| Unit name | Realism (Level H Lecture Response Unit) |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HART30044 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Shaw-Miller |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of History of Art (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit will consider, compare and contrast, the aspiration to Realism in nineteenth century art. The aesthetics of Realism emerged in contrast to both Neo-Classicism and Romanticism and became one of the major tendencies in modern art. Emerging in the context of the European Revolutions of 1848 it reaches to the aesthetic aspirations of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and beyond. The unit will provide the opportunity to consider realist ideology in relation to artists such as Manet, Courbet, Degas, Monet, Morisot and Seurat in France. Such work can be compared to movements in other countries, such as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in England, whose approaches were supported by the writings of Ruskin and challenged by the art of Whistler. In the process the unit will explore themes such as the representations of gender, class, work, religion, and the city and country.
On successful completion of this unit students will have developed: (1) a broad understanding of the development of Realism in the nineteenth century; (2) the ability to analyse and generalise about how and why approaches to Realism differed within Europe; (3) the ability to select pertinent evidence/data in order to illustrate/demonstrate more general issues and arguments; (4) the ability to identify a particular academic interpretation, evaluate it critically, and form an individual viewpoint.
1 x 2-hour interactive lecture per week.
One summative coursework essay of 3000 words (50%) and one unseen examination of two hours (50%). Both elements will assess ILOs 1-4.
T.J. Clark, Image of the People: Gustave Courbet and the 1848 Revolution (London, 1982)
T.J. Clark, The Absolute Bourgeois: Artists and Politics in France 1848-1851 (London, 1982)
T.J. Clark, The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and his Followers (Princeton University Press, rev. 1999)
T. Dolan (ed.), Perspectives on Manet (Ashgate, 2012)
M. Werner, Pre-Raphaelite Painting and Nineteenth-Century Realism (CUP, 2005)
T. Barringer, J. Rosenfeld, A. Smith (eds), Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde (Tate, 2012)
