32523 - Art Appreciation

Learning outcomes

The course introduces students to the world of art phenomenology and art form through many different disciplines from the realm of the humanities and communications.
Unlike a traditional Art History course it does not focus on changing patterns in the visual arts and crafts, but on providing knowledge of art through books, photographs, museums and temporary exhibitions.

Course contents

The course consists of two main parts: lectures in the classroom and visits to local museums and such relevant exhibitions. Both parts aim to lay bare what an art object really means in its original connotations, working backwards through layers of intervening interpretation, starting from the investigation of different art forms and value judgments about a work of art and art itself (its dissection and analysis), to phrase cross-disciplinary relationships between works of art, historical environments and the society.

Though the course does not ignore historical references and documents, this is not its prime focus, which is to recapture the essence of figurative art via other forms of art and communication.

Readings/Bibliography

Examination reading list

Read a selected work completely:

- H. Focillon, Vita delle forme ( Paris, 1934), Torino, Einaudi, 1987.

- E. Panofsky, Il significato nelle arti visive (New York, 1955), Torino, Einaudi, 1962.

- F. Antal, Florentine painting and its social background: the bourgeois republic before Cosimo De Medici's advent to power: XIV and early XV centuries (London, 1948), Cambridge, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986.

- A. Chastel, La grande officina. Arte italiana 1460-1500 (Paris, 1965), Milano, BUR, 2003.

- F. Haskell, Mecenati e pittori. L'arte e la società italiane nell'età barocca (London, 1963), Torino, U. Allemandi & Co., 2000.

- P. Francastel, Lo spazio figurativo dal Rinascimento al cubismo, Milano, Mimesis, 2005.

 

Read a selected work completely (carte d'autore):

- G. Braque, Cahier 1917-1955, Milano 2002.

- A. Renoir, Lettere e scritti, Milano 2002.

- H. Matisse, Scritti e pensieri sull'arte, Milano 2003.

- F. De Pisis, La città dalle 100 meraviglie, Milano 2009.

- K. Malevic, Suprematismo, Milano 2000.

- P. Boulez, Il paese fertile. Paul Klee e la musica, Milano 2004.

- E. Delacroix, Scritti sull'arte, Milano, 1986.

- W. Kandinskij, Sguardi sul passato (Berlino, 1913),Milano, 1999.

- P. Klee, Confessione creativa e altri scritti (Berlino, 1920), Milano, 2004.

- H. Moore, Sulla scultura, Milano, 2002.

- A. Wildt, L'arte del marmo (Milano, 1921), Milano, 2002.

- W. De Kooning, Appunti sull'arte, Milano, 2003.

- A. Martini, La scultura lingua morta e altri scritti (Venezia, 1945), Milano, 2004.

- A. Giacometti, Scritti, Milano, 2001.

These are suggested readings, but it's possible to choose different titles from the Abscondita publisher. In this case, make sure to ask in advance for prof. Bentini's approval.

 

 

Read a selection from one of these works:

- R. and M. Wittkower, Nati sotto Saturno. La figura dell'artista dall'antichità alla Rivoluzione Francese (New York, 1963), Torino, Einaudi, 1968.

- A. Hauser, The social history of art (New York, 1951), London, Routledge & Kegan, 1962 (Chapter on “Primitivi” or “Mannerism” or “Art of Revolution”)

- A. Warburg, The renewal of pagan antiquity: contributions to the cultural history of the European renaissance( Berlin ,1932), introduction by Kurt W. Forster, Los Angeles, Getty Research Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1999 (Chapter on Ferrara)

- M. Baxandall, Pittura ed esperienze sociali nell'Italia del Quattrocento, Torino, Einaudi, 2001.

- W. Kemp, The Oxford History of Western Art, Oxford University Press, 2000.

- E. H. Gombrich, The story of art (London, 1950), London, The Phaidon press, 1966 (suggested to students who never studied art history before)

 

Suggested readings:

- G. C. Argan, Storia dell'arte italiana, Firenze, Sansoni, 1968 (above all chapters about contemporary art. Suggested to the most qualified students)

- C. De Benedictis, Per la storia del collezionismo italiano: fonti e documenti, Milano, Ponte alle Grazie, 1995 (above all the introduction)

- A. Lugli, Museologia, Milano, