TAD2112

Perspectives on postwar practices 2B

3 points - One lecture and one tutorial per week - Second semester - Caulfield and Gippsland - Prerequisites: TAD1101, TAD1102 - Corequisites: none - Prohibitions: TAD2102, TAD3102, TAD3112 - Core for BDes(VisComm), otherwise an elective.

Objectives On successful completion of this subject, students should (1) be able to identify and understand the critical issues characterising postwar visual practice; (2) be able to identify the salient elements of postwar styles of art or design; (3) be able to articulate verbally and in writing a critical analysis of movements and visual images or objects; (4) possess analytical and research skills enabling them to determine points of connection and divergence between the different discipline areas of art and design and historic and contemporary practices, including their own ambitions in studio practice.

Synopsis The Second World War shattered European hegemony of modern art and design. The pre-war movements were left fragmented as their protagonists fled abroad, or attempted to resurrect their practice within a devastated Europe. This subject looks at the postwar dissemination of modernism; the influence of American art and popular culture; and increasing disillusionment with the prescriptive nature of modernist practices. Looking across a broad range of mediums, including film and photography, students will examine the range of practices which erupted out of the postwar circumstances, through to the dissipation of modernism and the emergence of postmodernism. Increasingly 'theory' and political ideologies influenced art practice, from the feminist activities of the 1960s and 70s, through to the domination of structuralist and post-structuralist thought in the 1980s and 90s. How these influences effected practice and manifested in the objects and images of artist and designers will form a major part of this study; as will the examination of the challenge to the boundaries between high and low art, and art and design. The role and relationship of Australian art and design to these circumstances are crucial components of study.

Assessment One assignment (2000 words) or one seminar paper: 65% - One gallery report (1000 words): 35%

Prescribed texts

Theory of Art and Design Unit Perspectives on postwar practice 2B (book of readings prepared by course coordinator)

Recommended texts

Gablick S Has modernism failed? Thames and Hudson, latest edition
Storey J An introduction to cultural theory and popular culture 2nd edn, Prentice Hall, 1997

Back to the 1999 Art and Design Handbook