HISTORY OF ART

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr J Geddes

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

Lectures on this course are organised around a pre-selected sequence of times and countries (eg Italy 1400, France 1900) in which key developments took place in the field of art history. These are presented each week in chronological fashion and extend from pre-history to the present day. Tutorials are closely related to the lectures, providing students with the opportunity to explore specific works of art in detail.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures and 1 one-hour tutorial per week. One trip to Edinburgh galleries.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (70%) and in-course assessment (30%).

Resit: 1 two-hour written examination (100%). NB. All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

20

Course Coordinator

Dr A Bryzgel

Pre-requisites

None.

Overview

‘Modern Art’ will consider the emergence and development of the phenomenon of ‘Modernism’ in Western art from about 1820 to the present day. The following areas will be discussed: Landscape painting in Britain and France; industrial design; Gothic Revival and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; Realism; Impressionism; Symbolism; Post-Impressionism; the fin de siècle; and movements in twentieth-century art.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures per week; 1 one-hour tutorial per week. One trip to Aberdeen Art Gallery.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour examination (70%) and in-course assessment (30%).

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor G Bailey

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 2 or above.

Overview

Architecture, painting and sculpture in Europe from about 1100 to about 1600, with special emphasis on Italy.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures, 1 one-hour seminar and approximately 1 hour’s preparation per week (using prescribed slides and printed material).

One trip to Glasgow.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Participation (10%); exam (60%); essays (30%).

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Mr J Gash

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in level 2 or above.

Overview

Painting, sculpture and architecture in Europe from about 1600 to about 1770.

Structure

3 one-hour lectures, 1 one-hour seminar and approximately 1 hour’s preparation per week (using prescribed slides and printed material).

One trip to Edinburgh or Glasgow and preparatory work specific to it, average of one-hour per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (two papers) (70%) and in-course assessment (30%).

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Geddes

Pre-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.
Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

This course looks at the flowering of art in northern Britain and Ireland after the Romans departed. The period (c500-900) saw a fusion of cultures (Pictish, Saxon, Irish and eventually, Viking) welded by the advance of Christianity. Manuscripts like the Lindisfarne Gospels and Book of Kells are studied, as well as metalwork and stone carvings. The course provides opportunities to visit many local Pictish monuments.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%) and in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes a slide test.

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: all coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr T R Nichols

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in 2009/10 as HA 3532.

Overview

This course will focus on painting and sculpture in Venice in the period 1450-1600. Artists covered will include the Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, the Lombardi, Sansovino, Veronese, Tintoretto. The work of these individuals will be analysed in relation not only to their art historical context, but also the social and economic background.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%) and in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes a slide test.

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: all coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

0

Course Coordinator

Professor G Bailey

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course is compulsory for Single and Joint Honours students in History of Art. HA 3048 is an essential precursor to HA 4048, Fieldwork 2.

Overview

Field work comprises the study of works of art and architecture in situ. Compulsory elements are a residential reading party, a taught week in London and a supervised visit to Glasgow. Students are also expected to explore art galleries, museums and architecture on their own.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: attendance on compulsory visits and production of draft portfolio (90%) and class participation (10%).

Resit: In-course assessment: attendance on compulsory visits and production of draft portfolio (100%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Mr J Gash

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in 2009/10 as HA 3539.

Overview

Covers painting, drawing and engraving in both the United Provinces and the Spanish Netherlands during the so-called ‘golden age’ of Dutch painting. The course is concerned with examining the relationship of art to culture and society; with stylistic analysis; and, in the case of Rembrandt and his workshop, with issues of attribution. Artists studied include: Rubens; Hals; Rembrandt; Vermeer; Ruisdael; Cuyp and Steen.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%) and in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes a slide test.

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr T Nichols

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

This course analyses in detail developments in north European art (especially paintings, sculptures and prints from Germany, the Netherlands and Britain) from c. 1480 to c. 1580. Stylistic, iconographic, technical and ideological connections and differences within the visual material examined will be highlighted, as will its vital (though changing) relation with contemporary artistic work in Italy (see HA 3045/HA 3532).

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%) and continuous assessment (70%). The in-course assessment inlcudes a slide test.

