History of Art

Theories of Modernism & Postmodernism in the Visual Arts

History of Art organised a series of invited lectures in which major art historians meditated on the principal theories of 20th-century art. Each speaker gave lectures on two successive evenings at UCC over a period of three years (2004-06). Each pair of lectures was followed by a seminar discussion, part of which is included in a series of books based on the events. The scholars were encouraged to respond to previous efforts: the notion was that the series might grow to resemble a protracted exchange in which each person has years to consider how to respond to what has been said. That speed seems entirely appropriate to a subject as prone to overly quick assertions as this.