Art History, Curating and Visual Studies. Module Descriptions 2019/20

Transcription

1 Art History, Curating and Visual Studies Module Descriptions 2019/20 Level H (i.e. 3 rd Yr.) Modules Please be aware that all modules are subject to availability. Where a module s assessment happens in a different semester or term, and you are unsure if you will be here, please contact the Art History, Curating and Visual Studies department at ahcvsadministrator@contacts.bham.ac.uk to see if they are happy for you to take this module. For many of these modules, some experience of studying History may be required, and you should remember this when choosing your modules. If there is another module that you need to have studied before taking this, it will be stated in the module description (pre-requisite). Please note that at the time this document has been prepared (February 2019) the following information is provisional, and there may be minor changes between now and the beginning of 2019/20 academic year.

2 Sculptural Experiments in Britain, MODULE CODE SEMESTER 1 This module examines the key debates and experiments in sculpture that shaped the ways in which sculpture was made, exhibited, experienced and conceptualised throughout Queen Victoria s reign, from 1837 to It addresses a diverse set of discourses that were fundamental to the development of sculpture in the period, through a range of works of sculpture, from monuments to jewellery, and a variety of textual sources, from art criticism to parliamentary reports and contemporary novels. The module s broad chronology encompasses a diverse set of ideas and experiments related to sculpture. Topics and areas of study include: the teaching and display of sculpture at the Royal Academy; sculpture and the classical ideal; sculpture at the international exhibitions; professional identity and the first sculptor societies; the emergence and promotion of British sculpture; the origins and development of the portrait statue; the problem of clothing and dress; literature, poetry and sculpture; the influence of Christianity on sculpture; reproduction and plaster casts; art and industry; and the New Sculpture of the 1870s onwards.lh Sculpt Exp in Britain.

3 Women and Artistic Culture in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Period MODULE CODE SEMESTER 1 This module draws on the recent growth of scholarship concerned with women s roles in the making and consumption of art in the late medieval and early modern period. It will first consider how contemporary gender and feminist studies can help us to explore and be critically-aware of what studying female patrons and artists might mean for modern art historians. It looks at dominant medieval discourses about the female sex that were found in popular literature, scripture, and medical theories, and how these were manifest in works of art and literature of the time. It also considers the different social, political and religious roles that were available to women in this period in order to set up a framework in which women s involvement with art and artists can be explored in a historically-specific way. The module then focuses on a series of case studies of female figures, including queens, regents, mistresses, widows, court painters, and confirmed religious, who used art as a means to wield or influence political power, make statements, seek personal aims, or earn a living. Examples include women from France, Burgundy and England, such as Anne of Brittany, Margaret of Austria, Jeanne de Boubais, Diane de Poitiers, Elizabeth I, Susan Horenbout and Lieve Teerlinc. Secular as well as devotional works will be considered (portraiture, illuminated manuscripts, tomb sculpture, objects from material culture) in order to explore the motivations of, and the strategies open to, female patrons and artists to use art to their advantage in a world dominated culturally and politically by men.

4 Contemporary Art and Masculinity MODULE CODE SEMESTER 1 This module examines contemporary art through the lens of masculinities. It considers how an understanding of changing conceptions of masculinity on a global scale in the contemporary period can help us understand the processes, materials, reception, and preoccupations of contemporary art. This module explores key texts in gender theory and queer theory, while remaining attentive to socially and spatially specific expressions of masculinity. It moves through a number of themes addressed in contemporary art that intersect with masculinity, including: body, war, blackness, desire, migration, family, plague, memory, and female masculinity.

5 Mixing Media: Word, Music, Image MODULE CODE SEMESTER 1 The classical notion of ut pictura poesis proposes that as is painting, so is poetry. This concept is often taken to mean that word and image should be seen as sister arts. But if we accept this proposal, does this mean that these two forms of expression share affinities, coexist harmoniously, and are essentially interchangeable? Or, rather, does it pit them in competition, vying for dominion over each other? In the nineteenth century, the relationship between word and image was further enriched by art writing and practice that drew on musical concepts to explore form, material and expression. Words borrowed from music, such as metre, harmony, scale and melody all took their place in discussions about visual art. But again, we need to ask whether this a productive unification of different modes of expression, or do allusions to music instead distort and disfigure both music and art? This module explores intertextual art- that which incorporates, or whose meaning is shaped, by other media, notably word and music. Working trans-historically, it investigates the ways in which the inclusion or association of word and music affect meaning in the visual, and whether we should see these various modes of communication as competing or complimentary. It draws on a variety of theoretical approaches to probe the relationship between these media, including semiotic analysis, metaphysical aesthetics, and studies of ekphrasis The aim is to develop critical understanding of the methodological issues involved in evaluating and deconstructing intertextual and inter-media relationships.

