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Art from Japan, Africa and Oceania

Code: 106393 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2500239 Art History OT 3
2500239 Art History OT 4

Contact

Name:
Ricard Bru Turull
Email:
ricard.bru@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

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


Prerequisites

English reading comprehension is recommended, apart from Catalan and Spanish.


Objectives and Contextualisation

- Learn a general and introductory overview of the world's artistic diversity, focusing on various examples from Africa, Oceania and East Asia.

- Manage the bibliographical resources of the discipline.

- Acquire a certain familiarity with Japanese art.

- Master the appropriate artistic terminology.


Competences

    Art History
  • Critically analysing from the acquired knowledge a work of art in its many facets: formal values, iconographic significance, artistic techniques and procedures, elaboration process and reception mechanisms.
  • Interpreting a work of art in the context in which it was developed and relating it with other forms of cultural expression.
  • Recognising the evolution of the artistic imagery from the antiquity to the contemporary visual culture.
  • 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.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Accurately defining and explaining an artistic object with the specific language of art criticism.
  2. Analysing ideas about an artistic phenomenon in a given cultural context.
  3. Analysing the creators of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  4. Analysing the recipients of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
  5. Applying the iconographic knowledge to the reading of artistic imagery.
  6. Connecting an artistic imagery with other cultural phenomena within its period.
  7. Distinguishing the elaboration techniques and processes of an artistic object.
  8. Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
  9. Examining an artistic imagery and distinguishing its formal, iconographic and symbolic values.
  10. Explaining the reception mechanisms of a work of art.
  11. Identifying the artistic imagery, placing it into its cultural context.
  12. Reconstructing the artistic outlook of a particular cultural context.

Content

Previous recommendations concerning the consistency of the title and the contents of the course.

1. ARTS OF AFRICA. Introduction to artistic forms from sub-Saharan Africa, mainly from the corresponding areas of Nigeria, Mali, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

2. ARTS OF OCEANIA. Introduction to artistic forms from the Pacific, mainly from Australia, New Guinea and Polynesia.

3. JAPANESE ART: Introduction to Japanese art, from prehistory to 20th century.


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Directed 130 5.2 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Type: Supervised      
Supervised 10 0.4 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12
Type: Autonomous      
Autonomous 10 0.4 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Classroom courses(directed activity):

- Theoretical classes.

- Eventual conferences.

Tutorials (supervised activity)

- Resolution of doubts related to the subject. Virtual Campus
- Certain materials, calendar and delivery dates.

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
Evidence 1: Short essay 20% 0 0 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Evidence 2: Test consisting of the identification of artistic works from Africa and Oceania 40% 0 0 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12
Evidence 3: Commentary of a Japanese artwork 40% 0 0 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12

Evidence 1: Short essay (20%)

Evidence 2: Test consisting of the identification of artistic works from Africa and Oceania (40%).

Evidence 3: Commentary of a Japanese artwork (40%).

The final grade of the course will be the result of the percentages of the assessment items. In order to pass the course, students must submit all the assessment items.

Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.

Only students who have taken all three written exercises with a final grade lower than 5 are entitled to a re-assessment - on the date set by the Faculty - The maximum grade to be obtained in the re-assessment is 5.

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.

 


Bibliography

Africa

Frank Willet, Arte africano: una introducción, Barcelona, Destino, 2000.

África: mágia i poder. 2500 anys d'art a Nigèria, Fundacio La Caixa, Barcelona, 1998.

William Fagg, Yoruba. Sculpture of West Africa, Pace editions, New York, 1982.

Louis Perrois, L'art fang de la Guinea Equatorial, Barcelona, Fundación Folch, 1991.

Carl Einstein, La escultura negra y otros escritos, Barcelona, Gustavo Gili, 2002.

William Rubin, Primitivism in 20th century art, New York, MoMA, 1987.

 

Oceania

Nicholas Thomas, Oceanic art, Nova York, Thames & Hudson, 1995.

Peter Brunt i Nicholas Thomas, Art in Oceania: a new history. Londres, Thames & Hudson, 2012.

Peter Brunt, Nicholas Thomas et alii, Oceania. Londres, Royal Academy of Art, 2018.

Eric Kjellgren, Oceania: Art of the Pacific Islands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nova York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.

Eric Kjellgren, How to read Oceanic art, Nova York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014.

Steven Hooper, Pacific encounters. Art & Divinity in Polynesia 1760-1860, University of East Anglia, 200

 

Japan

Joan Stanley-Baker, Arte japonés, Barcelona, Destino, 2000.

Ivan Morris, El mundo del príncipe resplandeciente, Girona, Atalanta, 2007.

Daisetz T. Suzuki, El zen y la cultura japonesa, Barcelona, Paidos, 1996.

Christine Guth, El arte en el Japón Edo: el artista y la ciudad, 1615-1868, Madrid, Tres Cantos, 2009.

Amaury A. García Rodríguez, Cultura popular y grabado en Japón. Siglos XVII a XIX, México, El Colegio de México, 2005.

Hiroyuki Suzuki, Antiquarians of Nineteenth-Century Japan. The Archaeology of Things in he Late Tokugawa and Early Meiji periods, Getty publications, 2022.

 


Software

 
If specific software is required, it will be indicated in due course.

Language list

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