This course is part of the Modern and Contemporary Art and Design Specialization

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4,206 ratings

Sarah Meister

392,970 already enrolled

Offered By

Modern and Contemporary Art and Design SpecializationThe Museum of Modern Art

About this Course

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Taking, sharing, and viewing photographs has become second nature for many of us. Given our near-constant engagement with images this course will help you dig into the meaning of pictures and reconsider photography’s role in our visual culture. This course aims to address the gap between seeing and truly understanding photographs by introducing a diversity of ideas, approaches, and technologies that inform their making. 
In this course you will look closely at 100 photographs from the collection of The Museum of Modern Art, going behind the scenes of the Museum and into artist studios through original films and audio interviews. You will hear a variety of perspectives on the ways photography has been used throughout its 180-year history: as a means of artistic expression, a tool for science and exploration, an instrument of documentation, a way to tell stories and record histories, and a mode of communication and critique. Short texts and readings from MoMA publications provide enhanced context for the works in the course. 

By enrolling in this course, you’ll join a community of international learners in discussion forums, receive invitations to live and virtual events from our lead instructor Sarah Meister, and gain exclusive access to MoMA resources.

UPDATE:
We’ve been listening to your feedback! In September 2020, we launched new content in Seeing Through Photographs, including audio interviews with additional contemporary artists from around the world, videos of Sarah introducing key ideas, and almost doubling the number of photographs from the collection. We’ve also added opportunities for you to share and receive feedback on your photographs in the discussion forums.

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Coursera Labs

Includes hands on learning projects.

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Course 2 of 4 in the

Modern and Contemporary Art and Design Specialization

Beginner Level

Approx. 17 hours to complete

English

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What you will learn

Understand artists’ processes and the choices that inform a photograph’s making, including experimentation and responses to technological innovation.
Learn how context influences the production, circulation, and reception of photographic images.
Understand the relationship between a photograph’s subject and meaning, and the differences between photographs as objects and photographic images.
Gain confidence in looking at and talking about photography, and find inspiration from photographs all around you.

Skills you will gain

Photography
Art
History
Museums
Art History

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Coursera Labs

Includes hands on learning projects.

Learn more about Coursera Labs

Course 2 of 4 in the

Modern and Contemporary Art and Design Specialization

Beginner Level

Approx. 17 hours to complete

English

Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?

Try Coursera for Business

Instructor

Instructor rating

4.78/5 (708 Ratings)

Sarah Meister

Curator

Department of Photography

402,492 Learners

2 Courses

Offered by

The Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is a place that fuels creativity, ignites minds, and provides inspiration. Join us in exploring the art, ideas, and issues of our time through the Modern and Contemporary Art and Design Specialization or through individual courses: Modern Art & Ideas, Seeing Through Photographs, What Is Contemporary Art?, Fashion as Design, and In the Studio: Postwar Abstract Painting. Learn about teaching with art in our three courses designed for K-12 educators: Art & Inquiry, Art & Activity, and Art & Ideas.

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Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Content Rating98%(97,529 ratings)

Week1

Week 1

1 hour to complete

Introduction to Seeing Through Photographs

1 hour to complete

3 videos (Total 8 min), 5 readings

Week2

Week 2

3 hours to complete

One Subject, Many Perspectives

3 hours to complete

8 videos (Total 24 min), 8 readings, 1 quiz

8 videos

Vik Muniz on Photographing the Familiar3mEarly Photographs of the Moon: Surface, Scale, and Technology2mEugène Atget. Pendant l'éclipse. 19123mLiz Deschenes on Tilt/Swing (360º field of vision, version 1), 20091mNew Perspectives: Man on the Moon2mU.S.G.S. and NASA, Surveyor III. Surface of the Moon, Day 319, W-F. 19671mVernacular and Fine Art Photographs of the Moon3mAnsel Adams. Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico. 19413m

8 readings

Introduction to This Week10mArtistic Equivalents10mMoons and Moonlight10mPhotographs by NASA10mWho Does the Moon Belong To?10mMoon Phases10mOptional Discussion Prompts and Creative Challenges10mOptional Readings and Resources30m

1 practice exercise

Practice Memory Check30m

Week3

Week 3

3 hours to complete

Documents and the Documentary

3 hours to complete

7 videos (Total 25 min), 8 readings, 1 quiz

7 videos

Sarah Meister on Documents and the Documentary3mZora J Murff on At No Point in Between, 2018–198mMike Mandel on Evidence, 19774mThomas Demand on Room (Zimmer), 19961mDorothea Lange. Migrant Mother. 19361mDorothea Lange. On the Road to Los Angeles, California. March 19371mSarah Meister on Documentary Photography3m

8 readings

Introduction to This Week10mFacts and Fictions10mFictions and Facts10mArtist Spotlight: Dorothea Lange10mArtist Spotlight: Gordon Parks10mArbus, Friedlander, and Winogrand10mOptional Discussion Prompts and Creative Challenges10mOptional Readings and Resources30m

1 practice exercise

Practice Memory Check30m

Week4

Week 4

3 hours to complete

One and Another

3 hours to complete

6 videos (Total 27 min), 8 readings, 1 quiz

6 videos

Sarah Meister on Photography and Multiplicity2mFrances Benjamin Johnston. The Hampton Album. 1899-19001mNicholas Nixon on The Brown Sisters, 1975–Present1mSohrab Hura on Snow, 2015–ongoing5mIrina Rozovsky on Miracle Center, 2019–ongoing5mIñaki Bonillas on Marginalia, 2019–ongoing9m

