| Unit name | The Arts of War and Peace, 1899-present |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HART20022 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Brockington |
| 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 examine visual responses to war and, more unusually, to peace movements, during the twentieth century. Beginning with the Boer War and ending with more recent conflicts and peace protests, it will explore how art functions in wartime as a tool for communication, propaganda, dissent and commemoration. Drawing on a range of art forms posters, medals, sculpture, memorials, eye-witness sketches and studio oils students will consider the aesthetic dilemmas posed by the crisis of conflict. They will examine the technical challenges of representing war, and they will consider how artists have responded to, or resisted, the pressure to be useful in a time of national crisis. By focusing on works which consciously avoid the subject of war, as well as those which employ more familiar visual shock-tactics, the unit will show how the experience of war and expectation of peace permeate art in unexpected ways.
