Eric Anderson

Associate Professor
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BA, Williams College
PHD, Columbia University

Eric Anderson studies and teaches the history of modern design, with interests in interiors and domesticity, design exhibitions and media, psychological theories in design, and the global history of modernism. His articles and reviews have appeared in the journals West 86th, Centropa, Journal of Design History, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, Austrian History Yearbook, German History and Burlington Magazine and in books including Design Dialogue: Jews, Culture and Viennese Modernism (Vienna, 2018), Making Home: The Arts and Crafts Movement and the Reform of Everyday Life (New Haven, 2018), Klimt und der Ringstrasse (Vienna, 2015) and Performance, Fashion, and the Modern Interior (Oxford, 2011). As Fulbright-Freud Visiting Lecturer of Psychoanalysis at the Sigmund Freud Museum in Vienna in 2017, he conducted research toward a forthcoming book Dreams in Color: Vienna’s Decorative Experiences. His most recent project tracks intersections of design pedagogy and global discourses of development at the Ulm School of Design and through Ulm’s international exchanges in Latin America, South Asia and East Asia. 

Academic areas of interest

  • the domestic interior
  • museums, exhibitions, display and media
  • design and the social sciences (anthropology, ethnography, psychology)
  • cultural history of Austria and Germany
  • global design history

Courses

Fall 2023 Courses

GRAD 190G-01 - CONVERSATIONS ON CONTEMPORARY DESIGN: MODERNISM AND BEYOND
Level Graduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Graduate Studies
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

GRAD 190G-01

CONVERSATIONS ON CONTEMPORARY DESIGN: MODERNISM AND BEYOND

Level Graduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Graduate Studies
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: F | 9:40 AM - 12:40 PM Instructor(s): Eric Anderson Location(s): Washington Place, Room 310 Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

The course offers graduate students a forum for exploring historical and theoretical foundations of contemporary design and craft arts. Readings, discussions, lectures, and writing projects address a range of contexts for the practice of design, from materials and making, to ways that objects are encountered, consumed, and lived with, to design's promises and limitations for dealing with global crises of climate, poverty, conflict, disease, and displacement. Weekly meetings are structured around critical themes selected through student input. Readings and case studies offer points of departure for discussion and writing. Guest lectures by designers, curators, and critics provide viewpoints on contemporary practice. Culminating with a final artist statement and presentation, the work undertaken throughout the term will be oriented toward developing historical and critical frameworks in which to situate students' own studio and research practices.

Open to Graduate Students.

Elective

GAC 799G-06 - THESIS
Level Graduate
Unit Liberal Arts
Subject Global Arts And Cultures
Period Fall 2023
Credits 12
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

GAC 799G-06

THESIS

Level Graduate
Unit Liberal Arts
Subject Global Arts And Cultures
Period Fall 2023
Credits 12
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Instructor(s): Eric Anderson Enrolled / Capacity: 1 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

A Master's Thesis is a substantive, research-based scholarly essay of at least 60 double-spaced pages that involves original research and makes an original intervention in the field. The culmination of the Master's Degree, the Master's Thesis is of publishable quality. This course supports the completion of the Master's Thesis. Students are required to work independently, in conversation with peers, and in individual consultation with their MA Thesis Committee to develop, complete, revise, and finalize the Master's Thesis. The Master's Thesis will be housed in the RISD Library in both print and electronic forms. Students are also expected to present work related to the Master's Thesis at the GAC MA Symposium. Please see the GAC MA Thesis Timeline for a clear sequence of required deadlines. Please see the GAC MA Thesis Guidelines and Policies for clarification of the goals and expectations of the GAC MA.

Prerequisite: Successful completion of GAC-798G and approval of the prospectus are required for enrollment.

Enrollment is limited to Global Arts and Cultures Students.

Major Requirement | MA Global Arts and Cultures

GAC 799G-03 - THESIS
Level Graduate
Unit Liberal Arts
Subject Global Arts And Cultures
Period Fall 2023
Credits 12
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

GAC 799G-03

THESIS

Level Graduate
Unit Liberal Arts
Subject Global Arts And Cultures
Period Fall 2023
Credits 12
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Instructor(s): Eric Anderson Enrolled / Capacity: 1 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

A Master's Thesis is a substantive, research-based scholarly essay of at least 60 double-spaced pages that involves original research and makes an original intervention in the field. The culmination of the Master's Degree, the Master's Thesis is of publishable quality. This course supports the completion of the Master's Thesis. Students are required to work independently, in conversation with peers, and in individual consultation with their MA Thesis Committee to develop, complete, revise, and finalize the Master's Thesis. The Master's Thesis will be housed in the RISD Library in both print and electronic forms. Students are also expected to present work related to the Master's Thesis at the GAC MA Symposium. Please see the GAC MA Thesis Timeline for a clear sequence of required deadlines. Please see the GAC MA Thesis Guidelines and Policies for clarification of the goals and expectations of the GAC MA.

