AR122-4-AU-CO:
Writing and Researching Art History
PLEASE NOTE: This module is inactive. Visit the Module Directory to view modules and variants offered during the current academic year.
2024/25
Philosophical, Historical, and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 4
Inactive
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 13 December 2024
15
23 February 2024
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
BA V3R9 Art History with Modern Languages,
BA VR3B Art History with Modern Languages (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad)
This module is intended as a skills-building course for first year art history students, to develop writing skills across a range of assessed and non-assessed writing types (essay, critical review, reading summary, label text, catalogue essay etc).
The module will also present an introduction to research methods in art history, and a historical overview of art historical writing.
The aim of this module is:
- To introduce students to methods, histories and approaches to art historical writing.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to have:
- An understanding of primary and secondary research methods in art history.
- An understanding of expectations for academic essay writing.
- Improved writing skills across a range of writing modes (including but not limited to catalogue essays, critical reviews, label texts, and reading summaries).
- Competence in using physical and digital resources for academic work in art history.
Overall, the module is intended to clearly explain the relationship between research methods and writing in academia generally, and in art history specifically.
It will examine how art historical writing works in relation to existing knowledges, and in the absence of existing knowledges – how, for example, do auctioneers and curators write about artists for whom no existing literature exists?
Over the course of a term, it aims to explain to students how their writing at university must differ from that they undertook at school not just in the level of proficiency, but in relation to academic methods of knowledge production.
Topics will include
- What is a university? And even more broadly, what is academia?
- What is 'research''?
- How does research work in specific contexts for art historical writing: reviews, academic essays, catalogue essays, curatorial statements, didactic labels, connoisseurship, auction catalogues etc., and what is the relationship between these forms?
- How can we think about bibliographies and footnotes in these contexts?
- How does primary source research work, practically? Specifically, how does primary source research work for art history?
- What is the relationship between academic art history and institutions such as museums?
- In light of these frameworks of practical and historical knowledge, how should students approach writing essays and other outputs?
This module will be delivered via:
- One 2-hour seminar per week
There will also be a Reading Week when no teaching will take place, exact week to be confirmed.
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Newgarden, M. and Karasik, P. (1988) ‘How to Read Nancy [essay]’. Available at:
http://www.laffpix.com/howtoreadnancy.pdf.
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Elsner, J. (2010) ‘Art History as Ekphrasis’,
Art History, 33(1), pp. 10–27. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8365.2009.00720.x.
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D’Alleva, A. (2012) Methods & theories of art history. 2nd ed. London: Laurence King.
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O’Grady, L. (2010) ‘Olympia’s Maid: Reclaiming Black Female Subjectivity’, in The feminism and visual culture reader. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
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Bernheimer, C. (1989) ‘Manet’s Olympia: The Figuration of Scandal’,
Poetics Today, 10(2). Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1773024.
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Jennifer DeVere Brody (2001) ‘Black Cat Fever: Manifestations of Manet’s “Olympia”’,
Theatre Journal, 53(1), pp. 95–118. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25068885?seq=1.
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Paul Jamot (1927) ‘Manet and the Olympia’,
The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, 50(286), pp. 27–35. Available at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/863095.
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Getsy, D.J. (2022) ‘How to Teach Manet’s Olympia after Transgender Studies’,
Art History, 45(2), pp. 342–369. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8365.12647.
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Katherine Pickering Antonova (2020a) ‘Chapter 5: The Response Paper’, in
The Essential Guide to Writing History Essays. OUP USA. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/reader.action?docID=6121901&ppg=83.
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Lodder, M. (2015) ‘“Things of the sea”: iconographic continuities between tattooing and handicrafts in Georgian-era maritime culture’,
Sculpture Journal, 24(2), pp. 195–210. Available at:
https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journals/article/21236.
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McCauley, A. (2020) ‘Beauty or Beast? Manet’s in the Age of Comparative Anatomy’,
Art History, 43(4), pp. 742–773. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8365.12526.
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D’Alleva, A. (2010) How to write art history. 2nd ed. London: Laurence King.
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Pointon, M.R. (2014)
History of art: a students’ handbook. Fifth edition. Abingdon: Routledge. Available at:
https://www-taylorfrancis-com.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/books/9780203083598.
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Katherine Pickering Antonova (2020b) ‘Chapter 11: The Research Essay’, in
The Essential Guide to Writing History Essays. Oxford University Press USA - OSO. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/reader.action?docID=6121901&ppg=283.
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Serrell, B. (2015)
Exhibit labels: an interpretive approach. Second edition. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=2055684.
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The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Exam |
Main exam: Remote, Open Book, 24hr during January
|
| Exam |
Reassessment Main exam: Remote, Open Book, 24hr during September (Reassessment Period)
|
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Matt Lodder, email: mlodder@essex.ac.uk.
Dr Matthew Lodder
PHAIS General Office - 6.130; arugadmin@essex.ac.uk.
Yes
Yes
Yes
Dr Dominic Paterson
University of Glasgow
Senior Lecturer in History of Art / Curator of Contemporary Art
Available via Moodle
Of 2 hours, 2 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
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