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2021/2022

Art and Thought

Code: 100559 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500239 Art History OB 3 1
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Nuria Llorens Moreno
Email:
Nuria.Llorens@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Prerequisites

El estudiante ha de estar acostumbrado a realizar comentarios de texto

Objectives and Contextualisation

The course syllabus draws a tour through the history of art theory. We will study the main authors, subjects, concepts and debates that summarize the whole body of artistic theories from antiquity to modernity. We will put emphasis on the analysis of the processes of transformation of ideas, in connection to their historic, artistic and cultural contexts. The purpose of this approach is to provide the student with the necessary means and skills to understand  how the artistic concepts and thinking trends originate and evolve over time.

Competences

  • Applying the mastery of the basic critical and methodological tools in order to understand and narrate Art History and reflect on the profession of art historian.
  • Applying the specific scientific methodologies of the discipline of Art History.
  • Demonstrating they know the history of the artistic ideas and the main theoretical currents that inspired the reflection about art, cinema, its creators and its audience through history.
  • Expressing specific knowledge about the origin, evolution and various fields of study of Art History, as well as the classic and actual subjects, vocabulary and debates of the discipline.
  • Make changes to methods and processes in the area of knowledge in order to provide innovative responses to society's needs and demands.
  • Recognising the fundamental problems, vocabulary and concepts of the Theory of Art and Cinema.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse the sex- or gender-based inequalities and the gender biases present in one's own area of knowledge.
  2. Analysing classical and current debates of the History of Art.
  3. Analysing ideas about an artistic phenomenon in a given cultural context.
  4. Analysing ideas about an artistic phenomenon, and its creators and recipients in a given cultural context.
  5. Analysing the creators of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  6. Analysing the recipients of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  7. Applying the iconographic knowledge to the reading of artistic imagery.
  8. Applying the knowledge about aesthetic ideas and Art Theory to the analysis of the artistic imagery.
  9. Critically analysing basic concepts of artistic and cinematographic theory and its evolution through history.
  10. Demonstrating the knowledge of scientific methodology, sources and Art Theory in the reading, criticism and formal, iconographic and symbolic interpretation of any artistic or cinematographic imagery.
  11. Differentiating artistic theories about an artistic phenomenon, its creators and recipients in a given cultural context.
  12. Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
  13. Interpreting the fundamental concepts of Theory of Art with a critical eye.
  14. Propose new methods or well-founded alternative solutions.
  15. Summarising acquired knowledge about the origin and transformations experienced by the general Theory of Art and the various fields of study of the discipline.
  16. Using the knowledge of general Art Theory in the criticism of the artistic imagery.

Content

 

  1. 1. Antiquity and Middle Ages

    1.1. The concept of mimesis or imitation of nature. Inventing fiction.

    1.2 Beauty in classical and medieval culture. Ideal beauty, nature and the arts.

    2. Renaissance

    2.1. Theories of representation of nature in the Renaissance.

    2.2. Renaissance cult of beauty and classical thought on beauty

    3. The seventeenth century

    The concept ut pictura poesis and its influence in humanistic theory of art. The Academy: systems and principles.

    4. Enlightenment and Romanticism

    4.1. Transformations of art and artistic theory in the Enlightenment. A new approach to beauty and the artist: the enlightenment theories of taste and genius.

    4.2. Nature, art and  the subject, a brief history of modern sublime.

    4.3. Romantic philosophy of art: artistic truth and imagination. The romantic artist

    5. The 19th century

    The emergence of modernity and the crisis of the Academy. Towards a definition of modern art and artist.

     

Methodology

The teaching methodology and the evaluation proposed in the guide may undergo some modification subject to the onsite teaching restrictions imposed by health authorities

Lectures

Documents search and writing exercices

Individual work: writing a critical essay

Text analysis of the readings assigned to the topics covered in the course.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 50 2 9, 5, 2, 6, 3, 8, 10, 11, 13, 12, 16
Type: Supervised      
Individual work: writing a critical essay 25 1 9, 5, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 15
Text analysis of the readings assigned to the topics covered in the course 25 1 4, 12
Type: Autonomous      
Documents search and writing exercices 50 2 9, 5, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 12, 15, 16

Assessment

The assessement will draw in three exercices:

Two papers and the text analysis of the readings assigned to the topics covered in the course.