Resit: Examination (100%). All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Morrison

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

The course covers the development of Scottish painting from the Act of Union to the accession of Queen Victoria. Throughout this period Scottish painting will be set in the context of Scotland's changing position as a cultural centre within the United Kingdom. Using the major art works of the period and the University's wide ranging eighteenth and nineteenth century visual collections, the developing national cultural identity is considered. Students on this course will make extensive use of digital technology in the preparation and presentation of assignments.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%) and in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes a slide test.

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: all coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Morrison

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

The course examines French painting from the Barbizon School and Realism through to Impressionism set in the context of social, political and cultural developments in France in the nineteenth century. Students on this course will make extensive use of digital technology in the preparation and presentation of assignments.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (30%), continuous assessment (70%) which includes a slide test.

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Pryor

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

This course analyses in detail developments in art in France from c1880 to c1939. Stylistic, iconographic technical and ideological connections and differences within the visual material examined will be highlighted, as will changing relations with contemporary artistic work elsewhere in Europe.

Structure

1 two-hour seminar per week alternating, on a weekly basis, with 2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%) and continuous assessment (70%). The continuous assessment includes a slide test.

Resit: Examination (100%). NB All course work must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Mr J Gash

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

The course deals with the two waves of revolutionary stylistic change which occurred in French art after the Rococo, and which coincided with the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, the Bourbon Restoration, and the July Monarchy. The impact of the political environment on the visual arts will be addressed, as will that of the Romantic Movement in literature. Major painters featured include David, Ingres, Girodet, Gros, Géricault, and Delacroix.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week, 6 hours fortnightly.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%), continuous assessment (70%). The continuous assessment includes a slide test.

Resit: Examination (100%). NB All course work must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Geddes

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

This course will examine architecture in Britain from the Arts and Crafts movement around 1900 to the achievements of the Millennium. Domestic architecture will be examined from the Garden Suburb to high-rises and eco houses. Technological change, from the arrival of the motor car, to the aeroplane and cinema, is marked by new strategies for urban design and new building types. Architecture as a tool for economic regeneration has produced key-note cultural buildings like galleries and museums, some with innovative new design and some recycling older structures. There will be opportunities to visit sites on field trips.

Structure

3 hours per week, divided into lectures and seminars. Field trip.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%), in-course assessment (70%). The continuous assessment includes a slide test.

Resit: Examination (100%). NB All course work must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr T Nichols

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in 2009/10 as HA 3565.

Overview

This course focuses on visual art of the late fifteenth and sixteenth century in Central Italy (particularly Milan, Florence, Rome and Parma), one of the key periods in the history of European art. Artistic practices will be analysed with reference not only to the objects, but also to the history of scholarly responses to them. The approach will be chronological and artist-based, with discussion focussed on key works and commissions.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (30%), in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes class participation (10%), two 2000 word essays (40%) and a slide test (20%).

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor G Bailey

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in programme year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in 2009/10 as HA 3066.

Overview

Begins with an exploration of the art of Mesoamerica and the Andes before the arrival of the Europeans, including the Maya, Olmecs, Aztecs, and Inca. Explores the cultural convergence that resulted from the conquest in the 16th century, focusing on the role of Amerindian artists and traditions in the formation of early Colonial culture. Traces the development of the colonial arts, considering the role of civil and religious patronage, the rise of the art guilds, the international makeup of European cultures in the Americas, and the relationship with the arts of Spain and Portugal. Considers the rise of nationalism in the 17th and 18th centuries and its effect on the arts, including the revival of Amerindian forms by the independence movement in regions that would later become Peru and Mexico. Explores the development of the arts from independence from Spain and Portugal in the early 19th century to the present, including a consideration of Frida Kahlo, Deigo Rivera, and Francisco Botero, as well as Chicano art in the United States.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week, 6 hours fortnightly.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (30%), in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes class participation (10%), two 2,000 word essays (40%) and a slide test (20%).

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Professor G Bailey

Pre-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for the course after the end of week 2 of teaching. Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

This course considers Baroque sculpture and architecture from around 1620 to 1780. This period was marked by lavish patronage by popes, cardinals, and princes, primarily in Italy, France, Iberia and Central Europe. The art is studied in its political, cultural and religious context. Highlights artists and architects such as, Bernini, Borromini, Pietro da Cortona, Le Vau, Le Brun, and the Asam Borthers. Topics include the concept of the Baroque unity of the arts, and the interaction of religious and profane space.

