University of Essex

AR122-4-AU-CO:
Writing and Researching Art History

The details

Year: 2023/24

Department: Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)

Campus: Colchester Campus

Term: Autumn

Level: Undergraduate: Level 4

Status: Current

Start date: Thursday 05 October 2023

End date: Friday 15 December 2023

Credits: 15

Last updated: 11 October 2023

Requisites for this module

Pre-requisites: (none)

Co-requisites: (none)

Pre and / or co-requisites: (none)

Prohibited modules: (none)

Key module (requisite for): (none)

Key module for

BA V314 Art History,
BA V315 Art History (Including Placement Year),
BA V31B Art History (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA V350 Art History (Including Foundation Year),
BA V35A Art History (Including Year Abroad),
MARTV399 Art History,
MARTVB98 Art History (Including Placement Year),
MARTVB99 Art History (Including Year Abroad),
BA VV31 Art History and History,
BA VV32 Art History and History (Including Placement Year),
BA VV38 Art History and History (Including Foundation Year),
BA VV3B Art History and History (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
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 VR3B Art History with Modern Languages (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA PV33 Film Studies and Art History (Including Year Abroad),
BA VW36 Film Studies and Art History,
BA VW37 Film Studies and Art History (Including Placement Year),
BA VW38 Film Studies and Art History (Including Foundation Year),
BA VW3B Film Studies and Art History (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA QV23 Literature and Art History,
BA QV24 Literature and Art History (Including Placement Year),
BA QV2H Literature and Art History (Including Foundation Year),
BA QV32 Literature and Art History (Including Year Abroad),
BA QV3B Literature and Art History (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA VV53 Philosophy and Art History,
BA VV54 Philosophy and Art History (Including Foundation Year),
BA VV55 Philosophy and Art History (Including Placement Year),
BA VV5H Philosophy and Art History (Including Year Abroad),
BA VVHP Philosophy and Art History (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA V351 Curating,
BA V352 Curating (Including Year Abroad),
BA V353 Curating (including Placement Year),
BA V359 Curating (Including Foundation Year),
BA V35B Curating (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA W350 Art History, Visual Culture and Media Studies,
BA W351 Art History, Visual Culture and Media Studies (including Year Abroad),
BA W352 Art History, Visual Culture and Media Studies (including Placement Year),
BA W353 Art History, Visual Culture and Media Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA R100 Art History and Language Studies,
BA R101 Art History and Language Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA R102 Art History with Language Studies,
BA R103 Art History with Language Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA V305 Curating with Politics,
BA V306 Curating with Politics (Including Foundation Year),
BA V307 Curating with Politics (including Placement Year),
BA V308 Curating with Politics (including Year Abroad),
BA V309 Curating with History,
BA V310 Curating with History (Including Foundation Year),
BA V311 Curating with History (including Placement Year),
BA V312 Curating with History (including Year Abroad),
BA VV40 Art History, Heritage and Museum Studies,
BA VV41 Art History, Heritage and Museum Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA VV42 Art History, Heritage and Museum Studies (including Placement Year),
BA VV43 Art History, Heritage and Museum Studies (including Year Abroad),
BA V301 Curating, Heritage and Human Rights,
BA V302 Curating, Heritage and Human Rights (Including Foundation Year),
BA V303 Curating, Heritage and Human Rights (Including Placement Year),
BA V304 Curating, Heritage and Human Rights (Including Year Abroad)

Module description

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.

Module aims

The aim of this module is:

To introduce students to methods, histories and approaches to art historical writing.

Module learning outcomes

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.

Module information

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?

Learning and teaching methods

This module will be delivered via:

Lectures.
One 2-hour seminar per week.

Lecture will be pre-recorded and uploaded to Moodle either as 1-hour videos, or several shorter ones.

There will also be a Reading Week when no teaching will take place, exact week to be confirmed.

Bibliography

Skills@Essex on Moodle (no date). Available at: https://moodle.essex.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=15991.
Newgarden, M. and Karasik, P. (1988) ‘How to Read Nancy [essay].’ Available at: http://www.laffpix.com/howtoreadnancy.pdf.
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.
Alleva, A. D’ (2012) Methods & theories of art history. 2nd ed. London: Laurence King.
O’Grady, L. (2010) ‘Olympia’s Maid: Reclaiming Black Female Subjectivity’, in The feminism and visual culture reader. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
Bernheimer, C. (1989) ‘Manet’s Olympia: The Figuration of Scandal’, Poetics Today, 10(2). Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1773024.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ridley, D. (2012) The literature review: a step-by-step guide for students. 2nd ed. London: SAGE. Available at: https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/289522.
Barnet, S. (2014) Short Guide to Writing About Art, Global Edition. 11th edition. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Available at: https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/95911.
Alleva, A. D’ (2010) How to write art history. 2nd ed. London: Laurence King.
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.
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=83.
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.
Wallace, M.A. (2014) Writing for museums. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4783838.

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	Coursework weighting
Coursework	2 Hour In class test (Research Exercise)	20%
Coursework	Short writing task 1	6.67%
Coursework	Short writing task 2	6.67%
Coursework	800 word draft essay	0%
Coursework	Short writing task 3	6.67%
Coursework	Draft Peer Reviews	0%
Coursework	Peer Review Task	20%
Coursework	1500 word essay	40%
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

Coursework	Exam
75%	25%

Reassessment

Coursework	Exam
75%	25%

Module supervisor and teaching staff

Supervisor: Dr Matt Lodder, email: mlodder@essex.ac.uk.

Teaching staff: Dr Matthew Lodder

Contact details: PHAIS General Office - 6.130; arugadmin@essex.ac.uk.

Availability

Available to incoming Essex Abroad / Exchange students: Yes

Available to Outside Option: Yes

Available to Audit: Yes

External examiner

Name: Dr Dominic Paterson

Institution: University of Glasgow

Academic role: Senior Lecturer in History of Art / Curator of Contemporary Art

Resources

Teaching materials: Available via Moodle

Lecture recording: Of 21 hours, 19 (90.5%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
2 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

Further information

Department website: Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)

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Module Directory

AR122-4-AU-CO:Writing and Researching Art History