Art Writing in Twentieth-Century America
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| HART3062 | Cultural, Media and Visual Studies | 3 | 20 | Autumn UK |
- Code
- HART3062
- School
- Cultural, Media and Visual Studies
- Level
- 3
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Autumn UK
Summary
The way we write about art is as changeable as art itself. In twentieth-century America, art writing underwent a series of changes that flowed from, helped shape, and – occasionally – ran counter to, the development of a new art. This module surveys those changes, offering art writing on the one hand as the crucial frame to understand twentieth-century American art, and on the other hand as an art form in its own right. Practiced by artists, poets, curators and art historians alike, art writing served a variety of purposes and audiences throughout this hundred-year span in America.
Spanning the movement from modernism to postmodernism (and beyond), the module will provide students with an entry point into the debates and disagreements that kept culture moving in the twentieth century. Each week will focus on a different episode that provoked a change in art writing, looking at key exhibitions (e.g. the Armory Show of 1913), artworks (e.g. Jackson Pollock’s first ‘drip’ painting in 1947), and texts (e.g. Tom Lloyd’s text ‘Black Art Notes’ from 1971). Students will learn about the transformations in the exhibition review, catalogue essay, and artist statement that followed in the wake of these events. The module will also track the wider socio-political developments that similarly put pressure on the form and content of art writing, ranging from the ascent of the Popular Front to the Women’s Movement. By studying this wide-ranging and fast-moving history, students will gain the skills necessary to approach twentieth-century American art writing with sensitivity, rigour and criticality.
Target Students
Available to students enrolled onto the following degrees: BA History of Art, BA Film and Television Studies, BA International Media and Communications, BA Liberal Arts and BA American and Canadian Studies.
Classes
- One 1-hour seminar each week for 10 weeks
- One 2-hour lecture each week for 10 weeks
Module activities may include (but not be limited to) lectures, workshops and seminars.
Assessment
- 40% Coursework 1: Essay 2,000 words
- 60% Coursework 2: Essay 3,000 words
Assessed by end of autumn semester
Educational Aims
This module aims to provide students with a clear historical narrative for the development of art writing in America in the twentieth century. While attending to this specific context, the module will also improve critical understanding of the wider socio-political and aesthetic stakes in which all art writing is undertaken. It also aims to develop students’ aptitude for discerning, analysing and critiquing a wide range of writing -- specifically those forms of writing that respond to art in its broadest sense --and to aid with their handling of complex theoretical material. Finally, by encouraging students to be attentive of the art writing of others, the module aims to improve the students’ own art writing, specifically by developing their proficiency in visual description, analysis and arguments required for their written assessments throughout their studies.Learning Outcomes
Recognise how the social, political and artistic developments of twentieth-century America transformed the production of art writing.
Identify, evaluate and analyse appropriate primary and secondary sources.
Use appropriate theoretical frameworks.
Possess knowledge of art and visual culture in twentieth-century America and understand how it developed as part of a global and inter-connected context.
Construct coherent and well evidenced arguments.
Understand, unpack and be critical in their encounters with visual material.