What is the role of art to be in the modern world? Can art be a vehicle for social change, or should art be a self-critical discipline that pursues primarily aesthetic ends? What is the relationship between art and mass culture? Using primary sources, this course focuses on some of the theorists and artistic trends since the mid-nineteenth century that have sought to resolve this dilemma. These include: Ruskin, Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement; Art for Art’s Sake; the German Werkbund and the Bauhaus; American industrial design.