Undergraduate Art History 2020-2021

This course discusses key works and movements in the history of art from c. 1800 to today. It serves as an introduction to one of the most dynamic and multifaceted chapters in art history. Topics to be discussed may range from the Pre-Raphaelites and the rise of abstraction to contemporary performance art. The course will also consider the global intersections of Western art, aiming to de-centre our understanding of what counts as 'modern'

This course investigates key episodes in the history of art in the western world from antiquity to the nineteenth century. Students will be introduced to the artistic production of distinct historical periods, with reference to their social, political, religious and cultural contexts.

This course discusses key works and movements in the history of art from c. 1800 to today. It serves as an introduction to one of the most dynamic and multifaceted chapters in art history. Topics to be discussed may range from the Pre-Raphaelites and the rise of abstraction to contemporary performance art. The course will also consider the global intersections of Western art, aiming to de-centre our understanding of what counts as 'modern'

This course focuses on ten art objects, mapping the wealth and diversity of art historical research: from iconic 'masterpieces' to popular imagery, votive objects and craft. Works discussed may range from the Parthenon marbles and Velazquez' 'Las Meninas' to wax penises and pub signs.

Each case study introduces different questions and approaches for discussing art objects: a series of lessons in critical interpretation.

This course focuses on how artworks are made. Students will be introduced to a wide range of materials, techniques and processes over the centuries relating to paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture, photography and more. Each method and material will be examined using case-study examples, with discussion opening out to issues of the agency of materials and media and their cultural logics. In doing so, students will learn how artistic intentions are shaped and determined by material qualities.

This course offers an introduction to some of the key methodologies, concepts and critical debates that inform art-historical interpretation. The course surveys a range of approaches and debates relevant to the state of the field, and provides an introduction to the methodological and thematic concerns of current art historical research.

The nineteenth century was obsessed with the Middle Ages. All over Europe, artists sought to mine their national past as a source for a new aesthetic, evoking the Middle Ages in style and subject matter alike. But which longings and ideas motivated this revival - historically accurate, deeply religious, and romantically-subjective at the same time? Case studies include the Nazarenes in Germany, to the Pre-Raphaelites in Britain, and artists such as John Flaxman, and Caspar David Friedrich.

This course focuses on sacred and profane wall paintings in central and northern Italy, exploring their role in the making of visual cultures. It begins with materials and modes of production to enhance knowledge of theory and practice. Case-study seminars focus on themes of salvation, chivalry, politics and astrology. Students will explore the significance of works created for key sites and patrons, as well as ideas about permanence and originality during the Renaissance and in modern times.

This course offers an introduction to the contemporary photography world and assesses the medium’s role in the development of contemporary art. In doing so, it considers how photography helped redefine the nature of the art object, from its role in the radical art movements of the 1960s and 70s to recent digital practices. Students will be encouraged to explore the key photographic artworks, exhibitions, and tendencies of the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Topics to be discussed will include conceptual photography, recent documentary practices and photography after the internet. We will also consider the key theoretical issues raised by the medium, including questions of reproduction, the document and the ethics and politics of spectatorship.

In Fieldwork 2, you will continue your study of works of art and architecture in situ and/or online. If feasible, you will endeavour to undertake some independent or small group visits although these will be subject to your location, and the extent of the easing of Coronavirus restrictions. You will complete your Flogs with reflections on any summer activities, real-world or virtual, and begin selecting material for your Fieldwork ePortfolio. Although the Flogs will be included, the rest of the ePortfolio will be written in an academic style and offer you the opportunity to reflect on how your thoughts and ideas as an art historian have developed throughout the course.

The nineteenth century was obsessed with the Middle Ages. All over Europe, artists sought to mine their national past as a source for a new aesthetic, evoking the Middle Ages in style and subject matter alike. But which longings and ideas motivated this revival - historically accurate, deeply religious, and romantically-subjective at the same time? Case studies include the Nazarenes in Germany, to the Pre-Raphaelites in Britain, and artists such as John Flaxman, and Caspar David Friedrich.

This course focuses on sacred and profane wall paintings in central and northern Italy, exploring their role in the making of visual cultures. It begins with materials and modes of production to enhance knowledge of theory and practice. Case-study seminars focus on themes of salvation, chivalry, politics and astrology. Students will explore the significance of works created for key sites and patrons, as well as ideas about permanence and originality during the Renaissance and in modern times.

This course offers an introduction to the contemporary photography world and assesses the medium’s role in the development of contemporary art. In doing so, it considers how photography helped redefine the nature of the art object, from its role in the radical art movements of the 1960s and 70s to recent digital practices. Students will be encouraged to explore the key photographic artworks, exhibitions, and tendencies of the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Topics to be discussed will include conceptual photography, recent documentary practices and photography after the internet. We will also consider the key theoretical issues raised by the medium, including questions of reproduction, the document and the ethics and politics of spectatorship.

Your dissertation is intended to give you the opportunity to carry out a piece of sustained research on a topic of your own choice and to demonstrate to the examiners your ability to present the results of such research in a proper, scholarly manner. Your research may be of various kinds.  It may address works of art (or a single work of art) directly, through first-hand study in galleries, museums, or private collections, or it may be of a more literary kind, addressing critical or theoretical problems. Or it might involve both.