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Unit information: Paris in 2015/16

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Unit name Paris
Unit code HART20028
Credit points 20
Level of study I/5
Teaching block(s) Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director Ms. Tricha Passes
Open unit status Not open
Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

HART22225 Special Field Project

School/department Department of History of Art (Historical Studies)
Faculty Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

The unit will introduce the visual arts in respect of their specific relationships with the city of Paris, beginning with the revolution of 1789 and ending with the confirmation of Paris's cultural importance with the influx of 51,000,000 visitors to the Exposition universelle in 1900. Architectural developments will be examined as well as, particularly, the effects that these had on the lives of inhabitants, largely as represented in a wide range of visual imagery. Specific case studies will concentrate on, for example, the variety of existences available to artists working in Paris (bohemian, flaneur, respectable bourgeois) and the development of the department store as both an innovative architectural form and a novel economic and social practice. Relationships between the city and the suburbs, notably as evidenced in the imagery of Impressionist artists, will also be considered, as will the struggle by artists to improve the range of exhibition venues in the city.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit successful students will have developed:

1. a broad awareness of the major artistic developments associated with Paris in the long nineteenth century;

2. a deep understanding of how art historians have approached the study of Parisian artists and/or artistic movements;

3. the ability to select pertinent evidence/data in order to illustrate/demonstrate more general historical points;

4. the ability to identify a particular academic interpretation, evaluate it critically and form an individual viewpoint;

5. the ability to express their own views in written form as appropriate to level I.

Teaching Information

Weekly 2-hour seminar.

Assessment Information

2-hour unseen written examination (summative, 100%)

ILOs 1-5 will be assessed by both the exam and the associated special field project.

Reading and References

Harvey, David., Paris, Capital of Modernity (New York, 2003)

Herbert, Robert., Impressionism: Art, Leisure and Parisian Society, (New Heaven & London, 1987)

D'Souza, Aruna and McDonough, Tom., The Invisible Flâneuse:? Gender, Public Space and Visual Culture in Nineteenth Century Paris.(Manchester and New York, Manchester University Press, 2006)

Clark,T.J., The Painting of Modern Life:Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers (London, 1985)

Gronberg, Tag., Designs on Modernity: Exhibiting the City in 1920’s Paris , (Manchester University Press, 2003)

Greenhalgh, Paul., Ephemeral Vistas: the Expositions Universelles, Great Exhibitions and World Fairs 1851-1939, (Manchester ,1988)

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