History of Art and English BA

History of Art is a broad discipline that encompasses many different approaches. This module takes as its basic premise that there is no one true history, but rather that there are various ways of approaching the past. With this in mind, we will examine key terms that have shaped the discipline of art history, in order to consider some key issues and debates that shape writing about art. The module is designed to get you thinking about how and why histories are written. Over the course of the module, we will consider broad questions, such as: What counts as art and what should be included in history of art? Should a history of art be a history of artists? What about patrons, viewers, critics, historians, and museums? How important is artist intention in defining the meaning of art? How useful are “-isms” in writing history of art? How should we understand art in relation to social, political, and economic contexts? How and why does art change? How have chronological, geographical, and gender biases affected histories of art? What makes “good” art and should we care? The module also includes weekly workshops, designed to help you develop the academic skills required to study History of Art at undergraduate level.

This module builds on the foundation laid in Introduction to Art History I. It examines the study and interpretation of objects by considering different forms of writing on art. Each lecture will focus on a single work of art, examining a variety of ways in which it has been analysed. The artworks studied will cover the historical breadth of teaching in the Department of History of Art, from the Renaissance to the present day. The aim is to highlight diverse methodological approaches to art history, and different perspectives in dialogue across periods, geographies, and backgrounds. Integrated weekly workshops will allow you to develop and refine the academic skills acquired in Introduction to Art History I.

Beginnings of English

The module Beginnings of English introduces you to the varied languages, literatures and cultures of medieval England (c.500-1500). You will read a variety of medieval texts which were originally written in Old English, Middle English and Old Norse. We study some texts in translation, but we also introduce you to aspects of Old and Middle English language to enable you to enjoy the nuance and texture of English literary language in its earliest forms. 

We will read texts in a variety of genres, from epic and elegy, to saga, romance and fable. We will discuss ideas of Englishness and identity, and learn about the production and transmission of texts in the pre-modern period. 

Learning objectives:

• To introduce you to linguistic vocabulary and terminology.
• To enable you to become proficient in reading Old English and Middle English.
• To give you an understanding of the complexities of English grammar, past and present.
• To give you an understanding of the origins of English, and its development over the medieval period.
• To familiarise you with the themes and genre of medieval English literature. 

Studying Language

This module teaches you about the nature of language, as well as how to analyse it for a broad range of purposes, preparing you for studies across all sections of the school.

During the weekly workshops you will learn about levels of language analysis and description, from the sounds and structure of language, through to meaning and discourse. These can be applied to all areas of English study, and will prepare you for future modules. In the lectures you will see how the staff here in the School of English put these skills of analysis and description to use in their own research. This covers the study of language in relation to the mind, literature, culture, society, and more. The seminars will then give you a chance to think about and discuss these topics further.

Learning objectives:

• To provide you with methods of language analysis and description for each linguistic level (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, discourse)
• To prepare you for conducting your own language research across your degree
• To introduce you to the areas of research and study within the school, with particular focus on psycholinguistics, literary linguistics, and sociolinguistics

Studying Literature

The module Studying Literature introduces you to some of the core skills for literary studies, including skills in reading, writing, researching and presentation. The module addresses topics including close reading, constructing an argument, and handling critical material, as well as introducing you to key critical questions about literary form, production and reception. These elements are linked to readings of specific literary texts, focused on poetry and prose selected from the full range of the modern literary period (1500 to the present).

Across the year you will learn about different interpretive approaches and concepts, and will examine literary-historical movements and transitions.

Learning objectives:

• To introduce you to selected literary texts, to deepen your imaginative engagement and analytic response.
• To provide you with a basis of knowledge, working methods and appropriate terminology for subsequent work at university level.
• To provide you with knowledge and understanding of the literary, cultural and historical contexts for literature from the period 1500 to the present, and the relationship between period and genre.

Depending on your module choices in your first and second year, you will choose three modules in your final year in English that cover at least two areas of study.

• Theatre Making
• Changing Stages: Theatre Industry and Theatre Art
• Modern Irish Literature and Drama
• Performing the Nation: British Theatre since 1980
• Reformation and Revolution: Early Modern literature and drama 1588-1688
• Writing for Performance

This module focuses on the International Exhibition held in Paris in 1937, which provides a survey of art in the service of politics in the years immediately preceding World War II. Participating countries – including the USSR, Germany, Italy, and Spain – were represented by national pavilions, combining art and architecture to articulate national values and ambitions. The cultural battles between contrasting styles of state-sponsored art – Soviet Socialist Realism, German Neoclassicism, Spanish Modernism – will be examined in light of political and military conflicts at a time when Europe was divided by the ongoing civil war in Spain. The module will consider important individual works, such as Picasso’s Guernica , as well as the pavilions as integrated artworks, combining visual arts and architecture.