8 readings

Introduction to This Week10mArtwork Spotlight: Frances Benjamin Johnston's The Hampton Album, 1899-190010mPhoto Books10mPhoto Series10mOne from Many10mOptional Discussion Prompts and Creative Challenges10mOptional Readings and Resources30mMid-Course Survey5m

1 practice exercise

Practice Memory Check30m

Week5

Week 5

3 hours to complete

Constructing Narratives, Challenging Histories

3 hours to complete

8 videos (Total 33 min), 7 readings, 1 quiz

8 videos

Hank Willis Thomas on the Role of Advertising Images3mCarrie Mae Weems on From Here I Saw What Happened and I Cried, 1995–962mWalid Raad on My neck is thinner than a hair: Engines, 1996–20011mHarrell Fletcher on The American War, 20054mIñaki Bonillas on Constructing Identities5mCindy Sherman. Untitled Film Stills. 1977–801mDionne Lee on True North and AA O KK, 20197mDavid Alekhuogie on To Live and Die in LA, 20194m

7 readings

Introduction to This Week10mArtwork Spotlight: Hank Willis Thomas's UNBRANDED series10mConstructing History10mChallenging History10mConstructing Personal Narratives10mOptional Discussion Prompts and Creative Challenges10mOptional Readings and Resources30m

1 practice exercise

Practice Memory Check30m

Week6

Week 6

3 hours to complete

Pictures of People

3 hours to complete

7 videos (Total 25 min), 8 readings, 1 quiz

7 videos

Katy Grannan on Taking Portraits3mSusan Meiselas on Carnival Strippers, 1973–755mAkram Zaatari on After They Got the Right to Arms. Fourteen young men posing with guns, early 1970s/20066mStephanie Syjuco on Cargo Cults, 2013–162mTina Barney on Sunday New York Times, 19821mDeana Lawson on Roxie and Raquel, 20101mMaria Antelman on Hall of Mirrors, Self Stranger, and Puzzlers I and II, 20204m

8 readings

Introduction to This Week10mArtwork Spotlight: Katy Grannan's Portraits10mExploring Agency10mSelf-Possession10mPerforming Identity10mLoved Ones10mOptional Discussion Prompts and Creative Challenges10mOptional Readings and Resources30m

1 practice exercise

Practice Memory Check30m

Week7

Week 7

3 hours to complete

Ocean of Images

3 hours to complete

10 videos (Total 37 min), 7 readings, 2 quizzes

10 videos

Sarah Meister on the Ocean of Images2mGertrudes Altschul. Lines and Tones. c. 19521mRobert Heinecken. Are You Rea. 1964–681mMartha Rosler on House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home, 1967–727mCarmen Winant on My Birth, 20182mThomas Ruff on jpeg msh01, 20044mAnouk Kruithof on Subconscious Travelling, 20134mLucas Blalock on Strawberries, 2014–153mDavid Horvitz on Mood Disorder, 20153mÖzlem Altın on Topography (of time, of body), 20195m

7 readings

Introduction to This Week10mBefore the Digital Wave10mAppropriating Mass Media10mBorn Digital10mOptional Creative Challenge10mOptional Readings and Resources30mEnd of Course Survey5m

2 practice exercises

Practice Memory Check30mFinal Assignment (Required for Certificate)30m

Reviews

4.8

1108 reviews

5 stars
81.33%
4 stars
15.50%
3 stars
2.20%
2 stars
0.47%
1 star
0.47%

TOP REVIEWS FROM SEEING THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHS

by AWMar 21, 2016

Very comprehensive overview of photography - I learned a lot more than I expected given the time frame. There were a lot of resources and readings, and I enjoyed the fact that the quizzes

by AQMar 8, 2016

Seeing Through Photographs has given me a whole new way of looking at my own and other peoples' work. So many aspects, details and points of view, the world of photography now seems even more amazing.

by JGFeb 24, 2020

i loved this course, i learned a lot and could comparate photographers with different view and type of shape of art. i hope that in a future will have more free courses. thanks you moma!

by JGMay 26, 2020

I really enjoyed the lessons in seeing through photographs. What I like most about the course are the videos posted by MoMA, it was a pleasure seeing photographs from their collection.

View all reviews

About the Modern and Contemporary Art and Design Specialization

This Specialization will introduce you to the art of our time. Through original films and audio, you will go behind the scenes to look closely at artworks and into studios to hear directly from artists, designers, curators and others. This Specialization is for anyone who would like to learn more about modern and contemporary art. No prior knowledge is required. Enroll to receive invitations to virtual events, gain exclusive access to MoMA resources, and share ideas with an international learner community.

Start with Modern Art & Ideas to learn how artists have taken inspiration from their environment and responded to social issues over the past 150 years. Next, take a deep dive into Seeing Through Photographs, exploring photography from its origins in the mid-1800s through the present. This course addresses the gap between seeing and truly understanding photographs by introducing ideas, approaches and technologies that inform their making. Explore artworks made since 1980 in What Is Contemporary Art? Ranging from 3-D–printed glass and fiber sculptures to performances in a factory, the works in this course introduce you to the diverse materials, motivations and methods of artists working today. Complete the Specialization with Fashion as Design, and investigate the choices you make about fashion in relation to expression, sustainability, labor practices, identity and more. Learn from makers working with clothing every day—and, in some cases, reinventing it for the future.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
The course may not offer an audit option. You can try a Free Trial instead, or apply for Financial Aid.
The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.

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Seeing Through Photographs

About this Course

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Skills you will gain