TAD1101

History of pre-industrial art and design

6 points - One 2-hour lecture, one 1-hour tutorial and 9 independent study hours per week - First semester - Caulfield, and Gippsland - Prerequisites: None - Corequisites: None - Prohibited combinations: none - Core for all art and design degree courses

Objectives On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to recognise key works of pre-industrial western art and design and place them in the appropriate cultural climate; consider the relationships between design, art and craft as mutually important partners in visual production; trace the formal and iconographic sources of works of art and design and identify their impact, both historically and critically, in terms of contemporary discourse; describe works perceptively and comment on them with critical discernment, attempting to evoke the expressive content of objects of art and design; present their appreciation in an articulate, critical and imaginative written manner; recognise critical values when conducting visual analysis and cultivate the identification of ideological bias in historical representation.

Synopsis Lectures present arguments about the aesthetic, spiritual and ideological meaning of works of art and design in the pre-industrial period. The material ranges from pre-classical Greece to the seventeenth century; the forms of production include architecture, furniture, ceramics, painting, sculpture, prints and so on. Links between pre-industrial works and contemporary works of art and design are outlined, and works from non-western cultures are also discussed and related to the western tradition. The search for the reasons behind stylistic and iconographic developments is undertaken against the backdrop of the history of ideas, from the spiritual to the economic. In discussing works, the link between the interpretative and the inspirational is stressed. Works of art and design are examined for their poetic content as well as their social context and technical qualities. Tutorials further provide a focus on students' studio discipline as well as helping to develop visual and verbal skills needed to take part in contemporary discourse in all forms of art and design.

Assessment Assignments: 70% - Slide test: 30%

Recommended texts

Gombrich E H The story of art Phaidon, 1972
Nelson R Inspections Monash College of Art and Design, 1995
Nelson R Expressions of purpose Monash College of Art and Design, 1992
Summerson S The classical language of architecture Thames and Hudson, 1980

Back to the 1999 Art and Design Handbook