Prerequisite: Successful completion of GAC-798G and approval of the prospectus are required for enrollment.

Enrollment is limited to Global Arts and Cultures Students.

Major Requirement | MA Global Arts and Cultures

Spring 2024 Courses

GAC 799G-03 - THESIS
Level Graduate
Unit Liberal Arts
Subject Global Arts And Cultures
Period Spring 2024
Credits 12
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

GAC 799G-03

THESIS

Level Graduate
Unit Liberal Arts
Subject Global Arts And Cultures
Period Spring 2024
Credits 12
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Instructor(s): Eric Anderson Enrolled / Capacity: 1 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

A Master's Thesis is a substantive, research-based scholarly essay of at least 60 double-spaced pages that involves original research and makes an original intervention in the field. The culmination of the Master's Degree, the Master's Thesis is of publishable quality. This course supports the completion of the Master's Thesis. Students are required to work independently, in conversation with peers, and in individual consultation with their MA Thesis Committee to develop, complete, revise, and finalize the Master's Thesis. The Master's Thesis will be housed in the RISD Library in both print and electronic forms. Students are also expected to present work related to the Master's Thesis at the GAC MA Symposium. Please see the GAC MA Thesis Timeline for a clear sequence of required deadlines. Please see the GAC MA Thesis Guidelines and Policies for clarification of the goals and expectations of the GAC MA.

Prerequisite: Successful completion of GAC-798G and approval of the prospectus are required for enrollment.

Enrollment is limited to Global Arts and Cultures Students.

Major Requirement | MA Global Arts and Cultures

GAC 799G-06 - THESIS
Level Graduate
Unit Liberal Arts
Subject Global Arts And Cultures
Period Spring 2024
Credits 12
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

GAC 799G-06

THESIS

Level Graduate
Unit Liberal Arts
Subject Global Arts And Cultures
Period Spring 2024
Credits 12
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Instructor(s): Eric Anderson Enrolled / Capacity: 1 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

A Master's Thesis is a substantive, research-based scholarly essay of at least 60 double-spaced pages that involves original research and makes an original intervention in the field. The culmination of the Master's Degree, the Master's Thesis is of publishable quality. This course supports the completion of the Master's Thesis. Students are required to work independently, in conversation with peers, and in individual consultation with their MA Thesis Committee to develop, complete, revise, and finalize the Master's Thesis. The Master's Thesis will be housed in the RISD Library in both print and electronic forms. Students are also expected to present work related to the Master's Thesis at the GAC MA Symposium. Please see the GAC MA Thesis Timeline for a clear sequence of required deadlines. Please see the GAC MA Thesis Guidelines and Policies for clarification of the goals and expectations of the GAC MA.

Prerequisite: Successful completion of GAC-798G and approval of the prospectus are required for enrollment.

Enrollment is limited to Global Arts and Cultures Students.

Major Requirement | MA Global Arts and Cultures

THAD H102-03 - CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

THAD H102-03

CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: W | 11:20 AM - 12:50 PM; TTH | 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Instructor(s): Eric Anderson Location(s): College Building, Room 424; Auditorium, Room 132 Enrolled / Capacity: 20 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

Continuing from critical frameworks established in H101: Global Modernisms, the second semester of the introduction to art history turns to designed, built, and crafted objects and environments. The course does not present a conventional history of the modern movement, but rather engages with a broad range of materials, makers, traditions, sites, and periods in the history of architecture and design. Global in scope, spanning from the ancient world to the present, and organized thematically, the lectures explicitly challenge Western-modernist hierarchies and question myths of race, gender, labor, technology, capitalism, and colonialism. The course is intended to provide students with critical tools for interrogating the past as well as imagining possible futures for architecture and design. 
Required for graduation for all undergraduates. 
 
First year students are registered into sections by the Liberal Arts Division. Transfer and sophomore and above students should register into the evening section offered in the spring.


For schedule conflicts during lecture times, please contact the Academic Programs Coordinator in the Liberal Arts Division office. For issues with registration, contact the Registrar's office for assistance.
 

Major Requirement | BFA

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BA, Williams College
PHD, Columbia University