AR113-4-AU-CO:
Art and Ideas: I(A)
2016/17
Art History and Theory
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 4
Current
15
-
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
BA V314 Art History,
BA V350 Art History (Including Foundation Year),
BA V35A Art History (Including Year Abroad),
BA VV31 Art History and History,
BA VV3C Art History and History (Including Year Abroad),
BA V3RB Art History and Modern Languages (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA VR39 Art History and Modern Languages,
BA V3R9 Art History with Modern Languages,
BA PV33 Film Studies and Art History (Including Year Abroad),
BA VW36 Film Studies and Art History,
BA QV23 Literature and Art History,
BA QV2H Literature and Art History (Including Foundation Year),
BA QV32 Literature and Art History (Including Year Abroad),
BA VV53 Philosophy and Art History,
BA VV5H Philosophy and Art History (Including Year Abroad),
BA V351 Curating,
BA V352 Curating (Including Year Abroad),
BA V359 Curating (Including Foundation Year),
BA V35B Curating (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad)
Module Description:
Module Outline
This module aims to provide an overview of the varied ways in which art historians, philosophers, artists and critics have thought and written about art from Antiquity to the twentieth century. It is organised around two major themes: Representation, and the problematic emotions of pity and fear. The module begins by examining a painting by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte, The Treachery of Images. We will consider how Magritte addresses issues relating to representation that have preoccupied artists and thinkers throughout history. Next, we will explore some of the writings on art of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato – particularly in the Republic and Ion. We will examine Plato's critique of the arts and consider the wider implications of his positions. In the following weeks we will consider how some of the same problems have been addressed at other points in history, looking at the writings of Leonardo da Vinci and Roland Barthes. The module next turns to the issue of negative emotions such as pity and fear. The question of whether artists should depict these emotions, or try to arouse them in their viewers, was one that preoccupied Plato. It was taken up by Plato's follower Aristotle, who wrote a powerful defence of both art as a whole and tragedy specifically. Aristotle's short treatise, the Poetics, has had a lasting influence on art theory in Europe. We will consider how it might contribute to our understanding of art. We will then examine how some of the same questions might be explored in relation to a work of ancient art: the well-known statue of Laocoön. In the process, we will look at a number of texts by German writers of the eighteenth century who laid the foundations of the modern discipline of Art History. The module concludes with an exploration of Friedrich Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, in which a discourse developed over millennia, and rooted in the philosophy of Aristotle, collides with the preoccupations of Modernity.
Aims
The aims of this module are to:
-provide students with knowledge of some of the key theoretical issues relating to the history of art;
-encourage students to interact and to engage critically with theoretical texts relating to the study of art history;
-develop student skills of analysis and interpretation of works of art and architecture;
-stimulate students to develop skills in oral and written communication through debates, essays and examinations;
-introduce students to original works of art and architecture in galleries and museums, in addition to their classroom studies.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module students should be able to:
-demonstrate a sound knowledge and grasp of a number of key theoretical texts relating to the study of the history of art;
-speak and write articulately about theoretical issues relating to the study of the history of art;
-analyse and interpret works of art and architecture;
-relate their analyses and interpretations of works of art to theoretical literature;
approach theoretical literature in a critical fashion.
No information available.
No information available.
Also available as an outside option and to students on an international exchange programme.
10 x 2 hour seminars (comprising of a one-hour lecture, followed by a one-hour seminar).
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Autumn Term Essay |
|
50% |
| Coursework |
Take Home Research Paper |
|
50% |
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 Caspar Pearson, Lauren Winsor (GTA)
Barbara Brickman, First Year Administrator
Email: bbrick@essex.ac.uk
Yes
Yes
No
No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
Of 32 hours, 13 (40.6%) hours available to students:
1 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
18 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
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