History of Art

BA Programme: Second Arts (2011-12)

The Arts-II programme in the History of Art is an exciting and multifaceted course of study. The second year builds on the art historical fundaments established in Arts I by offering a series of historically- and thematically-specific classes, allowing students to consider material in more detail. HA2012 is a text-based module that introduces some of the key methodological approaches to the discipline. HA2009 and HA2016 focus on the traditions of portraiture and of Roman art respectively, while HA2014 addresses the development of genre painting from the seventeenth century onwards. HA2005 provides an in-depth study of trends in patronage in Renaissance Italy, including a class trip to Florence, and HA2003 and HA2011 familiarise students with twentieth- and twenty-first century artistic practices and theories. These courses are supplemented by tutorials, which are student-centered, supportive learning environments. The Special Supervised Project, HA2015, allows those who have opted for the major-subject pathway to research and write about an art historical subject of their own choosing under the guidance and supervision of a member of the academic staff.  Three pathways are on offer:

Dr. Simon Knowles, Second-Arts Convenor.

The module investigates Italian renaissance art and architecture within the context of patronage, politics, and society. The artistic milieu of a republican city-state, such as Florence, is compared with the very different climate of a princely court, such as the Montefeltro duchy of Urbino. As a result, we will question why art and architecture may be seen to give visual expression to the democratic ideals promoted by a city-republic or to the culture of magnificence cultivated by the ruler of a princely court. Other major themes of the course are the impact of the culture of classical antiquity, the dissemination of northern European ideals of chivalry, and the changing status of the artist.

A class trip to Florence is planned. 

The production of portraits has increased exponentially since the Renaissance, with examples found in all media, from painting, sculpture and drawing, to photography, film and even architecture. As a genre, portraiture brings into focus crucial questions regarding the transactions between visual representation and subjectivity, and this module is organised thematically so as to foreground issues pertaining to the politics of identity and to the complexities of inter-subjective encounters. A number of broad questions will organise our inquiry: if a portrait delivers a ‘likeness’ of the sitter, what aspects of the individual does it resemble (physical features, emotional life, primary activities, social status, inner essence, ‘soul,’ etc.)?  What is the nature of the relationship between patron and artist, artist and sitter, and, in the case of the self-portrait, between artist and him/herself? What social and psychic functions do portraits serve, and how have these changed over time and within different contexts? By exploring such questions, students will gain a richer and more critical understanding of this crucial genre in the Western tradition.

This module explores the theory and practice of art since 1945, with an emphasis on Europe and America. Beginning with painters working in Paris, London and New York in the immediate post-war years, we go on to examine challenges to both the ‘formalist’ and ‘existentialist’ ideas which dominated the reception of that work. We consider the stakes of the re-emergence of avant-garde artistic strategies in the 1950s, and the adoption of serial forms and mechanized production processes by Minimalist and Pop artists in the 1960s. We examine art’s entanglements with commodity culture and an increasingly pervasive mass media, as well as its expansion into ‘installation’ formats and its relationship with new technologies. A priority is placed upon the visual analysis of specific artworks and an attentive, critical engagement with key texts.

We examine the work of writers on art from Antiquity to the present, and in so doing we consider the impact and context of different critical approaches to the study of the History of Art. Texts to be examined may include writings by Pliny the Elder, Theophilus, G. Boccaccio, L. Ghiberti, L.B. Alberti, G. Vasari, K. van Mander, J.J. Winckelmann, A. Riegl, E. Panofsky, C. Greenberg, M. Fried, M. Baxandall, T.J. Clark, and G. Pollock. The course introduces you to the changing historical priorities in the discipline as well as to the different historical approaches to the artworks themselves.

This module addresses the development of the genre painting from 1600 to 1900, and it will focus on the extent to which narratives of daily life are framed by the locations within which these narratives are set. The course will focus on interior and exterior scenes, and on both the urban and the rural setting. It will begin by studying seventeenth-century Dutch art and will then consider the extent to which the art of this period provided a point of departure for later representations of the contemporary scene in France and England.

A class trip to Amsterdam is planned.   

The module, which provides you with the opportunity to develop a particular line of research within the visual arts and to extend your research skills, is only open to students who have opted for the Major Pathway in the History of Art. A member of the teaching staff will supervise your 4,000-word project, the title of which must be agreed prior to a notified date in the first teaching period and which should be submitted to the senior executive assistant in the History of Art by the last working day in April 2012.

This module offers detailed explorations of key monuments of the Roman Empire in relation to questions of patronage, function and audience. Through general outlines, and a sequence of specific case studies, students will explore fundamental issues of architectural interpretation, such as its visual impact, role in social display and cultural belonging, and the aims of its makers, both patrons, architects/artists, and users.