/or pharmacists to explore European approaches to medicine and healthcare. Students will evaluate historical perspectives of European health practices and medical advances by visiting a variety of medical museums including but not limited to Musee’ d’Art Dentaire Pierre Fauchard, a dental history museum; Musee d’histoire de la medicine, a medical history museum, and le Musee Claude Bernard. We will discuss differences and similarities of healthcare between European countries and compare and contrast European healthcare to American healthcare delivery. Students will have opportunity to interview and/or observe healthcare professionals and tour medical history museums. We will explore nursing history as an extension of military operations for wounded soldiers. Finally, we will explore pharmaceutical innovations beginning with the use of herbal remedies and discussing contemporary pharmacy availability. HONR students will give a presentation comparing an aspect of medical or nursing care in America and Europe.

NURS 397/HUMN 300/HONR 345 – Sexuality, Health & Culture in Europe

This course will evaluate European health and healthcare in relation to cultural influences, including diet, exercise, healthcare practices such as home/folk remedies, access to medical care, access to pharmaceuticals, health education, and sexual health and freedom. Students will have the opportunity to interview individuals and families, nurses, pharmacists, and/or physicians regarding health practices. Students will be immersed in French food culture and have opportunity to observe, taste, and learn cooking techniques for healthy meals and snack options based upon the European/Mediterranean diet, and healing foods based upon cultural norms. Finally, students will have the opportunity to compare and contrast personal beliefs and experiences with French cultural health norms with local Louisiana (or student’s home state) and/or US traditions.
Finally, we will observe the populace and pop-culture media including television, billboards, and radio; local festivals; personal communication with local residents; and other observations of local culture relating to sexuality and health. Local museum utilization, including La Louvre, Musee de l'erotisme, and others, as well as the Moulin Rouge to include evaluating art for the depiction of women throughout history, the depiction of LGBT, and the depiction of sex and sexuality. Students will have opportunity to observe and interview people on local beliefs and customs related to sexuality, gender identity, and health. Students will also have the opportunity to compare and contrast their own personal beliefs and beliefs and feelings local to Louisiana with their experiences abroad. HONR students will give a presentation comparing an aspect of sexuality, health, and culture in America and Europe.

Mandated for ALL Participants
Humanities 300: French Language & Culture

This course provides an introduction to conversational French language and will expose students to various aspects of the French culture. These components are held at various times (day and evenings) throughout the six-week period. This course will include:

 Pre-Departure Orientation – Preparation for travel and life in France

French Language – Conversational French taught by local language school

Culture – Guided tours and visits to cultural sites and activities

All course meetings (except the orientation) are led by certified and qualified French-based teachers or guides and are arranged by the American Institute of Foreign Studies (AIFS).  There is no need to list this course as an option because ALL participants will automatically be scheduled to take this course.