08776 - Psychology of Art

Learning outcomes

The psychology of art, in our perspective, intends to provide, especially through reference to the categories of Freudian psychoanalysis, the necessary tools for the study of the major psychic mechanisms that govern the creation, fruition and critical, theoretical  and methodological analysis of artistic works.

Course contents

I Module (6 cfu)

The first lessons, after having illustrated the perspective in which is treated the discipline, will be about the main lines of a psychoanalytic theory of art and literature seen from a freudian point of view, with references to studies of end 800 about hypnotism and suggestion. Particular attention will be given to the concept and dynamics of the Uncanny (Unheimliche) and to the description of the reparation mechanisms associated with creativity. Professor Chiara Tartarini will held a series of lectures on "Clinical Eye: Medicine, Psychology and Social Sciences".
A specific bibliography will be made available to students during the course. The examination will focus on the following texts.

1.  S. Freud, Saggi sull'arte, la letteratura e il linguaggio, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 1990;

2. S. Ferrari, Nuovi lineamenti di una psicologia dell'arte. A partire da Freud, Clueb, Bologna 2012;

3. C. Tartarini, Anatomie fantastiche, Clueb, Bologna 2010.

II module (6 cfu)

The second module, which is also the second part of the course, will focus on some psychoanalytic reflections on the theme of the Uncanny, the mirror and the concept of "internal image", with particular reference to the dynamics of the portrait and the self-portrait, of which will be taken into account the hypothesis of their intrinsic reparative value. Thanks to the presence of guests and "experts" in the lectures will be also dealt other issues specific to the discipline. Of these meetings will be informed immediately.

The examination will focus on the following texts:

 

1.  S. Freud, Saggi sull'arte, la letteratura e il linguaggio, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 1990;

2.   S. Ferrari, Lo specchio dell'Io. Autoritratto e psicologia, Laterza, Bari-Roma 2002 or (choice) S. Ugolini, Nel segno del corpo. Origini e forme del “ritratto ferito”, Liguori, Napoli 2009;

3.   S. Ferrari e C. Tartarini (Ed), AutoFocus. Autoritratto fotografico tra arte e terapia, Clueb, Bologna 2010.

Exam 12
 cfu

Students who intend to take the exam with 12 credits (or the students of the old system of 10 credits) are required to prepare the texts of both the first and second module, or to add the program of the first or the second module (all 5 texts) to one of the following options, naturally avoiding overlapping: 

Option 1 (Freudian texts): S. Freud, L'interpretazione dei sogni, edd varie; S. Freud, Il motto di spirito e la sua relazione con l'inconscio, edd. varie, or, choice, La psicopatologia della vita quotidiana, different editions.

Option 2 (Autobiographical writing): two texts chosen from:  S. Ferrari, Scrittura come riparazione. Saggio su letteratura e psicoanalisi, Laterza, Bari-Roma 2007; S. Ferrari, La scrittura infinita. Saggi su letteratura, psicoanalisi e riparazione, Nicomp, Firenze 2007; G. L. Barbieri, Tra testo e inconscio. Strategie della parola nella costruzione dell'identità, Franco Angeli, Milano 2007.

Option 3 (Portrait and Self-portrait ): two texts chosen from S. Ugolini, Nel segno del corpo. Origini e forme del “ritratto ferito”, Liguori, Napoli 2009; S. Ferrari (a cura di), Il corpo adolescente: percorsi interdisciplinari tra arte e psicologia, Bologna, CLUEB, 2007; S. Ferrari, Lo specchio dell'Io. Autoritratto e psicologia, Laterza, Bari-Roma 2002; S. Ferrari (a cura di), Autoritratto, psicologia e dintorni, Bologna, CLUEB 2004.

Option 4 (Psychology of portrait): S. Ferrari, La psicologia del ritratto nell'arte e nella letteratura, Laterza, Bari-Roma 1998; J. von Schlosser, Storia del ritratto in cera, trad. it. a cura di P. Conte, Qudlibet, Macerata 2011.

Option 5 (Outsider Art): W: Morgenthaler, Arte e follia in Adolf Wölfli, trad. it. Alet Edizioni, Padova 2007 or (choice) V. Andreoli, Il linguaggio grafico della follia, Rizzoli, Milano 2009 and Figure dell'anima e dintorni, "dispensa" by S. Ugolini  (photocopies are available at the copy shop via Fondazza).

Option 6 (Neuroesthetics): C. Cappelletto, Neuroestetica. L'arte del cervello, Laterza, Bari-Roma 2009 and a text from a choice of: L. Maffei e A. Fiorentini, Arte e cervello, seconda edizione, Zanichelli, Bologna 2008; S. Zeki, La visione dall'interno. Arte e cervello, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, o 2007); G. Lucignani o A. Pinotti (a cura di), Immagini della mente. Neuroscienze, arte, filosofia, Raffaello Cortina, Milano 2007.

SEMINARS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES

Lectures by Chiara Tartarini on "Clinical Eye: Medicine, Psychology and Social Sciences". Lessons will be held in the Aula Magna of Santa Cristina, piazzetta Morandi, 2 on days 15, 16 and 17 October from 11 am to 13 pm.

Seminar by Sara Ugolini about his text Nel segno del corpo. Origini e forme del “ritratto ferito”, Liguori, Napoli 2009. Lessons will be held on Thursday 20 and 27 November and 4 and 11 December from 14 pm to 16 pm in Aula 2 of the Complex of S. Cristina, piazzetta Morandi, 2.

Assessment methods

The assessment consists of an oral interview on the selected books in the bibliography (5 texts for 12 cfu and 3 for 6 cfu). The interview will assess the methodological and critical skills acquired by the student through the course attendante and/or the study of texts. Will be particularly appreciated the ability of the student to know how to steer within the various perspectives that are emerging by the bibliography used, twisting the reading of Freud's Essays with the other texts. The evaluation will take into account not only the objective preparation related to the acquisition of the fundamental concepts of the discipline, but also the presentation skills of the candidate and his language properties.

Links to further information

http://www.psicoart.unibo.it/

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Ferrari