This module introduces and examines some of the major themes and movements to emerge in American art after 1945, including Abstract Expressionism, Neo-Dada, Pop Art, and Conceptual Art. You will consider the historical and cultural contexts of art in a range of media, including painting, sculpture, installation and performance. You will look at some of the key critical responses to American modern art, and will investigate the extent to which post-1945 practices were radically new or whether they were informed by awareness of pre-war and/or European avant-garde practices. 

This module will provide a broad survey of French art from the later 16th century to the end of the 17th century, focusing on the era of Louis XIV. We will consider the role of architecture and different types of patronage; the creation and structure of the palace of Versailles; the origins of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, and its use of theory and art education. We will focus on the careers of Charles Lebrun, and two of the Best-known French painters based in Rome (Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain). We will also explore the remarkable provincial artists Georges de la Tour and the three Le Nain brothers. The module examines the functions of art and architecture within society and politics, and the invention of a national artistic tradition.

This module looks at Italian art in early seventeenth century Rome through a focus on one of the best known painters active during that period, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Caravaggio was a colourful character with a biography as delicious as his paintings, but the very notoriety of the artist during his lifetime can make looking at his merits as an artist quite difficult. Here, we look at Caravaggio and his contemporaries to get a better understanding of the artistic context of Rome in the late 1500s, a period often labelled as the Counter Reformation. The module will focus on the following themes: the importance of imagery as a vehicle of propaganda; the importance of display and collecting to elite Roman patrons; the relationship between political centres; self-fashioning; the importance of women as patrons and as subjects of art, but also as artists themselves.

This module examines the ways in which artists responded to and engaged with domestic and foreign politics in America from the 1950s to the 1980s. It considers the ways in which artists used a range of artistic practices as a means of protest in an era of capitalist consumerism, the Cold War and the America Vietnam War, the rise of identity and sexual politics, the civil rights movement, and censorship and the US “culture wars”. In particular, this module will examine the work of historically marginalised constituencies, including African American artists, Mexican-American and Chicano artists, and women artists. 

This module examines painting, architecture and sculpture at the courts of Ferrara, Mantua, Naples, Urbino and Milan in the period 1420-1520 and suggests that the small princely courts of Italy played an important role in shaping ‘the Renaissance’. Princes at courts competed for the services of the 'best' artists, and Leonardo da Vinci, Pisanello, Piero della Francesca and Andrea Mantegna are just some of the masters who worked for these Courts. This module draws both on established literature, but also seeks to incorporate more recent research questions regarding gender, material culture etc. As such, this module introduces you to questions that will be developed further in modules in years two and three.  

In this module, you will examine selected pieces of art, architecture, and drama from classical Greece, China, Europe, colonial and postcolonial Americas, with some reference to contemporary examples, in order to explore some fundamental questions about art, such as: what is the relationship between creators and the world in which they live? How are the arts made, used, and regarded? In each case, the production and reception of the arts is studied through a contextual approach, paying attention to political, economic, religious, and cultural factors.

This module will provide an introduction to visual art at the Tudor courts, from the accession of Henry VII in 1485 to the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. In doing so, it takes account of a wide range of art forms, from portraiture to pageantry, jewellery to the book. Key issues dealt with in lectures and seminars include contemporary theories of visuality and monarchy, the particular context of court culture, and the use of visual material in the service of self -fashioning. It considers the impact of major historical developments including the reformation and the advent of print. As such, the relationship of the arts to politics is a key theme. Through exploring the highly sophisticated uses of visual art at the Tudor courts, the course seeks to re-evaluate the common idea that English art at the time was isolationist and inferior to that of continental Europe.

Explore how film can be regarded as an art form through the study of avant-garde cinema in early 20th century Europe.

We’ll start by looking at what is meant by the term ‘avant-garde’, and consider the development of experimental filmmaking in the context of artistic movements such as:

• Futurism
• Cubism
• Dada
• Surrealism
• Constructivism

The focus will be on developments in Germany, France and the Soviet Union and consider key trends from abstract animation to Cinema Pur.

