BA History of Art / Course details

Fairy tale readings will range from the stories of the Brothers Grimm to Lewis Caroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan to Hans Christian Andersen's tales of magic and morality. Visually, students will analyze photographs taken by Carroll and Barrie and the paper cut-outs constructed by Andersen, as well as a range of modern and contemporary artists who have been drawn to the fairy tale, including: Joseph Cornell, Jim Dine, Walt Disney, Bernard Faucon, Chris Marker, Ron Mueck, Hagop Sandaldjian, Kiki Smith and Miwa Yanagi

The course aims to acquaint students with how works of modern art (painting, especially photography, sculpture and film) can be interpreted and analysed in relation to the fairy tale. The connections between the utopian novel and the fairy tale will be understood. Careful attention will be paid to issues of class, hope, race and beauty.

Students will become familiar with the history of the fairy tale as a utopian structure. Students will understand how and why the fairy tale has been visualized within the context of modern art and culture. Students will have a critical knowledge of how and why the photograph, in particular, is inherently utopian and magical.

Fairy tale readings will range from the stories of the Brothers Grimm to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan to Hans Christian Andersen’s tales of magic and morality. Visually, students will analyze photographs taken by Carroll and Barrie and the paper cut-outs constructed by Andersen, as well as a range of modern and contemporary artists who have been drawn to the fairy tale, including: Joseph Cornell, Jim Dine, Walt Disney, Bernard Faucon, Chris Marker, Ron Mueck, Hagop Sandaldjian, Kiki Smith and Miwa Yanagi.

1 x 3 hour lecture/seminar per week.

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Critically interpret works of visual culture.
2. Demonstrate familiarity with the different and shared vocabularies used in describing the colour of fairy tale and utopian narrative in painting, film and photography.
3. Demonstrate strong oral and written skills.
4. Carry out basic university-level research  (including footnotes, bibliography and library research, as well as an awareness of the appropriate use of electronic databases).

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Critically interpret works of visual culture.
2. Demonstrate familiarity with the different and shared vocabularies used in describing the colour of fairy tale and utopian narrative in painting, film and photography.
3. Demonstrate strong oral and written skills.
4. Carry out basic university-level research  (including footnotes, bibliography and library research, as well as an awareness of the appropriate use of electronic databases).

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Critically interpret works of visual culture.
2. Demonstrate familiarity with the different and shared vocabularies used in describing the colour of fairy tale and utopian narrative in painting, film and photography.
3. Demonstrate strong oral and written skills.
4. Carry out basic university-level research  (including footnotes, bibliography and library research, as well as an awareness of the appropriate use of electronic databases).

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Critically interpret works of visual culture.
2. Demonstrate familiarity with the different and shared vocabularies used in describing the colour of fairy tale and utopian narrative in painting, film and photography.
3. Demonstrate strong oral and written skills.
4. Carry out basic university-level research  (including footnotes, bibliography and library research, as well as an awareness of the appropriate use of electronic databases).

• oral feedback on presentation
• written feedback on essay
• additional one-to-one feedback (during office hour or by making an appointment)

1.The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales, edited with an introduction and notes by Maria Tatar

2.J. M. Barrie, Peter and Wendy

3.Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales

4.Lewis Carroll, The Annotated Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

5.E.T.A. Hoffmann, The Sandman

6. Carol Mavor, Pleasures Taken: Performance of Sexuality and Loss in Victorian Photographs

7. Carol Mavor, Reading Boyishly: Roland Barthes, J.M.Barrie, Jacques Henri Lartique, Marcel Proust and D.W. Winnicott

8. Thomas More, Utopia

9.Susan Stewart, On Longing

10.Jack Zipes, Breaking the Magic Spell: Radical Theories of Folk and Fairy Tale

11.Jack Zipes, Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales, Children and the Culture Industry