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Art and Thought

Code: 100559 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2500239 Art History OB 3

Contact

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

Teachers

Nuria Llorens Moreno

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


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.

     


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures 50 2 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
Type: Supervised      
Individual work: writing a critical essay 25 1 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
Text analysis of the readings assigned to the topics covered in the course 25 1 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
Type: Autonomous      
Documents search and writing exercices 50 2 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

Expository and dialogic classes. Emphasis will be placed on class participation, through analysis and commentary on a selection of readings and works, and promoting discussion and debate around the topics of study.

Assignments: writing a critical commentary on a reading.

The structure of the syllabus, the documentation worked on in class, the readings and exercises are designed to reinforce the student's capacity for analysis and explanation, and also to encourage reflection, questioning and a critical thinking spirit.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

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

Assessment

CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT

The assessement will draw in three exercices:

Two  written test-1 (35 %) i2 (45 %) and the text analysis (20 %)of the readings assigned to the topics covered in the course.

The schedule of exercises will be agreed upon in class at the beginning of the course.

Procedure for the revision of the qualifications.

At the moment of each evaluation activity, the teacher will inform the students (Moodle) of the procedure and the date of revision of the grades.

SINGLE ASSESSMENT

The single assessment of this course will be ruled by the specific regulations approved by the UAB.

In order to obtain a favorable evaluation, it is necessary to pass three evidences:

1. Written test of contents (40% of the final grade).

2. Written test of contents (40% of the final grade).

3. Individual work consisting of a lecture commentary (20% of the final grade).

Unless otherwise indicated, the single evaluation tests will coincide with the dates reserved for the continuous evaluation, at the end of the four-month period.

Second chance assesment

In order to take part in the recovery, students must have been previously evaluated in a set of activities, the weight of which is equivalent to a minimum of 2/3 of the total qualification (CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT) or take all the tests (SINGLE ASSESSMENT).

For the single evaluation, the same recovery system will be applied as for the continuous evaluation. Unless otherwise indicated, the single assessment tests will coincide with the dates reserved for the continuous assessment, at the end of the four-month period.

In order to participate in the recovery process the student must have obtained a final average grade of 3.5, if the average of the three evidences is below this grade, it is not possible to take the recovery exam.

Conditions for the qualification of 'Not evaluable':
The student will receive a grade of 'Not evaluable' if he/she has not completed more than 30% of the evaluation activities.

In case of plagiarism:

In case the student commits any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an evaluation act, this evaluation will be graded with 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may be instituted. In the event that several irregularities
In case of several irregularities in the evaluation acts of the same subject, the final grade of this subject will be 0.

 


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.

BIBLIOGRAFIA  ESPECÍFICA

 

Tema 1.1

ARISTÓTELES, Poética, Gredos, Madrid, 1992.

BOZAL,Valeriano, Mímesis: las imágenes y las cosas, Visor, Madrid, 1987.

BREDEKAMP, Horst, Teoría del acto icónico, Akal, Madrid, 2017.

DURO, Paul, Theorizing Imitation in the Visual Arts: Global Contexts (Art History Special Issues), Blackwell, Oxford, 2015.

GOMBRICH, Ernst H., Arte e Ilusión, Gustavo Gili, Barcelona, 1982.

HALLIWELL, Stephen, The Aesthetics of mimesis ancient texts and modern problems, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2002.

KRIEGER, Murray, Ekphrasis: The Illusion of the Natural Sign, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1992.

OSBORNE, Robin, Archaic and Classical Greek Art, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1998.

PLATÓ, República, Gredos, Madrid, 1986.

POLLIT, J.J., Art and experience in classical Greece, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1972.

POTOLOSKY, Mathew, Mimesis, Routledge, New York, 2006.

SETTIS, Salvatore (ed.), I Greci: storia, cultura, arte, società, Einaudi, Torino, 1996.

SMALL, Jocelyn Penny, The Parallel worlds of classical art and text, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003.

Tema 1.2

BRUYNE, Edgar de, La estética de la Edad Media, Visor, Madrid, 1987.

BRUYNE, Edgar de, Etudes d'esthétique médiévale, Vols. I i II, Albin Michel, Paris, 1998.

CARCHIA, Gianni, L'estetica antica, Laterza, Roma, 2000.

CARRUTHERS, Mary J., The experience of beauty in the Middle Ages, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013.

ECO, Umberto, Art i bellesa en l'estètica medieval, Destino, Barcelona, 1990.

FUMAGALLI, Maria Teresa, L'estetica medievale, il Mulino, Bologna, 2001.

HYLAND, Drew A., Plato and the question of beauty, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2008 [1 recurs electronic UAB]

JANAWAY, Christopher, Images of Excellence, Plato's Critique of the Arts, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1998.