Structure

3 hours per week, delivered in two sessions involving lectures and seminars.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (30%), in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes class participation (10%), two 2,000 word essays (40%) and a slide test (20%).

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr M Pryor

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in 2009/10 as HA 3068.

Overview

This course concentrates on 20th-Century American painting from the Armory Show in 1913 onwards. It considers the rise of American painting in relation to contemporary developments in Europe, from America’s indigenous tradition and its initial responses to European Modernism, the Realism of Hopper, the Regionalism of Wood and Benton to the Abstract Expressionism of Pollock. The factors governing the triumph of American painting are examined. It then considers the works of Pop Art and Super-Realism and culminates in the post-modern climate of the 1990s.

Structure

3-4 hours per week, divided into whole class and group-led seminars.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%) and in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes a slide test.

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr J Geddes

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

The country house is studied in its architectural and social context from 1500 to the present day. Architects, patrons, building materials, technology, problems of preservation. Emphasis is placed on first-hand knowledge of individual buildings, with many opportunities to visit houses in the locality.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%) and in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes a slide test.

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Mr J Gash

Pre-requisites

Available only to students in Programme Year 3 or above.

Notes

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. This course will be available in 2009/10 as HA 30XX.

Overview

Approximately one third of the course is devoted to the paintings of Caravaggio (1571-1610). This is followed by an examination of his influence on Italian, Netherlandish, French, and Spanish artists during the first half of the seventeenth century (eg from Italy - Artemisia and Orazio Gentileschi; from the Netherlands - Honthorst and Terbrugghen; from France - Valentin and La Tour). Issues addressed include the nature of "realism" in Caravaggesque art; the rationale of certain recurrent motifs and conventions; and the peculiarities of Caravaggesque iconography.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%) and in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes a slide test.

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr A Bryzgel

Pre-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 or teaching. Available only to students in Programme year 3 or above.

Notes

This course will be available in 2009/10.

Overview

This course will introduce students to the major artists and artistic movements in Russia from the late 19th century until today. The main focus will be on the interrelation between art and politics in Russia during one of the most turbulent centuries in the country's history. From the social realism of the Wanderers to the propaganda art of Klucis and Rodchenko, through the Soviet years of repression and into the post-independent era, when artists continued to express their concerns about topical issues, art and politics in Russia have been virtually inextricable. We will pay particular attention to the function of the avant-garde and its efficacy throughout the twentieth century in Russia. We will also examine a second current throughout this course, that of the relation of Russian artists to their counterparts in the West, which are times they purposefully rejected, and at others aimed to emulate or at least appropriate.

Structure

1 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: 1 two-hour written examination (30%) continuous assessment (70%) made up of two essays (20% each), class participation (10%) and visual test (20%).

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Mr J Gash

Pre-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.
Available only to Single and Joint Honours candidates in History of Art in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will be available in 2009/10.

Overview

Covers the paintings, drawings and prints of Ludovico (1555-1619), Agostino (1557-1602) and Annibale (1560-1609) Carracci, as well as those of their more important pupils (Reni, Domenichino). Particular attention will be paid to the nature and significance of the Carracci Academy; the historiography of the Carracci's supposed 'Eclecticism'; and their influence on the development of 'Baroque' and 'Baroque Classical' aesthetics.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%) and in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes a slide test.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor G Bailey

Pre-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.
Available only to Single and Joint Honours candidates in History of Art in Programme Year 4.

Co-requisites

HA 3048, Fieldwork 1.

Notes

Credits for Fieldwork 2 can only be obtained together with the successful completion of Fieldwork 1. This course is compulsory for Single and Joint Honours.

Overview

Field work comprises study of works of art and architecture in situ. It consists of a taught week in Paris during the Autumn semester and a supervised visit to Edinburgh. The visits are recorded in a portfolio.

Assessment

1st Attempt: In-course assessment: attendance on compulsory visits and production of draft portfolio (90%) and class participation (10%).

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr T Nichols

Pre-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.
Available only to Honours students in History of Art in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course is compulsory for Single Honours students in History of Art. It is available for Joint and Combined degree students, or for Historical Studies students, with special permission from the Undergraduate Programme Coordinator.

