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HA1B4-15 Painting Techniques

Department
SCAPVC - History of Art
Level
Undergraduate Level 1
Module leader
Sarah Walford
Credit value
15
Module duration
10 weeks
Assessment
50% coursework, 50% exam
Study location
University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

Introductory description

This module aims to introduce students to some of the media and techniques used by painters over the centuries, and to some of the debates among artists and scholars around issues of artistic practice

Module aims

The module will help students to identify particular technical approaches and materials, and to analyse and discuss the effects that artists achieve with them. It will also provide a historical overview of the development of the processes and technologies of painting, and of the cultural meanings of different materials and techniques. It will provide an useful foundation for students’ historical study of painting in subsequent years of the BA course.

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Drawing and the science of art
The art of fresco
Tempera and painting on panel
The medieval aesthetics of light
The oil revolution
The disegno vs. colorito debate
Painting technique in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries
Light, air and colour: Pre-Raphaelites, Impressionism and changes in paint production

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

  • Identify and distinguish between different types of painting media and techniques.
  • Show an understanding of how painting techniques affect the final aspect of a work of art
  • Put other art historical knowledge in context.
  • Present an argument, initiate, sustain and contribute to group discussion through questioning and debate.
  • Demonstrate ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level.
  • Demonstrate familiarity with essential ICT skills.
  • Demonstrate ability to collaborate effectively with others.
  • Show understanding of diverse concepts and viewpoints.
  • Find, select, organise and synthesise relevant information.
  • Formulate a sustained argument.
  • Think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level.
  • Carry out sophisticated visual analysis.
  • Produce a sustained argument following academic conventions.
  • Demonstrate ability to carry out critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context.

Indicative reading list

John Gage, Colour and Culture (Thames & Hudson, 1993).
Jill Dunkerton, Susan Foister, Dillian Gordon and Nicholas Penny, Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1991).
Stephen Hackney (ed.) Paint and Purpose: A Study of Technique in British Art (London: Tate Gallery, 1999).
Colin Hayes, The Complete Guide to Painting and Drawing Techniques and Materials (London: Phaidon, 1981).
Waldemar Januszczak, Techniques of the World’s Great Painters (Oxford: Phaidon, 1980).
Frederick Malins, Understanding Paintings: the Elements of Composition (Oxford: Phaidon, 1980).
Ann Bermingham, Learning to Draw: Studies in the Cultural History of a Polite and Useful Art (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2000)
Joyce H.Townsend, Turner’s Painting Techniques (London: Tate Publishing, 2004).
Anthea Callen, Techniques of the Impressionists (London: Orbis Publishing, 1982).
Philip L. Sohm, Pittoresco: Marco Boschini, his Critics, and their Critiques of Painterly Brushwork in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Italy (Cambridge University Press, 1991).

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

  • Identify and distinguish between different types of painting media and techniques.
  • Show an understanding of how painting techniques affect the final aspect of a work of art.
  • Put other art historical knowledge in context
  • Demonstrate ability to carry out critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context.

Transferable skills

  • Present an argument, initiate, sustain and contribute to group discussion through questioning and debate.
  • Demonstrate ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level.
  • Demonstrate familiarity with essential ICT skills.
  • Demonstrate ability to collaborate effectively with others.
  • Show understanding of diverse concepts and viewpoints.
  • Find, select, organise and synthesise relevant information.
  • Formulate a sustained argument.
  • Think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level.
  • Carry out sophisticated visual analysis.
  • Produce a sustained argument following academic conventions.

Study time

Type Required
Seminars 10 sessions of 2 hours (13%)
Fieldwork 1 session of 2 hours (1%)
Private study 128 hours (85%)
Total 150 hours

Private study description

Required and recommended reading for seminar preparation, research for written assessments and revision for examinations.

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Assessment group C1
Weighting Study time Eligible for self-certification
Assessment component
1500 word essay 50% Yes (extension)

Assessed essay

Reassessment component is the same
Assessment component
1 hour examination 50% No

Summer Term Examination


  • Online examination: No Answerbook required
  • Photographs
Reassessment component is the same
Feedback on assessment

Written feedback and dedicated feedback tutorials.

Past exam papers for HA1B4

Pre-requisites

n/a

Courses

This module is Option list A for:

  • Year 1 of UHAA-V401 Undergraduate History of Art
  • Year 1 of UHAA-V41P Undergraduate History of Art

This module is Option list B for:

  • Year 1 of UHAA-V3R3 Undergraduate History of Art with Italian

This module is Option list C for:

  • Year 1 of UHAA-V3R3 Undergraduate History of Art with Italian