We’ll also explore some key concerns of non-mainstream cinema such as:

• Narrative
• Abstraction
• Reflexivity
• Spectatorship
• movement, time and space

You’ll examine how experimental film engaged with modernity, including the aesthetic and political strategies of the European avant-gardes.

By the end of the module you’ll be able to:

• contextualise the avant-garde in relation to broader artistic and historical developments
• understand the relationships between film and other media

This module is worth 20 credits.

This module provides an overview of the development of Paris from the French Revolution to the Third Republic. Themes considered include: the evolving structure of the city; the evolution of building types; representations of the city; the symbolic geography of Paris; the Parisian art world (artists’ studios, the art market, and exhibitions); and major monuments and sites such as the Panthéon and the Opera Garnier.

This module explores the Italian Futurist movement as a pioneering project in multimedia experimentation, which included painting, sculpture, architecture, design, photography, film, performance, typography, literature, fashion, and music. It investigates the movement’s apparent rejection of Italy’s cultural heritage and celebration of twentieth century technology, from the speed of the motorcar to the violence of modern warfare. The political objectives of the Futurists will be considered, including the movement’s complex relationship with Fascism. The publicity strategies of the group, such as the extensive use of manifestoes and provocative public interventions, will also be examined. The module will cover the period from Futurism’s headline-grabbing conception in 1909 through to the end of its second manifestation in the 1940s.

This module introduces a number of artistic and architectural practices that emerged in Southern California after 1945. Exploring their cultural and historical context, we will consider the role of Los Angeles in the development of post-1945 American art and architecture, including mid-century modernism, Pop Art, Conceptual Art and Light & Space Art. Central to this module is the question of whether all art made in Los Angeles can be classified as “Los Angeles Art” – that is, the extent to which the art and architecture of the region necessarily reflected the geographical location, climate, and expansive urban layout of Los Angeles. To this end, we will consider the critical reception of art of this period, investigating, amongst other critical constructs, the notions of centre and periphery, regionalism and the cultural construction of the American west that shaped much writing on California during the period.

This module traces Western histories of display, from the exhibition of ethnographic material to the emergence of the White Cube gallery space, and beyond. The rise of museums in the late-eighteenth century coincides with the emergence of national identity and modern forms of knowledge throughout Europe and North America. By examining the curatorial approaches of these periods, we will think about how display has been used to support intellectual, social, and political ideologies surrounding nationhood, race, science, and art. The module will also investigate the ways in which modern and contemporary artists have responded to the role that museums and display have played in the construction of Western narratives.

This module examines two of the most influential movements in Western art, Realism and Impressionism. We will consider the major figures and critical debates in the history of modern art. Among the artists to be studied are Courbet, Bonheur, Millet, Manet, Morisot, Degas, Cassatt, Renoir, and others. This module includes the study of different critical approaches to the study of art works and visual culture.

This module examines the visual representation of the human body from antiquity the 21st century. It will entail close study and analysis of visual images, combined with critical readings in the histories and theory of art, society, film and visual culture. Key themes will include: health and the politics of ‘normality’; the sexual body; the modified body; ideal and grotesque bodies; and the ‘foreign’ body. The particular concerns of the module are; visualising social differences of gender, class and race; the cultural formations of ‘difference’; and the ways these are negotiated and secured in images of the body.

The module will investigate the role of art as a vehicle for the transmission of religious and political propaganda in the period c.1470-1530 in Germany. Various forms of art will be examined with reference to the widespread calls for religious reform. In turn, these reforms led to changes in patterns of art production and consumption, and led to the destruction of imagery (iconoclasm). Other concerns include: the impact of the Reformation on the working practices of artists such as Durer, Holbein, Cranach and Riemenschneider; witchcraft and images; art as political propaganda; the development of new genres of art; and gender and reformation.

Studying Literature

The module Studying Literature introduces you to some of the core skills for literary studies, including skills in reading, writing, researching and presentation. The module addresses topics including close reading, constructing an argument, and handling critical material, as well as introducing you to key critical questions about literary form, production and reception. These elements are linked to readings of specific literary texts, focused on poetry and prose selected from the full range of the modern literary period (1500 to the present).

Across the year you will learn about different interpretive approaches and concepts, and will examine literary-historical movements and transitions.

Learning objectives:

• To introduce you to selected literary texts, to deepen your imaginative engagement and analytic response.
• To provide you with a basis of knowledge, working methods and appropriate terminology for subsequent work at university level.
• To provide you with knowledge and understanding of the literary, cultural and historical contexts for literature from the period 1500 to the present, and the relationship between period and genre.