Overview

This course considers topics and controversies in the literature of art of all periods. Each seminar will address a particular problem by focusing on a single "key text". The ideological bases of the discourse of art history in different historical contexts will be examined. Typical themes include progress and decline, description and interpretation, stylistic analysis, iconography and iconology, "genius" and the feminist critique, connoisseurship, censorship.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (50%) and in-course assessment (50%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr J Geddes

Pre-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching. Available only to Single and Joint Honours programme candidates in History of Art in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

This course introduces British Romanesque architecture in four stages: origins of the style; its peak expression in the construction of Durham cathedral; the influence of Durham cathedral on later buildings; and the symbolic meaning of medieval architecture. There will be a two-day bus trip to visit Durham and related buildings.

Structure

4 hours per week, seminars and talks.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%) and in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes a slide test.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor P Davidson

Pre-requisites

Available only to Single and Joint Candidates in History of Art in Programme Year 4. Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

The course begins with an introduction and overview of relevant international garden history taught by lectures and seminars. After the garden visits there will be seminars closely focused on those gardens in relation to international tradition. The third part of the course will introduce students to the rich materials for garden history in Aberdeen University Library special collections.

Structure

3 two-hour seminars per fortnight.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 1½ hour written examination (30%), essay (40%), slide test (20%), class participation (10%).

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr A Bryzgel

Pre-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for the course after the end of week 2 of teaching. Available only to students in Level 4 or above.

Overview

This course will examine the phenomenon of performance art as it developed both in the capitalist West and the communist East. By considering the artistic production of Western artists in light of what their contemporaries were doing behind the Iron Curtain, we will arrive at a more nuanced understanding of performance art in general, and in the West. Furthermore, by examining these performances from the East in the context of theories expounded on the avant-garde, we will reconsider the idea of the end of the avant-garde and develop an expanded understanding of postmodern art practice.

Structure

3 hours per week, divided into lectures and seminars.

Assessment

1st attempt: One 1½-hour written examination (30%), in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes class participation (10%), 1 x 2000 word essays (40%) and a slide test (20%).

Resit: Examination 100%. NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr J Morrison

Pre-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.
Available only to Single and Joint Honours programme candidates in History of Art in Programme Year 4.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

This course examines Scottish painting's reflection of and contribution to the debate on Scottish national identity in the period 1840-1920. Through the work of key landscape, genre, history and figure painters the evolution of national visual signifiers is analysed and discussed.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Examination (30%) and in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes a slide test.

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Professor G Bailey

Pre-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for the course after the end of week 2 of teaching. Available only to students in Programme Year 4 or above.

Notes

This course will not be available in 2009/10.

Overview

The course will consider architecture, including palaces and villas, cathedrals and churches, and fortresses and public spaces. It will also examine painting and sculpture, both religious and secular, as well as the so-called minor arts such as furniture, metalwork, textiles, and ceramics, which have received much attention in recent scholarship. The field of Colonial Latin American art is enjoying a renaissance in recent years. The people and societies who produced and used this art and architecture came from the widest spectrum of backgrounds and walks of life. They included Amerindians, Africans, Asians, and mestizos, as well as Europeans from places as varied as Spain, Italy, and Bohemia. Mirroring the incredible diversity of Latin America's natural landscapes, colonial art and architecture blended styles and techniques from Aztec, Inca, and Guarani Civilisations with those from Europe, North Africa, and the Far East to produce works of unprecendented creativity and originality.

Structure

1 or 2 two-hour seminars per week, 6 hours fortnightly.

Assessment

1st Attempt: One 1½ hour written examination (30%), in-course assessment (70%). The in-course assessment includes class participation (10%), one 2,000 word essay (40%) and a slide test (20%).

Resit: Examination (100%). NB: All coursework must have been handed in.

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Mr J Gash

Pre-requisites

Students are not permitted to register for this course after the end of week 2 of teaching.
Available only to Honours students in History of Art in Programme Year 4.

Overview

A dissertation of 8-10,000 words on a subject to be decided in consultation with the Course Co-ordinator, to be submitted during the Summer Term in the final year of study.

Each student will be assigned a supervisor, who will make available regular consultation times.

Assessment

1st Attempt: Dissertation (100%).