Art History

This course examines the burgeoning development of contemporary Chinese art in relation to its shifting socio-political and cultural realities since the end of the Cultural Revolution. Structured around a series of thematic studies on major exhibitions and artworks made and displayed at different stages, this course addresses issues relating to art criticism, institutional censorship, public engagement and art market, investigating unprecedented transnational flows and cross-cultural exchanges within the increasingly interconnected, yet unevenly developed contemporary art world. This course draws particular attention to the practices of Chinese women artists, including Shen Yuan, Lin Tianmiao, Yin Xiuzhen, Lu Qing, Xing Danwen, Kan Xuan, Cao Fei and others, interrogating and challenging the unacknowledged, unquestioned and marginalized status of women in the mainstream discourses of Chinese avant-garde art. Prerequisite: One 1000-level Art History course.

Students are required to master the basic concept of Chinese art archaeology, understand the discovery history of Chinese art archaeology, and understand the role and significance of art archaeology in the study of Chinese culture and history.

This course examines the evolution of British painting, sculpture, architecture and music from Wellington's victory at Waterloo in 1815 to the Wall Street Crash in 1929. Students observe, analyze and assess the role of art and artists within this rapidly evolving society and the British world in the 19th and early 20th century. Topics include the conservative canvases of Victorians at the Royal Academy to the Modernist abstractions of the Rebel Art Centre, and the painters of the Great War in The Roaring Twenties in the West End of London.

The course is concerned with the close analysis of works of art out on site rather than in the seminar room, along with the physical, cultural, and social contexts in which art is produced and consumed. It provides students with an introduction to the rich and diverse opportunities available to study art in situ that Brighton and the surrounding area provides. The course is structured around a series of specific case studies, selected both to highlight some of Brighton’s main resources and to represent broader issues central to the study and understanding of Art History. The course takes in a wide selection of sites, ranging from those specifically designed to house and present works of art, such as museums and galleries, to buildings and spaces that serve alternative functions, such as churches and houses. The course also pays close attention to art’s relationship to the built environment, looking at issues relating to architecture and planning.

As a professional elective course of the Department of Cultural Relics and Museology, this course, on the one hand, aims to enable the undergraduate students of the Department of Cultural Relics and Museology to have basic knowledge of art history, on the other hand, to cultivate students' application of iconology, formal style analysis and other methods in art history in actual cases.

This course deals with masterpieces of Japanese visual art (architecture, sculpture, painting and decorative art) from ancient to contemporary period. The course explains the meaning; expression; material, and technique of artwork selected from various categories, so the class can gain basic knowledge and skill to express their appreciation of Japanese art in writing.
 

This course explores the evolution of color and form in the twentieth century and is a tutorial for ARTHS 105. It discusses topics such as Cubism, Dadaism, Fauvism, Impressionism, and Surrealism. The course covers the origins of abstract art and Dutch abstract painters, Italian futurism, and Russian constructivism. In addition, it analyzes post-1945 American art, pop art, and French new realism. Further discussion continues with art and communication in the 1960s, art and politics after 1968, and conceptual art, minimal art, and the direction of art in the 1980s.

This course offers an interdisciplinary exploration of visual culture, bridging visual studies, communication, media, and cultural studies to understand how images and the act of looking carry meaning across everyday life. The curriculum covers a wide range of topics, including the power and politics of images, the role of viewers in making meaning, modern and postmodern theories of spectatorship and the gaze, the impact of visual technologies, media and brand cultures, as well as globalization and contemporary digital practices. Student engage with critical theories and methods to analyze artworks and visual media, while addressing social, psychological, and economic implications of visual representation. It course covers a range of themes such as representation, expression, form, style, Formalism, Iconography, Marxism, Gender etc. Using modern and contemporary Chinese art as examples, the course equips students with transferable and analytic skills, knowledge of modern and contemporary Chinese art, aesthetic sensibility, and theoretical literacy, encouraging them to apply these methods and knowledge to the study of visual art.

Historical museums play a role in shaping their local communities - they weave a rich local history based on the historical and cultural resources (local heritage) that remain in the area. These resources are not necessarily limited to the materials stored in museums, but includes the local environment shaped by history itself. This course explores the relationship between museums and local heritage, drawing on the instructor's experience as a museum curator specializing in architectural history in Yokohama. 

This course investigates Western art practices from ancient times around 500 BC, to the modern era, the 20th century. Analyses of key works of art are considered in relationship to the social, political, economic and cultural circumstances that surrounded and informed them.