Introductory description

The module aims to explore the developments in European and North American Sculpture from c. 1800 - the present.

Module aims

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.

Marble and the ideal body
Sculpture and reproduction in the 19th century
Bronze and the body in the late-nineteenth century
Direct carving and modernism
Minimalism and objecthood
New conceptions of sculpture in the 1960s
Modern and contemporary public sculpture
Sculpture in the university art collection

Learning outcomes

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

• Demonstrate knowledge of the different materials and techniques of sculpture
• Demonstrate understanding of different genres of sculpture their commissioning, production, use and/or display
• Demonstrate a knowledge of important works
• present an argument, 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
• Demonstrate sophisticated visual analysis
• Demonstrate bibliographical skills at an appropriate level
• Demonstrate critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context

Indicative reading list

Alex Potts, The Sculptural Imagination: Figurative, Modernist, Minimalist, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2001
Marjorie Trusted, ed., The Making of Sculpture, London: V&A, 2007
Penelope Curtis, Sculpture 1900-1945: After Rodin, Oxford and London: OUP, 1999
Andrew Causey, Sculpture Since 1945, Oxford and London: OUP, 1998
Albert Elsen, Rodin’s Thinker and the Dilemmas of Modern Public Sculpture, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1985
Albert E. Elsen, In Rodin’s Studio: A Photographic Record of Sculpture in the Making, Oxford: Phaidon, 1980enelope Curtis and Alan G. Wilkinson, Barbara Hepworth: a retrospective, London: Tate, 1994
Anne Wagner, Mother Stone: The Vitality of Modern British Sculpture, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2005
Chris Brooks, ed., The Albert Memorial, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995
Harriet F. Senie, The Tilted Arc Controversy: Dangerous Precedent?, Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 2002
Geraldine Johnson, ed., Sculpture and Photography: Envisioning the Third Dimension, Cambridge and London: Cambridge University Press, 1996

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

• Demonstrate knowledge of the different materials and techniques of sculpture
• Demonstrate understanding of different genres of sculpture their commissioning, production, use and/or display
• Demonstrate a knowledge of important works
• Demonstrate sophisticated visual analysis
• Demonstrate critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context

Transferable skills

• present an argument, 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
• 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
• Demonstrate bibliographical skills at an appropriate level