Arts of Korea is a broad survey of the visual arts. including ceramic arts, painting, sculpture and architecture, of Korea from neolithic times to the present, with less attention paid to music, literature, and performing arts. Each art work is placed in a cultural historical context with notes on the values, institutions, and patterns of organization of both elite and plebeian culture in each historical period.

The role of religion and philosophy in the development of the history of the visual arts is explored in detail. For example, we trace the development of Hwaom Buddhism in the Silla period (668-918 CE) and the relationship between that school of thought and both the royal family and its patronage of temples such as Pulguksa. Similarly, the relationship between literati poetry and painting in the early Chôson period similarly points to the philosophical foundations of the Chôson state. Many other examples could be cited.

The course focuses on different aspects in different periods, for example looking at pottery of the earliest period (when no painting and little architecture survives). For other time periods the survey is as broad as the surviving material allows.

While the course focuses on the artifacts of visual art in the history of Korea. the introduction of secondary readings and translated literature, along with classroom discussion of such material, inculcates the informed reading of the material.