6 Paris Moderne : Image, Concept, Femininity MODULE CODE SEMESTER 2 The centrality of Paris to the development of modern art is well established and Paris itself has taken on something of a mythical status in histories of modernity. This module explores from an interdisciplinary perspective the emergence and development of Paris between 1850 and 1930 as the focus of modernist cultural activity. Looking at the changing fabric, image and concept of the city, this module investigates ways in which Paris was experienced, conceptualised, made and represented by artists, photographers, urban planners, architects, designers and writers from Émile Zola and Édouard Manet to Eugène Atget, Sonia Delaunay and Walter Benjamin. Moreover, it will consider the significance to contemporaneous and subsequent practitioners of the making of modern Paris in relation the feminine - a city of capital, consumption, seduction, pleasure and the Parisienne. This module is designed to encourage students to understand the making of Paris moderne from a multiplicity of cultural, historical and theoretical perspectives. So, rather than treating the image and fabric of Paris as self-sufficient entities, students will be encouraged also to engage directly with representations of the city in literary and theoretical texts. Topics include: the social, artistic and literary impact and legacy of Haussmannisation; fashioning the Parisienne; poster art and commercialised leisure; exhibiting Paris; Surrealists in the city.

7 Michelangelo MODULE CODE SEMESTER 2 The Michelangelo Special Subject will deal with the wide-ranging works of this artist, examining his artistic outlook and his special achievements. Particular emphasis will be placed on historical evidence and modern critical responses. The early weeks will focus on a chronological investigation of Michelangelo s career and his main works of sculpture and painting, including the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the New Sacristy of S. Lorenzo. These works will be carefully chronicled and interpreted with the aid of drawings and early written sources, and will then be set into their broader historical, artistic and cultural contexts. The final part of the module will look more closely at questions of theory and artistic procedure, and particularly at Michelangelo s own aesthetic and philosophical views, as represented in his writings and in other texts of the period. It will compare Michelangelo s outlook towards art with those of others of the period, and it investigate various relationships between him and his contemporaries, and also various controversies, as a means of defining his artistic objectives more closely.

8 Global Art and Cultural Studies MODULE CODE SEMESTER 2 This module brings the Euro-American horizon of contemporary art into comparison with non- Western practises from Africa, Latin American, Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania. The module covers early colonial globalization, as well as case studies from the post-war period 1945 to the present, encompassing cold war avant-gardes and also artistic tendencies post Through the study of key artworks and texts the module analyses globalization and its complex consequences for the contemporary art world today. It focuses on the construction of the historical narratives of imperialism, the visual culture of colonialism, nationalism and liberation struggles, and postcolonial art movements of resistance and subversion. The module will also examine museum and gallery practice in relation to global art.

9 Exiled and Displaced. Relationships between Modern Visual Cultures and Socio-Politics MODULE CODE SEMESTER 2 This module will explore modern visual cultures from the perspective of exile and displacement, inquiring into the relationships between society and politics with art. Are artworks mere reflections of society or do they also influence society and politics? In what ways have political systems instrumentalised art for propaganda? In what ways do artists lives influence their works? These questions will be explored by focusing on mass migration from Nazi Germany to the UK and the British Empire in the 1930s. Assuming an interaction between society and art works, we will explore theories of migration and displacement as developed by Exile Studies and Postcolonialism, differentiate between the refugee, exile and émigré and research the appropriateness of processes of migration such as assimilation, integration and entanglement, and thus provide a framework with which to analyse the relationship between socio-politics, the émigré artist and a variety of media (painting, sculpture, photography, caricature and design). Students taking this module will gain a better understanding of avant-garde art in Germany/Europe and visual culture of the first half of the twentieth-century such as Expressionism, the Bauhaus, Surrealism and Constructivism. The module will employ a range of teaching methods, including lectures, seminars and self-study techniques and practise exam, presentation and essay skills.