Monash University Handbook 2010 Undergraduate - Unit

Synopsis

This unit is an introduction to visual language in western art and design. It examines artistic forms and media in the light of how they are made and how they engage with ritual and social symbols. Visual language is analysed in relation to aesthetic, technical, spiritual and ideological frameworks. The reasons behind stylistic development are sought within the framework of the history of ideas, from the sacred to the economic. The unit crucially examines relations between art and design; and the survey of epochs is chosen in order to highlight the dynamic between drawing and design, landmarks, illustration and media.

Objectives

On successful completion of this unit, students will:

1. recognize some key works of Western art and design and place them in the appropriate cultural climate,
2. consider the relationships between design, art and craft as mutually important partners in the development of visual language,
3. 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,
4. describe visual language perceptively and comment on works with critical discernment, attempting to evoke the expressive content of objects of art and design,
5. present their insights in an articulate, critical and imaginative written manner and
6. recognize critical values when conducting visual analysis and cultivate the identification of ideological bias in historical representation.

Assessment

Assignments: 80%
Slide test: 20%

Chief examiner(s)

Robert Nelson

Contact hours

One 2-hour lecture, one 1-hour tutorial and 9 independent study hours per week