| Unit name | The Artist |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HART10134 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Tania String |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of History of Art (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
As a discipline art history has frequently moved between the study of cultural products of a given historical era and a study of its cultural producers. From the time of Giorgio Vasari's highly influential 'Lives of the Artists', biography has been seen as central to art historical studies and continues to play a dominant role in art historical publishing and exhibition policy; the one-artist show still features prominently in the exhibition programmes of major cultural institutions and proves highly popular amongst the public. The identity of the artist, however, has never been stable. From the anonymity of the medieval craftsperson to the explicitly claimed 'originality' of the Modernist 'artist-genius' the notion of what might constitute an artist has frequently been debated and shifting socio-historical conditions have demanded distinct identities for such an individual. More recently, theoretical interventions have proffered a critique of the very notion of the 'dominant author' and emphasised instead the collective nature of all artistic production. These debates form the context of this unit.