Studying Language

This module teaches you about the nature of language, as well as how to analyse it for a broad range of purposes, preparing you for studies across all sections of the school.

During the weekly workshops you will learn about levels of language analysis and description, from the sounds and structure of language, through to meaning and discourse. These can be applied to all areas of English study, and will prepare you for future modules. In the lectures you will see how the staff here in the School of English put these skills of analysis and description to use in their own research. This covers the study of language in relation to the mind, literature, culture, society, and more. The seminars will then give you a chance to think about and discuss these topics further.

Learning objectives:

• To provide you with methods of language analysis and description for each linguistic level (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, discourse)
• To prepare you for conducting your own language research across your degree
• To introduce you to the areas of research and study within the school, with particular focus on psycholinguistics, literary linguistics, and sociolinguistics

Beginnings of English

The module Beginnings of English introduces you to the varied languages, literatures and cultures of medieval England (c.500-1500). You will read a variety of medieval texts which were originally written in Old English, Middle English and Old Norse. We study some texts in translation, but we also introduce you to aspects of Old and Middle English language to enable you to enjoy the nuance and texture of English literary language in its earliest forms. 

We will read texts in a variety of genres, from epic and elegy, to saga, romance and fable. We will discuss ideas of Englishness and identity, and learn about the production and transmission of texts in the pre-modern period. 

Learning objectives:

• To introduce you to linguistic vocabulary and terminology.
• To enable you to become proficient in reading Old English and Middle English.
• To give you an understanding of the complexities of English grammar, past and present.
• To give you an understanding of the origins of English, and its development over the medieval period.
• To familiarise you with the themes and genre of medieval English literature. 

Depending on your module choices in your first and second year, you will choose three modules in your final year in English that cover at least two areas of study.

• Theatre Making
• Changing Stages: Theatre Industry and Theatre Art
• Modern Irish Literature and Drama
• Performing the Nation: British Theatre since 1980
• Reformation and Revolution: Early Modern literature and drama 1588-1688
• Writing for Performance

This module involves the in-depth study of an art historical topic over one or two semesters. You will chose the topic in consultation with a tutor, subject to the approval of the Department. You will be allocated a dissertation supervisor appropriate to the chosen topic. Teaching for this module takes the form of individual tutorials with your dissertation supervisor, as well as group workshops focusing on research, writing, and presentation skills. It provides you with the opportunity to undertake a substantial piece of writing on a topic of particular personal interest.

The dissertation can be taken for 20 or 40 credits.

This module seeks to engage with the Renaissance as a period of conspicuous consumption of a range of luxury goods, and examines the social, cultural and economic factors which characterised the period 1400-1600.  Amongst the issues raised in lectures and seminars will be the importance of objects as signifier of status, magnificence, the diversification of objects and the concomitant rise in specialised living arrangements, and women as consumers of art. In this module you will have one 1-hour lecture and a one 2-hour seminar each week.

The module examines the visual culture of America from the late 19th century to the present day. The module explores how visual culture – art, advertising, architecture, cinema, television, cartography, video, the internet and images of science – has transformed and shaped the image of the United States. The module looks closely at a series of themes: urban and rural landscapes, icons and iconography, art and photography, race and gender in the US, high and low culture, sex and sexuality. The module also introduces various visual and critical theories which help us better understand the visual cultures of the United States of America.

This module will examine cultural production during Italy’s fascist regime. There will be an emphasis on the experience of visual culture in public settings such as the exhibition space, the cinema, and the built environment. A wide range of cultural artefacts will be examined, paying attention to material as well as visual aspects. Visual material will be situated in the social, cultural and political circumstances of the period. Topics will include: Fascism’s use of spectacle, fascist conceptions of utopia, the regime’s use of the past, the relationship between Fascism and modernism, Fascism as a political religion, the cult of Mussolini, urban-rural relations, and empire building. The module will also consider the afterlife of fascist visual culture and the question of ‘difficult’ heritage.

New technologies of mobility have long been a defining condition of modernity. It is from this perspective that we will examine modern art while highlighting the interrelated components of movement and speed – mechanized motion, temporality and their political connotations (e.g., social, ideological, artistic trends). This module includes a range of works, mainly paintings, from the mid nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. We will also consider photography and other pre-cinematic forms of moving images such as optical devices, peepshows, and panoramas that added different motion and time to representation. A key question is the role of artists in naturalizing the equation between mobility, modernity, and the West. To this end, our consideration will involve non-Western representations to explore the ideological and economic implications of mobility.

