Revolution and Radicalism: Histories of Western Art

Course Description

Course Content:

This introductory module performs two main functions. Firstly, to explore the nature,
concerns and challenges of artistic practices from the later 18th century onward in
relation to the broader context of social and political change. In particular notions of
revolution and radicalism provide a guiding thematic through which to interrogate
moments in history, fully acknowledging our contemporary positioning in relation to
those histories.

Secondly, the module engages with the nature of disciplinary enquiry, providing students
with a clear sense of historiography as well as the shifting nature of art historical
concerns. At the same time art's collisions with other areas of practice are seen as an
important, productive aspect of the Avant Garde project.
The module therefore sets out to allow students new to university work to take
ownership of their studies, to become art historians by learning the key skills necessary
to conduct basic research and to come to their own judgements regarding the worth of
the literature they encounter.

Critical skills will be honed by challenging the narratives of modern art as the students
study these: they will be encouraged to critique the rhetoric of revolution and radicalism,
and to place the histories of modern art in the larger frameworks of visual culture.

Topics covered may include:
? problems of development, evolution and chronology in the History of Art.
? the Avant Garde and the Academy: complicating narratives of a traditional
enmity.
? geographies of Art History: centres and peripheries.
? the significance of art: aesthetics, politics and social change.
? the artwork as image and object.

Autumn Semester:
? Introduction to Module, Theme One; Modernity ? where are we? How did we get
here? Looking at individuals and institutions
? Public and private spaces of art
? Tradition and innovation (Classicisms and Romanticisms)
? The City
? The Country, museum visit to Tate Britain
? Theme Two; Art & Society ? public art
? Modernism and realism
? Surrealism and its Legacy
? Theme Three; Markets ? Salons to Biennales
? Canvases to careers
? The Avant-Garde

Spring Semester:
? Theme Four; Art & Politics ? Artists and revolutions: the Avant-Garde and Utopia
? Aesthetics, law and order: the Avant-Garde and tradition
? The Avant-Garde and activism
? Art and consumerism
? Theme Five; Modernism ? Manet?s modernism, museum visit to Courtauld.
? Modernism and mechanical reproduction
? Cubism and European modernisms between the wars, museum visit to Tate
Modern
? New York modernism: Greenberg and his critics,
? Theme Six; Postmodernism ? ?high? postmodernism.
? Black British art
? The Globalisation of Art, contemporary art in India

Teaching:
Lectures, visits, seminars, workshops

Assessment:
STUDY OPTION 1:
? Group presentations (20%)
? Research Log (20%)
? Essay (60%)
STUDY OPTION 2 OR 3: Assessed essay (1,500-2000 words) (tbc)

Study Option 1 = Whole Year
Study Option 2 = Autumn
Study Option 3 = Spring/summer