In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online
format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained).
Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or
discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual
tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives

In case of plagirarism:

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation
in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for
this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of
several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given
a zero as the final grade for this subject.

Papers review procedure:

Durig the evaluative process, the lecturer will inform students (Moodle) of the papers review procedure.

The Student will be rated as ‘Not assessable’ if he/she has not delivered more than 30 % of the evaluation work.

Second chance examination:

The student could submit a second chance examination of the papers with a rating inferior to 5.

 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Paper 1 35 0 0 9, 5, 2, 6, 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 12, 14, 15, 16
Paper 2 45 0 0 9, 5, 2, 6, 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 12, 14, 15, 16
Text analysis of the readings assigned to the topics covered in the course 20 0 0 9, 5, 2, 6, 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 12, 14, 15, 16

Bibliography

 GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

  • BARASCH, Moshe, Teorías del Arte: De Platón a Winckelmann, Alianza, Madrid, 2005 .
  • BARASCH, Moshe, Modern Theories of Art, 1: From Winckelmann to Baudelaire, New York University Press, New York, 1990.
  • BARASCH, Moshe, Modern Theories of Art, 2: From Impressionism to Kandinsky, New York University Press, New York, 1998.)

BODEI, Remo, La forma de lo bello, Visor, Madrid, 1998

BOZAL,Valeriano (ed.), Historia de las ideas estéticas y de las teorías artísticas contemporáneas, Vols. I, II, Visor, Madrid, 1996

FRANZINI, Elio i MAZZOCUT-MIS, Maddalena, Estetica: I nomi, i concetti, le correnti, Bruno Mondadori, Milano, 1996. HARRISON, Charles; Wood, Paul i GAIGER, Jason, (eds.), Art in Theory, 1648-1815: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Blackwell, Oxford, 2000.

HARRISON, Charles & WOOD, Paul with GAIGER, Jason (eds.), Art in Theory, 1815-1900: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Blackwell, Oxford, 1998.

HARRISON, Charles & WOOD, Paul (eds.), Art in Theory, 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas, Blackwell, Oxford, 2002.

HOLT, Elisabeth Gilmore, A Documentary History of Art, Vols. I i II, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1981, 1982.

HOLT, Elisabeth Gilmore, From Classicists to the Impressionists, Art and Architecture in the 19th Century, Vol. III, Yale University Press, New haven & London, 1986.

KEARNEY, Richard i RASMUSSEN, David, (eds.), Continental Aesthetics, Romanticism to Postmodernism, An Anthology, Blackwell, Oxford, 2001.

KELLY, Michael (ed.), Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998.

LORENTE, Jesús-Pedro, Historia de la crítica del arte. Textos escogidos y comentados, Prensas universitarias de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, 2005.

  • POCHAT, Gotz, Historia de la estética y la teoría del arte. De la Antigüedad al siglo XIX, Akal, Madrid, 2008.

SCRUTON, Roger, Beauty: a very short introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2011.

SHINER, Larry, La invención del arte, Una historia cultural, Paidós, Barcelona, 2014.

SMITH, Paul i WILDE, Carolyn, A Companion to Art Theory, Blackwell, Oxford, 2002.

TATARKIEWICZ, Wladyslaw, Historia de la estética, Vols. I-II, Akal, Madrid, 1991.

TATARKIEWICZ, Wladyslaw, Historia de seis ideas, Tecnos, Madrid, 1987.

V.V.A.A., Fuentes y Documentos para la Historia del Arte, Vols. I-VIII, Gustavo Gili, Barcelona, 1979.

  • WILLIAMS, Robert, Art theory, an Historical Introduction, Blackwell, Oxford, 2009.

 

 

 

Software

If a specific program is necessary we will inform the student.