Art History

This course examines chapters from 19th and 20th century art history with a goal of gaining an understanding of the period, while learning about artists and movements. It introduces key ideas such as Expressionism and Abstraction with the emphasis on the networks of artists and art supporters (curators, sponsors, publishers) that developed them. Careful consideration is given to the political, cultural contexts and general circumstances that formed the cultural production by the artists discussed.

This course is a challenging introductory course and is for non-History of Art students. It examines modern and contemporary art focusing on objects in London's galleries and museums. The content of this course changes each year, but it introduces students to key issues and themes in British, European, and North American art from the mid-19th century through to the present day, by focusing on works in institutions such as Tate Britain and Tate Modern as well as smaller contemporary galleries such as The Whitechapel.

This course examines Dada and Surrealism, two hugely influential international art movements of the 20th century, and focuses not only on the links between them in terms of their membership and artistic concerns, but also on establishing key differences in their approaches to social and political change and their ideological and philosophic positions. The course includes the study of a diverse range of Dada and Surrealist practices including: collage and photomontage; literary texts and publishing; chance and found objects; live performance; film; and photography.

The course looks at major, predominantly Western, avant-garde movements, from Dada and Surrealism to the break-up of styles and unitary movements that characterise artistic production and display from the 1960s onwards. It concludes with the effects of globalization and radical new conceptions of art that are current in today's world. Course content also addresses cross-cutting themes and issues, from feminism, economics, display, the environment and aesthetic awareness that are all core to the study of art history in the 21st century.

 

This course explores selected topics in the art and visual culture of Asia from Neolithic times to the tenth century CE. A wide range of objects from diverse media, including sculpture, painting, and architecture from India, China, Korea, and Japan, are examined within their respective historical, cultural, social, and religious contexts. Attention is also given to the transcultural paradigm of Asian art history. Topics include Indus Valley Civilization, Neolithic China, Shang Dynasty China, Zhou Dynasty China, Qin Dynasty China, Han Dynasty China, Early Culture and Art in Korea/Japan, Introduction to Buddhism, Early Buddhist Art and Architecture in India, Kushan Dynasty, Gupta Dynasty, and Buddhist Art in China/Korea/Japan.

This course presents a thematic introduction to Irish art, architecture, and design in its broader international context. Subjects are connected across periods and styles – the focus not on presenting individualized summarized histories but rather considering how aspects of Irish visual history are connected and have evolved over time.

Picasso is the most densely inscribed artist of the 20th century, a key figure in histories of modernism and the avant-garde. This course tracks his production across narratives of art, culture and ideology, placing it in historical and theoretical contexts, while attending to the themes and fictions of the reception. Notwithstanding Picasso’s continuing recuperation as an institution or brand-name, his practice submitted the European world-picture to an unprecedented interrogation. This course brings this radical questioning of identity and meaning to the fore.

This course provides an overview of the developments of art in China from the 19th century to the present, relating those developments to the broader changes in Chinese politics and society. It explores art within its political, social, and historical context, searching for the echoes, encounters, and exchanges between artistic trends and politics and society, and investigating the conflicts that underpinned Chinese artistic development and its negotiations with modernity. Topics explored range from artistic identities and the art market to intercultural relations and critical interpretations. The art forms studied range as well, including paintings of various forms and mediums, performance and installation art, graphics, photography, printed illustrations, woodcut prints, and advertisements.