This seminar examines art, photography, and other forms of cultural production (e.g. film, advertisements, postcards) in and about California from the middle of the 19th century to the present. It approaches California as a contested political, historical and geographical site and as a series of images and alternative "lifestyles." How have artists pictured the state's diverse landscapes, both natural and commercial, as well as its complex history of labor, immigration, ethnicity, tourism, and social division?