BA Art History and English Literature / Course details

Art in Theory aims to provide a toolkit of concepts or discursive operations for contemporary students of art history. These concepts or operations might include: mimesis; iconography; space; biography/autobiography; the author; beauty/taste; the sublime; dialectic; the fetish; animism; the uncanny; aura; the sign; coloniality; race; gender; sexuality; globalisation; neoliberalism; ecology. At every level of the course, but in particular in seminar work, our thinking will respond to the urgent imperative to decolonise art historical practice.

Art in Theory aims to provide a toolkit of concepts or discursive operations for contemporary students of art history. These concepts might include: mimesis; iconography; space; biography/autobiography; the author; beauty/taste; the sublime; dialectic; the fetish; animism; the uncanny; aura; the sign; coloniality; race; gender; sexuality; globalisation; neoliberalism; ecology. At every level of the course, but in particular in seminar work, our thinking will respond to the urgent imperative to decolonise art historical practice.

1. Introduction  

2. Mimesis  

3. Iconography  

4. Space  

5. Biography/ Autobiography  

6. Author  

7. Beauty/Taste  

8. The Sublime  

9. Dialectic  

10. Fetish  

11. Animism  

12. The Uncanny  

13. Aura  

14. Sign  

15. Coloniality  

16. Race  

17. Gender  

18. Sexuality  

19. Globalisation  

20. Neoliberalism  

21. Ecology  

22. Revision  

2 x 1 hour weekly lecture 1 x 2 hour fortnightly seminar

Formative feedback on the essay plan.

Written feedback on the essay

TEXTS FOR THE COURSE

In addition to the books and articles recommended for each lecture you should consult recent publications concerned with art history as a discipline and its history (* especially recommended):

M. Baxandall. Patterns of Intention. On the Historical Interpretation of Pictures, 1985.

M. Cheetham, M. Holly, and K. Moxey (eds), The Subjects of Art History, 1998

*Eric Fernie. Art History and its Methods. A Critical Anthology, 1995.

*Jonathan Harris, The New Art History - A Critical Introduction, 2001

Jonathan Harris. Writing Back to Modern Art, 2005

C. Harrison et al (eds.), Art in Theory (3 vols.) 1648-1815, 1800-1900, 1900-1990

M. Hatt and C. Klonk, Art History, 2006

W. J. T. Mitchell, Picture Theory, 1994

W. J. T. Mitchell, What do Pictures Want?, 2005

K. Moxey. The Practice of Theory, 1994.

* R. Nelson and R. Shiff (eds). Critical Terms for Art History, 1996.

F. Orton and G. Pollock. Avant-gardes and Partisans Reviewed. The Social History of Art, 1996

R. Parker and G. Pollock. Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology, 1981.

M. Podro. The Critical Historians of Art, 1982.

M. Pointon. History of Art: A Students' Handbook, 1994.

D. Preziosi. Rethinking Art History. Meditations on a Coy Science, 1989.

*D. Preziosi, The Art of Art History. A Critical Anthology, 1998.