DU2002 Seminar: Methodologies of Art History

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2022
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Jiří Kroupa, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Jiří Kroupa, CSc.
Department of Art History – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Art History – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Mon 8:00–9:40 K31
Prerequisites
Attendance and completion of the course Historiography of Art History (Bachelor study program), or knowledge of the subject from historiography in the scope of manual: Jiří Kroupa, School of Art History (Methodology of Art History I). Brno 2007.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 2/15, only registered: 0/15, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/15
Course objectives
"We can compare the artwork to a star that can be seen in various possible constellations. What he says depends on the formulas we provide it, that is, from the system of relationships in which we build it"(Werner Hofmann). The aim of this course is to acquaint students with the main theories, approaches and interpretations in the contemporary discipline of Art history. The systematic presentation of various possibilities of analysis and interpretation after 1945 is presented in the course. The main form of lectures is the work with literature in the seminar library of Department of Art history.
Important themes are: The Art history after the Second World War and its transformation in the 70s of the 20th century; Basic concepts in Art history (style - structure - theme and symbol - function - time); Art-historical approaches (conoisseurship – interpretation of forms – contextual approaches); Heteronomic approaches and interdisciplinarity; Approaches of applied disciplines.
Learning outcomes
The student will be able after completing the course:
- to orientate him in the current methodology of art history and to read contemporary art-historical literature;
- critically reflect on the possibilities of different artistic and historical approaches;
- to write a short study or to speak a lecture on the theory and methodology of art history.
Syllabus
  • Introduction - The art historian and his "métier": Art of art history; Recognition: non-scientific - pre-scientific - scientific; Art historian and mediation of an artistic creation; Art historical “métier” (Description and recognition - Heuristics - Analysis and comparison - Reconstruction of the context - Construction of the meaning).
  • 1. The history of art after World War II: International congresses and CIHA; Renaissance of the post-war artistic and historical institutions, new scientism, new interpretations and new themes.
  • 2. Critical theory and contemporary Art history: Hans Belting: The End of Art History; critical theory in the USA; the so-called "New Art History", anthropology of images (Bildanthropology).
  • 3 History of Art as a Humanistic Discipline - Main Personalities: Kurt Badt, Otto Pächt, André Chastel, Pierre Francastel, Jan Bialostocki; the essential importance of Ernst H. Gombrich's research work (1909-2001).
  • 4. Principal concepts in Art History – style: The notion of style in front of historicism (manner, style, ideal); style differentiation in the works of Winckelmann and Rumohr; three forms of style at present (style: as a norm, as an expression, as a modus).
  • 5. Principal concepts in Art History – structure: Gestalt psychology, the so-called "Younger Vienna School"; French post-war structuralism; structural approach to the art research of the 19th century (W. Hofmann).
  • 6. Principal concepts in Art History - theme and symbol: Iconology in the early modern era (Andrea Alciati, Cesare Ripa); emblematic: hieroglyph, emblem and impression and their distinction; the emergence of Christian iconography in the second half of the 19th century; development of profane iconography; Iconclass.
  • 7. Principal concepts in Art History – function: Assignment and "task" in the artwork; "Decorum"; social and social psychological functions, the "context" of the work of art.
  • 8. Art-historical approaches – Conoisseurship: Connoisseurship as a prerequisite for artistic and historical work; catalogs, inventories, corpuses; Morelli's method; Methodical connoisseurs, connoiseurshp today.
  • 9. Art-historical approaches - Form Analysis: Theory of pure visibility; Heinrich Wölfflin and formal analysis; stylistic criticism; style-historical approach and Max Dvořák; classification and history of forms - the shape of time.
  • 10. Art-historical approaches - Iconographic-iconological: Aby M. Warburg and cultural history; Erwin Panofsky and "intrinsic meaning"; the expansion of iconology in post-war times; criticism of iconology in the 60s and 70s of the 20th century.
  • 11. Art-historical, autonomous approaches: Differentiation of autonomous and heteronomic approaches; main approaches in setting up discipline; other autonomous approaches.
  • 12. Heteronomic approaches: Definition of heteronomic approaches (i.e. approaches from other disciplines) and their importance for the history of art; culturally-historical approach; social history of art versus sociology of art; psychology and psychoanalysis; semiotic approach; the use of natural science and exact methods.
  • 13. Applied disciplines: Art-historical Museology; Monument care and conservation.
Literature
  • KROUPA, Jiří. Metody dějin umění. Metodologie dějin umění 2 (The Methods of the Art History. The Methodology of the Art History 2). První. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2010, 343 pp. Historiae Artium. ISBN 978-80-210-5315-1. info
  • Art history and its methods : a critical anthology. Edited by Eric Fernie. Repr. London: Phaidon, 1999, 384 s. ISBN 0714829919. info
  • MINOR, Vernon Hyde. Art history's history. 2nd ed. New Jersey: Upper saddle river, 2001, xii, 228. ISBN 0130851337. info
  • Art history, aesthetics, visual studies. Edited by Michael Ann Holly - Keith P. F. Moxey. Williamstown, Mass.: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2002, xvii, 271. ISBN 0931102499. info
Teaching methods
Seminar, presentation of a paper and reading of the texts at home.
Assessment methods
The written paper, oral presentation.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2022, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2022/DU2002