This module traces the development of performance art from the 1950s to the 1980s.

It considers the work of a number of artists in America and Europe in terms of:

• their focus on the body of the artist
• the dematerialization of the art object
• the changing role of the audience or viewer.

Students will engage with a range of theories of:

• identity, gender and selfhood
• phenomenology and participation
• duration, temporality and impermanence pain, endurance and abjection.

Exploring performance art’s relationship with other visual art forms, including dance, experimental music, film and television, this module considers and evaluates the art historical genealogies of performance art and body art and examines the ways in which performance art has shifted the terms of art history.

In addition, it will consider the issues at stake in constructing a history of performance art, and in documenting, exhibiting, and writing about ephemeral, invisible, or indeterminate practices.

This module is worth 20 credits.

This module examines the development of photography in America from roughly 1945 onwards. The module breaks the period down into themes and considers:

1. the transformation of ‘documentary’ photograph;

2. the emergence and importance of colour photography;

3. experimental, conceptual and post-conceptual photography;

4. issues of serialism and seriality;

5. landscape photography;

6. the photobook

7. analogue/digital

The module will draw on the work of a diverse range of photographers, including Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, Ed Ruscha, Lewis Baltz, Robert Adams, Robert Heinecken, Stephen Shore, Todd Hido, William Eggleston and Doug Rickard.

The module will review the origins of photography; early commentaries and debates on the new medium’s status; the identity of those who became photographers; the dominant genres employed in photographic imagery; the developing culture of reproduction, exhibition, and photography criticism. The module will explore the connections and conflicts between 19th-century photography and art. It will also consider the relationship between 19th-century photography and travel, science, and problems of social ideology. 

Studying Literature

The module Studying Literature introduces you to some of the core skills for literary studies, including skills in reading, writing, researching and presentation. The module addresses topics including close reading, constructing an argument, and handling critical material, as well as introducing you to key critical questions about literary form, production and reception. These elements are linked to readings of specific literary texts, focused on poetry and prose selected from the full range of the modern literary period (1500 to the present).

Across the year you will learn about different interpretive approaches and concepts, and will examine literary-historical movements and transitions.

Learning objectives:

• To introduce you to selected literary texts, to deepen your imaginative engagement and analytic response.
• To provide you with a basis of knowledge, working methods and appropriate terminology for subsequent work at university level.
• To provide you with knowledge and understanding of the literary, cultural and historical contexts for literature from the period 1500 to the present, and the relationship between period and genre.

Studying Language

This module teaches you about the nature of language, as well as how to analyse it for a broad range of purposes, preparing you for studies across all sections of the school.

During the weekly workshops you will learn about levels of language analysis and description, from the sounds and structure of language, through to meaning and discourse. These can be applied to all areas of English study, and will prepare you for future modules. In the lectures you will see how the staff here in the School of English put these skills of analysis and description to use in their own research. This covers the study of language in relation to the mind, literature, culture, society, and more. The seminars will then give you a chance to think about and discuss these topics further.

Learning objectives:

• To provide you with methods of language analysis and description for each linguistic level (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, discourse)
• To prepare you for conducting your own language research across your degree
• To introduce you to the areas of research and study within the school, with particular focus on psycholinguistics, literary linguistics, and sociolinguistics

Beginnings of English

The module Beginnings of English introduces you to the varied languages, literatures and cultures of medieval England (c.500-1500). You will read a variety of medieval texts which were originally written in Old English, Middle English and Old Norse. We study some texts in translation, but we also introduce you to aspects of Old and Middle English language to enable you to enjoy the nuance and texture of English literary language in its earliest forms. 

We will read texts in a variety of genres, from epic and elegy, to saga, romance and fable. We will discuss ideas of Englishness and identity, and learn about the production and transmission of texts in the pre-modern period. 

Learning objectives:

• To introduce you to linguistic vocabulary and terminology.
• To enable you to become proficient in reading Old English and Middle English.
• To give you an understanding of the complexities of English grammar, past and present.
• To give you an understanding of the origins of English, and its development over the medieval period.
• To familiarise you with the themes and genre of medieval English literature. 

Depending on your module choices in your first and second year, you will choose three modules in your final year in English that cover at least two areas of study.

• Theatre Making
• Changing Stages: Theatre Industry and Theatre Art
• Modern Irish Literature and Drama
• Performing the Nation: British Theatre since 1980
• Reformation and Revolution: Early Modern literature and drama 1588-1688
• Writing for Performance