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

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2021
Extent and Intensity
2/0/2. 8 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
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
Timetable
each odd Thursday 11:00–14:40 L21
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
This course looks at the methods and theoretical underpinning of contemporary practices of artistic and visual analysis. Based on analysis of ideas and the close reading of key scholarly texts, the course will engage both with traditional art historical methods as well as more recent approaches to the study of art and visual culture.

The course will consider how conceptual frameworks inform the analysis of specific works of art and architecture. It also considers how they determine the kinds of questions that are asked of them.

You will be asked to consider the relevance and application of these methods to a range of examples, including the potential topics your final thesis.
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of this course you should be able to:

1. Demonstrate a critical knowledge and understanding of historiographic methods relevant to the study of art history and visual culture
2. Demonstrate a critical knowledge and understanding of the ideas of key historians and theorists of art, architecture and visual culture
3. Identify, analysis and evaluate methods used in selected texts on the history of art and visual culture
4. Apply a variety of relevant analytical methods to the interpretation of works of art and visual culture
5. Exhibit advanced writing and oral skills
Syllabus
  • The course will discuss a range of topics of relevant to critical reflection on the methods and theories employed in scholarship on art and visual culture.
  • The subjects will vary from year to year, in response to changing debates in the disciplins, but the following list illustrations the kinds of topics that will be addressed:
  • (1) Art history as a "science": observation and the role of theory; (2) Canon wars: the objects and values of art history; (3) The meanings of "style": formalism and the social history of art; (4) Art history in a global context: decolonizing the discipline; (5) Concepts of iconology: from visual lexicon to social memory; (6) Queering art history; (7) "Horizontal" art history and the politics of the periphery.
Literature
    required literature
  • HATT, Michael and Charlotte KLONK. Art history : a critical introduction to its methods. First published. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006, ix, 250. ISBN 9780719069581. info
    recommended literature
  • DIDI-HUBERMAN, Georges. Confronting images : questioning the ends of a certain history of art. Translated by John Goodman. University Park, Pa.: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005, xxvi, 310. ISBN 0271024712. info
  • 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. Stories of art. New York: Routledge, 2002, xv, 176. ISBN 0415939437. 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
  • POLLOCK, Griselda. Differencing the canon : feminist Desire and the writing of art's histories. 1st pub. London: Routledge, 1999, xviii, 345. ISBN 0415067006. info
Teaching methods
The course will be based on a lecture / seminar presentation and discussion.
Assessment methods
A written essay of 14 - 20 A4 pages (based on 1800 characters per page)
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2021, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2021/DU1905