TAD2124/TAD2134

Past and present: continuity in European visual culture

Note: Incurs substantial travel and accommodation costs which are to be paid by the student to the tour provider.
TAD2124: 6 points - 104 hours of lectures, tutorials and site visits on locations in Europe and 52 hours of independent study - Third semester - Caulfield - Prerequisites: TAD1101 and TAD1102 - Corequisites: none - Prohibited combinations: TAD2134 - Elective - May be taken as an elective subject by students of any faculty including art and design
TAD2134: 8 points - 130 hours of lectures, tutorials, and site visits on locations in Europe and 78 hours of independent study - Third semester - Caulfield - Prerequisites: TAD1101 and TAD1102, or permission of the subject coordinator - Corequisites: none - Prohibitions: TAD2124 - Elective - May be taken as an elective subject by students of any faculty except art and design

Objectives On the successful completion of this subject students will be able to identify in detail pivotal examples of art and design which have influenced the development of European visual culture; identify and describe major locations in which Roman, early Christian, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, early modernist, modernist, and post-modernist development have taken place; critically comment on works in several of the greatest collections of art extant; participate in critical evaluation of the styles, concepts, cultural contents and values of selected examples of art and design that have influenced the present; refer to documentation in a research journal which catalogues their critical and analytic responses to what they have seen; recognise and understand how art, architecture, space and even cities work as documents of events; perceive and experience the deeper level of European art rather than to study it second hand; and identify a number of themes linking the relationship of present visual culture to the past.

Synopsis The course will trace the development of Western visual culture from its roots in ancient and early Christian Rome to the development of modernism and post-modernism in Paris. Emphasis will be on the relationship between past and present and the historic influences that have shaped contemporary art and design, expressed in the vast diversity of work that has developed this century. The study tour will concentrate on how ideas, values and beliefs were communicated through the traditions of painting, sculpture and architecture, as well as ceramics and glass. The design and production of ceramic, glass and textile art forms has been a crucial mode of cultural expression which is often overlooked. This study integrates their role as important art forms with the overall view of Western visual culture. The program includes visits to Rome, Florence, Venice and Paris, with special field trips to other important locations to study examples of art and design. The course follows a pattern that reflects a chronological evolution using much of the most significant art and design of the last two thousand years as documents for the understanding of the visual culture of both past and present.

Assessment TAD2124: Two written assignments (1250 words each): 50% - Research book (2000 words): 50%
TAD2134: One essay (3000 words): 50% - Research book (3000 words): 50%

Recommended texts

Boyne R and Ali R (eds) Post-modernism and society St Martins, 1990
Hoffert B et al Art in diversity Longman, 1995
Janson H W History of art Abrams, any edition
Lavin I Past present University of California, 1993
Rosenblum R and Janson H W Art of the nineteenth century Thames and Hudson, 1984

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