LOMBARDO, Giovanni, L'estetica antica, Lessicodel'estetica, il Mulino, Bologna, 2002.

PANOFSKY, Erwin, Idea, Cátedra, Madrid, 1987.

PLATÓ, El Banquet, Fedre, Edicions 62, Barcelona, 1998.

POLLIT, Jerome J, «La nascita dell'arte classica greca in un universo platonico», a LA ROCA, Eugenio (ed.), L'esperimento dellla perfezione. Arte e società nell'Atene di Pericle, Electa, Milano, 1988.

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

VERGO, Peter, That divine order, Phaidon, London, 2005.

 

Tema 2.1

ALBERTI, Leon Battista, De la pintura y otros escritos sobre arte, Tecnos, Madrid,1999.

BELTING, Hans, Florencia y Bagdag, Una historia de la mirada entre Oriente y Occidente, Akal, Madrid, 2008.

BLUNT, Anthony, La teoría de las artes en Italia (del 1450 a 1600), Cátedra, Madrid, 1980.

ELKINS, James & WILLIAMS, Robert, Renaissance theory, Routledge, New York, 2008.

BELLONE, Enrico i ROSSI, Paolo, Leonardo e l'età della ragione, Scientia, Milano, 1982.

FARAGO, Claire (Ed), Re- reading Leonardo : the "Treatise on painting" across Europe, 1550-1900, Ashgate, 2009.

KEMP, Martin, Leonardo da Vinci: Las maravillosas obras de la naturaleza y el hombre, Akal, Madrid, 2011.

KEMP, Martin, La ciència del arte, Akal, Madrid, 2000.

LEONARDO, El tratado de la Pintura, Akal, Madrid, 2004.

SUMMERS, David, El juicio de la sensibilidad. Renacimiento, naturaliso y emergència de la estética, Tecnos, Madrid, 1993.

RYKWERT, Joseph & ENGEL, Anne, Leon Battista Alberti, Electa, Milano, 1994.

 

Tema 2.2

BAROCCHI, Paola, (ed.), Scritti d'Arte del Cinquecento, Vols I-V, Einaudi, Torino, 1977-1979.

CASTELLI, Patrizia, L'estetica del Rinascimento, Lessico del'estetica, il Mulino, Bologna, 2005.

CHASTEL, André, Arte y Humanismo en Florencia en la época de Lorenzo el Magnífico, Cátedra, Madrid, 1982.

CHASTEL, André, Marsile Ficin et l'art, Droz, Genève, 1996.

FICINO, Marsilio, De Amore, Tecnos, Madrid, 1985.

FICINO, Marsilio, Sobre el furor divino y otros textos, Anthropos, Barcelona, 1993.

KRISTELLER, Paul O. El pensamiento renacentista y sus fuentes, FCE, México, 1993.

PANOFSKY, Erwin, Estudios sobre Iconología, Alianza, Madrid, 1985.

SUMMERS, David, Michelangelo and the Language of Art: Fantasy and Order, Princenton University Press, Princenton, 1981.

TATARKIEWICZ, Wladyslaw, Historia de la estética, Vol. III, Akal, Madrid, 1991.

VASARI, Giorgio, Las Vidas de los más excelentes arquitectos, pintores y escultores italianos desde Cimabue a nuestros tiempos, Cátedra, Madrid, 2002.

 

Tema 3

GOLDSTEIN, Carl, Teaching art: academies and schools from Vasari to Albers, Cambrigde 1999.

LEE, Reenselaer, W., Ut Pictura Poesis, Cátedra, Madrid, 1982.

MILANI, Raffael, I volti della grazia, il Mulino, Bologna, 2009.

PEVSNER, Nikolaus, Las academias de arte, Cátedra, Madrid, 1982.

PUTTFARKEN, Thomas, The Discovery of the Pictorial Composition: theories of visual order in painting 1400-1800, Yale University Press, New Haven, London, 2000.

SNYDER, Jon R. L'estetica del Barrocco, Lessico dell'estetica, il Mulino, Bologna, 2005.

 

Tema 4.1

ASSUNTO, Rosario, Naturaleza y razón en la estética del setecientos, Visor, Madrid, 1989.

BECQ, Annie, Genèse de l'esthétique française moderne 1680-1814, Albin Michel, Paris, 1994.

BOZAL,Valeriano, El gusto, Visor, Madrid, 1999.

CASSIRER, Ersnt, La Filosofía de la Ilustración, F.C.E., México, 1972.

DIDEROT, Denis, Escrits filosòfics, Edicions 62/Diputació de Barcelona, Barcelona, 1983.

