VSA2110

Critical perspectives on modern art

(ART)

Annette Van den Bosch

8 points + 3 hours per week + First semester + Clayton + Prerequisites: Two visual culture subjects at first-year level

Synopsis: Critique of the European avant-garde 1900 - 1940 from the context of social history. Significant debates that constructed the conditions of visual modernism: formalism versus materialism; autonomy; war; modernist utopias; the communicative potential of abstraction; the rappel à l'ordre; industrial production and the machine, with reference to American modernism and design; revolutionary socialism; and the unconscious. Art movements discussed include fauvism, cubism, futurism, vorticism, expressionism, dada, surrealism, orphism and neue Sachlicheit and American Modernism.

Assessment: Seminar paper (2000 words): 35% + Essay (3000 words): 40% + Visual test (1.5 hours): 25%