87338 - Art in Europe Between the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

After completing the course the student will have the theoretical and methodological tools and historical-critical need to understand the artistic phenomena in that crucial transition between the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as through the knowledge of the historical-social context in which artwork and artistic trends originated. In particular, the student is able to deal with critical awareness the study of evolution of artistic movements and the resulting changes of even languages.

Course contents

The object of the course is the history of art in the United Kingdom from the end of the 18th century up to the 1990s. Lectures will discuss the political and cultural rise of Great Britain over Europe and USA through its crucial contribution to the Neo-classical movement and the works of artists of Mysticism, Romanticism, Pre-Raphaelism, Pictorialism, Expressionism, Abstractism, Pop Art, the Punk movement and the YBAs, sketching a general and interdisciplinary history of British modern visual culture.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is suggested that they get in touch as soon as possible with the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and with the lecturer in order to seek together the most effective strategies for following the lessons and/or preparing for the examination.

Readings/Bibliography

The program is the same for all, attending and non-attending students

 

Suggested books

Robert Rosenblum, Horst Janson, L’arte dell’Ottocento, Palombi

Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss, Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, David Joselit, Arte dal 1900. Modernismo, antimodernismo, postmodernismo, Zanichelli

 

William Gaunt, The Restless Century. Painting in Britain 1800-1900, Phaidon, London 1972.

Susan Compton (ed. by), British Art in the 20th Century. The Modern Movement, Prestel-Verlag, Münich 1987.

 

Mandatory essays

Mandatory essays will be discussed in the first lecture and they will be available for students on Virtuale in PDF format before the begininnig of the course.

Margaret Whinney, Flaxman and the Eighteenth Century, «Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes», Vol. 19, N. 3/4 (Jul.-Dec. 1956), pp. 269-282.

Francesco Arcangeli, Il limbo di Constable, «Paragone. Arte», a. I, n. 11 (nov. 1950), pp. 25-52.

Gerald Finely, Pigment into Light. Turner and Goethe’s Theory of Colours, in The Romantic Imagination. Literature and Art in England and Germany, Rodopi, Amsterdam-Atlanta 1996, pp. 357-376.

Elizabeth Prettejohn, Arte britannica e rinascimento italiano, in Preraffaelliti. Rinascimento moderno, a cura di Cristina Acidini et al., cat. di mostra, Musei Civici di Forlì, Dario Cimorelli Editore, Milano 2024, pp. 18-31.

Robert Hewison, The Beautiful and the True, in Ruskin, Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites, cat. di mostra, Tate Gallery Publishing, London 2000, pp. 11-19.

Francesco Arcangeli, Sutherland, Fratelli Fabbri Editori, Milano 1972 (ried. in Graham Sutherland. Olii, acquerelli e grafiche, Galleria d’Arte Maggiore, Bologna 2008, pp. 7-28).

Herbert Read, British Contemporary Art, Penguin Books, London 1964.

Richard Cork, The Emancipation of Modern British Sculpture, in British Art in the 20th Century, ed. by Susan Compton, Prestel-Verlag, Münich 1987, pp. 31-52.

Pop Art UK: British Pop Art 1956-1972, a cura di Marco Livingstone e Walter Guadagnini, Silvana Editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo 2004, pp. 19-23, 31-35.

 

1 book at ease

David Irwin, English Neoclassical Art: Studies in Inspiration and Taste, Faber&Faber, London 1966.

Frederick Antal, Studi su Fuseli, Einaudi, Torino 1971.

Ronald Paulson, Literary Landscape, Turner and Constable, Yale University Press, New Haven 1982.

Gordon H. Fleming, Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Rupert Hart-Davis, London 1967.

The Art Criticism of John Ruskin, ed. by Robert L. Herbert, Da Capo, New York City 1987.

Modern British Sculpture, ed. by Penelope Curtis and Keith Wilson, exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London 2011.

Luca Tommasi, Young British Artists. Da Freeze a Sensation 1988-1997, Silvana Editoriale, Cinisello Balsamo 2025.

Teaching methods

Lectures with Power-Points.

Assessment methods

The test will consist of an oral examination in which the candidate will have to prove that he or she has assimilated the content covered in the course. In particular, language property, argumentative ability, knowledge of the themes touched in the lessons and general readiness will be assessed.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

PowerPoint, PDF, audiovisual materials.

Office hours

See the website of Alessio Costarelli