HA3D3-30 Practices of Art History

Department: SCAPVC - History of Art
Level: Undergraduate Level 3
Module leader: Richenda Roberts
Credit value: 30
Module duration: 10 weeks
Assessment: 100% coursework
Study location: University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

Introductory description

This module will introduce students to the ways in which art history has developed as an academic discipline, illustrating the manifold ways in which it has been practiced by scholars from its beginnings in the 19th century to the present.

Module aims

Students will become familiar with a range of approaches used to write the history of art. Students will read extracts from some of the most significant figures in the discipline and will gain a critical understanding of the ways in which theoretical premises and methodological processes have informed their approaches to works of art.

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.

Hegel and Art History
Connoisseurship
Wolfflin and Formalism
Panosfky and Iconology
The Social History of Art
Feminism, Sex, Gender and Sexuality
Post-colonialism
Conceptions of the Artist and the Viewer

Learning outcomes

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

Command a broad knowledge of the main theories of art and its history
Apply theories to the interpretation of art and its history
Understand the ways in which the interpretation of works of art is determined by theory and method.
Initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
Ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
Familiarity with essential ICT skills
Ability to collaborate effectively with others
Show understanding of diverse viewpoints
Ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
Ability to formulate a sustained argument
Think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
Sophisticated textual analysis
Bibliographical skills at an appropriate level
Critical analysis of historical ideas in their context

Indicative reading list

Bryson/Holly/Moxey, Visual Theory: Painting and Interpretation (Polity, 1991).
Bryson/Holly/Moxey, Visual Culture: Images and Interpretations (Weslyan University Press, 1994).
Cheetham, M, Subjects of Art History: Historical Objects in Contemporary Perspectives (CUP, 1998).
Edwards, S, Art and its Histories: a Reader (Yale University Press, 1999).
Ferney, E, Art History and its Methods (London, Phaidon, 1995).
Frascina/Harrison, Modern Art and Modernism: a Critical Anthology (Harper & Row, 1982).
Gombrich, E H, Ideals and Idols (Phaidon, 1979).
Harrison/Wood, Art in Theory 1648-1815; Art in Theory 1815-1900; Art in Theory 1900-1990,(Blackwell, 2000, 1998, and 1997).
Harrison, C/Orton, F, Modernism, Criticism, Realism (Harper & Row, 1984).
Hatt/ Klonk, Art History: An Introduction to Its Methods (Manchester, 2004).
Mirzoeff, N, The Visual Culture Reader (Routledge, 1998)
Nelson, R/Shiff, R, Critical Terms for Art History (Chicago, 1996).
Podro, Michael, The Critical Historians of Art (Yale University Press, 1982).
Preziosi, D, The Art of Art History: a Critical Anthology (OUP, 1998)

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

Command a broad knowledge of the main theories of art and its history
Apply theories to the interpretation of art and its history
Understand the ways in which the interpretation of works of art is determined by theory and method.
sophisticated textual analysis
critical analysis of historical ideas in their context

Transferable skills

initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
familiarity with essential ICT skills
ability to collaborate effectively with others
Show understanding of diverse viewpoints
ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
ability to formulate a sustained argument
think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
bibliographical skills at an appropriate level

Study time

Type	Required
Lectures	7 sessions of 1 hour (2%)
Seminars	7 sessions of 2 hours (5%)
Tutorials	3 sessions of 2 hours (2%)
Project supervision	1 session of 1 hour (0%)
Private study	272 hours (91%)
Total	300 hours

Private study description

Required and recommended reading for seminars, research for presentation, research for written assessments.

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 A1

	Weighting	Eligible for self-certification
1,000 Reflective Writing	20%	Yes (extension)
Reflective writing on approach to dissertation
Engagement	10%	No
1,500 Word Analysis of an Artwork	30%	Yes (extension)
Analysis of an Artwork
2,500 Critical Comparison	40%	Yes (extension)
Critical comparison of a pair of articles

Feedback on assessment

Written feedback and dedicated feedback tutorials.

Pre-requisites

n/a

Courses

This module is Core for:

Year 3 of UHAA-V401 Undergraduate History of Art