| Unit name | Histories, Theories and Critical Interpretations of Art: 1 |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HARTM0025 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Alexandra Hoare |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
Histories, Theories and Critical Interpretations of Art: 2 |
| School/department | Department of History of Art (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
History of Art has its own history as a discipline: it has grown over several centuries to comprise a whole series of approaches with different aims, assumptions, and methods. This unit (and its co-requisite) explores how History of Art has become the discipline it is nowadays by tracing its development from its 'origins' in the eighteenth-century. The unit also covers the main areas on which the discipline has focussed and their related methods: the notion of the artist, ideas about taste and beauty, and theories of the relation between art and history at large. It especially addresses the question of meaning in art, and how different theories of meaning - social history of art, semiotics, psychoanalysis, feminisms, philosophical aesthetics, and visual culture may be some of these - present competing pictures of how and what works of art mean.
Aims:
The unit aims to provide an introduction to the various strategies for viewing works of art and for their interpretation. The development of art history as a discipline (its historiography) will provide a strong strand in this examination. Current interpretational models will be examined closely but the possibly enduring values of older patterns of investigation will also be considered.
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1) develop their knowledge and confidence to work within in the discipline
2) learn to think critically about the discipline of History of Art
3) recognise that art-historical narratives and practices are themselves historically conditioned and subject to change
4) reflect on their own processes of research and learning
5) communicate their knowledge through group presentations.
5 x 1.5-hour fortnightly taught seminars
5 x 1.5-hour fortnightly research seminar presentations
One formative group presentation (exhibition review) [ILO 5]
One x 3500 word summative essay (100%) [ILOs 1-3]
Norman Bryson Michael Ann Holly, and Keith Moxey (eds.) Visual Culture: Images and Interpretations
David Carrier, Principles of Art History Writing
Linda Nochlin, ‘Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?’
Jonathan Harris, The New Art History: a critical introduction
Richard Nelson and R. Shiff (eds.) Critical Terms for Art History
Donald Preziosi (ed.) The Art of Art History
