Introductory description

The module examines the debate over the role of art and the artist in modern society which occurred in inter-war Britain.

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.

Land, landscape, the "call-to-order," utopianism and modernity
'Medieval modernism'
Primitivism, sculpture and space: Gill, Epstein, Moore and Hepworth
Artists, art and industry: Nash, Bawden, Ravilious, Marx, McKnight Kauffer, London Underground, Shell and Harrods
The image of the architect and architecture in 1930s Britain
British and Modern? Unit One - Read, Nash, Hepworth, Moore, Nicholson and Wells Coates
Artists, war and pacifism
Identity and the uncanny: Britain, society, psychoanalysis and surrealism
Society observed: the Mass Observation Project
Realism and realist debates: the Euston Road painters and the GPO film unit
Towards an International Style: émigré architects, designers, artists and Britain

Learning outcomes

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

• Command a detailed knowledge of key works of British art and architecture of the period
• Demonstrate a higher uunderstanding of the structure of the art world during the inter-war period
• Display an advanced understanding of the connections between art practice and art criticism
• Demonstrate and interpret differing manifestations of national and artistic identity within an informed historical trajectory
• Show a critical awareness of current debates about 1930s art
• Initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
• Ability to undertake research and to write up the results using accurately specific techniques of analysis and enquiry at an appropriate level
• Familiarity with essential ICT skills
• Ability to collaborate effectively with others
• Show understanding of diverse viewpoints
• Ability to formulate a sustained argument
• Think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
• Ability to evaluate one’s own needs and intellectual progress
• Ability to conduct independent research and analysis
• Sophisticated visual analysis and understanding of visual culture
• Bibliographical skills at an appropriate level
• Critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context

Indicative reading list

Circle ed. J.L.Martin, N.Gabo, B.Nicholson (1937)
C.Day Lewis, ed.,The mind in chains (1937)
C.Harrison, English art and modernism rev.ed (1999)
Harrod, T, The crafts in Britain in the 20th century (1998)
Jackson, A, The politics of architecture: a history of modern architecture in Britain (1975)
I.Jeffery, Mass-Observation: a short history (1978)
D. LeMahieu, A culture for democracy: mass communication and the cultivated mind in Britain
between the wars (1998)
R. MacKibbin, Classes and cultures: England 1918-1951 (1998)
Matless, D, Landscape and Englishness (1998)
D,Mellor, A Paradise Lost: the neo-romantic imagination in Britain 1935-55 (1987)
D.Peters Corbett, The modernity of English art (1997)
A.Powers, Modern: the modern movement in Britain (2006)
H.Read, Art and Industry (1934)
H.Read, Surrealism (1936)
Reed, C, Bloomsbury Rooms (2004)
M.Saler, The avant-garde in inter-war England (1999)
Sculpture in 20th-century Britain ed. P.Curtis (2003)
S.Smiles ed., Going Modern and Being British (1998)

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

• Command a detailed knowledge of key works of British art and architecture of the period
• demonstrate a higher understanding of the structure of the art world during the inter-war period
• display an advanced understanding of the connections between art practice and art criticism
• demonstrate and interpret differing manifestations of national and artistic identity within an informed historical trajectory
• show a critical awareness of current debates about 1930s art
• sophisticated visual analysis and understanding of visual culture
• critical analysis of cultural artefacts 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 using accurately specific techniques of analysis and enquiry at an appropriate level
• familiarity with essential ICT skills
• ability to collaborate effectively with others
• Show understanding of diverse viewpoints
• ability to formulate a sustained argument
• think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
• ability to evaluate one’s own needs and intellectual progress
• ability to conduct independent research and analysis
• bibliographical skills at an appropriate level