DU1905 Image, Object, Text: Theories and Methods in Art History and Visual Studies

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/2. 8 credit(s). Recommended Type of Completion: z (credit). Other types of completion: zk (examination), k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Matthew Rampley, B.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Matthew Rampley, B.A., Ph.D.
Department of Art History – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Art History – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
This module undertakes a critical understanding of methods and theories in visual studies and the history of art. Through close reading of key historical and contemporary texts in art history and visual studies, it examines practices and ideas of significance for current practices in the disciplines. The module will help foster skills of analysis and discussion, as well as provide an advanced critical understanding of some of the principal conceptual and methodological topics in the interpretation and analysis of art and visual culture. The intellectual training provided by this course will also inform the development of students' personal research work on their dissertation.
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing the course students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a critical knowledge and understanding of historiographic methods relevant to the study of art and visual culture;
2. Identify a range of methods used in the interpretation of works of art and visual culture, and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses;
3. Select and apply one or more methods to the interpretation of works of art and visual culture and provide a rationale for the choice of method;
4. Demonstrate an understanding of theoretical and conceptual issues raised by specific methods of analysis;
5. Exhibit advanced skills of written and oral communication
Syllabus
  • The course will discuss a range of salient concepts and methods in visual studies and art history, such as:
  • 1. Empirical art history and the idea of art history as a science;
  • 2. Art historical canons and the question of value in art history;
  • 3. Iconologies - Panofsky, Warburg and others;
  • 4. Art history and vision - varieties of formalism;
  • 5. Gender, sexuality and the gaze;
  • 6. Anthropological theories of art;
  • 7. Concepts of visual culture;
  • 8. Theories of agency and image response in the historical study of art;
  • 9. Art history and social theory;
  • 10. World art studies and the new globalism;
  • 11. Postcolonial art histories;
  • 12. The scientific image;
  • 13. The photograph as art and visual culture
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Critical terms for art history. Edited by Robert S. Nelson - Richard Shiff. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003, xxi, 519. ISBN 0226571688. info
  • ELKINS, James. Visual studies : a skeptical introduction. New York: Routledge, 2003, ix, 230. ISBN 0415966817. info
  • RAMPLEY, Matthew. Art History and Visual Studies in Europe. Transnational Discourses and National Frameworks. Leiden: Brill, 2001. ISBN 978-90-04-21877-2. info
  • STURKEN, Marita and Lisa CARTWRIGHT. Practices of looking : an introduction to visual culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, 385 s. ISBN 0198742711. info
    not specified
  • The technical image : a history of styles in scientific imagery. Edited by Horst Bredekamp - Vera Dünkel - Birgit Schneider. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2015, x, 198. ISBN 9780226258843. info
  • POLLOCK, Griselda. Differencing the canon : feminist Desire and the writing of art's histories. 1st pub. London: Routledge, 1999, xviii, 345. ISBN 0415067006. info
  • CLARKE, Graham. The photograph. 1st publ. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, 246 s. ISBN 0192842005. info
Teaching methods
Lectures, class discussions, seminar presentations, homework, reading
Assessment methods
A written essay of 7 - 10 A4 pages (based on 1800 characters per page).
Language of instruction
English
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/DU1905