Module Identifier AH10100  
Module Title INTRODUCTION TO ART HISTORY+VISUAL CULTURE - CURRENT ISSUES  
Academic Year 2001/2002  
Co-ordinator Mrs Moira Vincentelli  
Semester Semester 1 (Taught over 2 semesters)  
Other staff Mr Christopher Webster, Professor John Harvey, Mr Simon Pierse  

General description


Course overview
The course is delivered through one lecture a week in four 5-week sections based on themes that span World Art and make links between the past and very recent work. The module is initiated by a lecture introducing the problem of periods and style categorisation in art history. These issues will be followed up in the four main themes: the Artist, the Body, Landscape and Environment and the Art of the `Other?. Each lecture will focus on a specific issue and each of the four sections will cover a range of historical periods coming up to contemporary art. Each block will be tested at the end of the 5-lecture section (CAL or slide test). There will also be one hour of non- assessed CAL work relating to each section.


Tutorials
Each student will have 2 half-hour individual tutorials to discuss their assessed work. Students should bring with them to the tutorial their portfolio of work including essays, and exercises. These tutorials will also give some feedback on progress in the seminars in Module AH 10220.


Study Skills
There will 2 study skills workshops associated with university CAL provision of study skills


Module Outline


Lectures


First semester


Introductory lecture on periods, styles and 'isms' - core issue modernism MV


The Artist
1. Why Do People Make Art?   MV
2. Giorgio Vasari and the Construction of Genius   MV
3. The Romantic Temper: Artists' Self-Perception in 19th C. Europe JH
4. The Woman Artist   MV
5. Sharks: Public Perceptions of the Modern Artist - Duchamp to Hirst JH


The Body
1. Official Bodies: The Academy and Anatomy   SP
2. Ideal Bodies: Venus and her Daughters   JD
3. British Bodies: Lucien Freud to Jenny Saville   SP
4. Dead Bodies: Photography   CW
5. Alternative bodies: Picasso to Louise Bourgeois MV
   
Second semester


Introductory lecture on the art exhibition - to relate to critical writing exercise MV


Landscape and environment
1.   18th Century Landscape: Picturesque Views and Sublime Prospects SP
2. Heaven on Earth: Spiritualising the Landscape in the Romantic Period JH
3. Far off lands   SP
4.   Photography and the land   CW
5.   Shaping the World: Garden Design to Land art   JR   


The Art of 'the Other'
1. Primitivism and Modernism   MV
2. Orientalism and Representations of the Other   MV
3. Carpet Trading: Rugs around the World   MV
4. Angels and Aliens: Visualising the Celestial and Extra Terrestrial in Religion and Science Fiction   JH
5. Exploring Identity: Other artists   MV

Reading Lists

Books
Blazwick, I & Wilson, S. (2000) Tate Modern: the Handbook. London: Tate Publishing
Meecham, P & Sheldon, J. (2000) Modern Art: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge
Honour, H & Fleming. (1982) A World History of Art. London: Mcamillan
Fernie, E. (1995) Art History and its Methods, a critical anthology. London: Phaidon
Schneider Adams, L. (1996) Methodologies of Art, and Introduction. Oxford: Boulder and Westview
Buck, L & Dodd, P. (1991) Relative Values. London: BBC Books
Berger, John. (1972) Ways of Seeing. London: BBC Books
Vasari, Georgio (ed Bull). (1965) Lives of Artists. London: Penguin Books
Chadwick, W. (1990) Women, Art and Society. London: Thames and Hudson
Godfrey, T. (1998) Conceptual Art. London: Phaidon
Martin, PW & Jarvis, R. (1992) Reviewing Romanticism. Basingstoke: Macmillan
Licht, F. (1980) The Origins of the Modern Temper in Art. London: J Murray
Thompson, K. (1991) Angels and Aliens: UFOs and the Mythic Imagination. New York: Fawcett Columbine
Brennan, M. (1987) Wordsworth, Turner and the Romantic Landscape: A Study of the Traditions of the Picturesque and the Sublime. SC, Camden House
Andrews, M. (1999) Landscape and Western Art. Oxford University Press
Hill, Susan (ed). (1991) The Myth of Primitivism, Perspectives on Art. London: Routledge