| Unit name | Histories and Theories of Art |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HART22223 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Emeritus Professor. Pemberton |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of History of Art (Historical Studies) |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The unit aims to familiarize students with a range of theories and art-historical methods which either construct a history for art, or offer possibilities for interpreting meaning in art, or set limits to interpretation. The unit will centre on issues of methodology and will have a strong textual base. Texts/topics covered may include: Vasari's historiography; Winckelmann and cultural history; Hegel and historicism; Morelli and connoisseurship; W�lfflin and the psychological theory of style; Panofsky and iconology; Gombrich's psychological alternative to Hegel; Fry, Greenberg and Modernist theory; Marxist theories of art; Saussure, Pierce, Barthes and Schapiro; Foucault: epiteme, discourse and discipline; Kristeva, Irigaray and feminisms; object-relations psychoanalysis: Freud, Klein and Winnicott; Deconstruction: Derrida and de Mann; theories of intention: Baxandall and Wollheim.
Aims:
This unit is designed to give students a broad understanding of significant aspects of the development of the history of art as an academic discipline, and of the theories and theoretical perspectives relating to the current practice of history of art. To make students aware that the discipline of History of Art has a history and to highlight the range of theoretical models underpinning the subject. To familiarize students with the main methodologies which have shaped the discipline as historical in the sense that they view or construct art (a) as having its own, internal history, or (b) as something that is determined by a wider social and political history; and to develop students awareness of the interpretative theories of art and their application and applicability to art history.
Students completing this unit will have a knowledge of the principal histories and theories of art and will have developed a critical awareness of the underlying assumptions in different kinds of art-historical approaches, together with the ability to assess the advantages and shortcomings of competing methodologies.
Twice weekly lectures
Access to tutorial consultation with unit tutor(s)
1 x 3000 word essay (50% of UAM) and 1 x 2-hour examn (50% of UAM)