DIDEROT, Denis, Escritos sobre art, Siruela, Madrid, 1994.

FRANZINI, Elio, La estética del siglo XVIII, Visor, Madrid, 2000.

GERARD, Alexander, Un ensayo sobre el genio, Siruela, Madrid, 2009

HOFMANN, Werner, Une époque en rupture 1750-1830, Gallimard, París, 1995.

HOGARTH, William, El análisis de la belleza, Visor, Madrid, 1997.

HUME, David, La norma del gusto y otros ensayos, Nexos, Península, Barcelona, 1989.

KANT, Immanuel, Crítica del Judici, Edicions 62, Barcelona, 2004.

MORETTI, Giampiero, El genio, Antonio Machado, Madrid, 2016.

SAINT GIRONS, Baldine, Esthétiques du XVIIIe siècle, Philippe Sers, Paris, 1990.

 

Tema 4.2

ADDISON, Joseph, Los placeres de la imaginación y otros ensayos de The Spectator, Visor, Madrid, 1991.

ASHFIELD, Andrew i BOLLA, Peter de. (eds.) The sublime: a reader in British eighteenth-century aesthetic theory, Cambridge University Press, Cabridge, 1996.

BODEI, Remo, Paisajes sublimes: el hombre ante la naturaleza salvaje, Siruela, Madrid, 2011.

BURKE, Edmund, Indagación filosófica sobre el origen de nuestras ideas acerca de lo sublime y de lo bello, Tecnos, Madrid, 1987.

DANTO, Arthur C., El abuso de la belleza: la estética y el concepto de arte, Paidós, Barcelona, 2005.

LONGINO, Sobre lo sublime, Gredos, Madrid, 1996.

MONK, Samuel H., Il Sublime, Marietti, Gènova, 1991.

SAINT GIRONS, Baldine, Lo Sublime, Visor, Madrid, 2002.

SCHILLER, Friedrich, Del Sublime, SE SRL, Milano, 1989.

SHAFTESBURY, Anthony Ashley Cooper, Los Moralistas, E. I. U, Barcelona, 1997.

 

Tema 4.3

ABRAMS, Meyer Howard, El espejo y la lámpara, Barral, Bacelona, 1975.

ARNALDO, Javier, (ed.), Fragmentos para una teoría romántica del arte, Tecnos, 1987.

BARASCH, Moshe, Modern Theories of Art, 1: From Winckelmann to Baudelaire, New York University Press, New York, 1990. D'ANGELO, Paolo, La Estética del Romanticismo, Visor, Madrid, 1999.

DE PAZ, Alfredo, La revolución romántica , Tecnos, Madrid, 1992.

GUSDORF, Georges, Le romantisme, Vols. I i II, Payot, Paris, 1993.

TOWNSEND, Joyce H. (ed.), William Blake: The painter at work, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2003.

HARTLEY, Keith et al. (eds.), The Romantic Spirit in German Art 1790-1990, Thames and Hudson, London, 1994.

HOLDERLIN, Friedrich, Hiperió, Columna, Barcelona, 1993.

KLEIST, Friedrich von, Sobre el teatro de marionetas y otros ensayos de arte y filosofía, Hiperión, Madrid, 1988.

KOERNER, Joseph Leo, Caspar David Friedrich and the subject of landscape, Reaktion books, London, 1990.

MARÍ, Antoni, Lhome de geni, Edicions 62, Barcelona, 1984.

RELLA, Franco, L'estetica del Romanticismo, Donzelli, 2006.

ROSEN, Charles, The Romantic generation, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.), 1998.

SCHILLER, Friedrich, Sobre poesía ingenua y poesía sentimental, Icaria, Barcelona, 1985.

V.V.A.A., Romanticismo: il nuovo sentimento della natura, Electa, 1993.

Tema 5

BANN, Stephen, Ways around modernism, Routledge, New York, 2007.

BARASCH, Moshe, Modern Theories of Art, 2: From Impressionism to Kandinsky, New York University Press, New York, 1998.

CHIPP, Herschel B.(ed.) Teorías del arte contemporáneo, Akal, Madrid, 1995.

CRARY, Jonathan, Las técnicas del observador: visión y modernidad en el siglo XIX, Cendeac, Salamanca, 2008.

FRASCINA, Francis & HARRIS, Jonathan, Art in modern culture: an anthology of critical texts, Harper Collins, New York, 1992.

GAY, Peter, Modernidad. La atracción de la herejía de Baudelaire a Beckett, Barcelona, Paidós, 2007.

HARRISON, Charles, Modernismo, Encuentro, Madrid, 2000.

 

 

 

 

 


Software

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


Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed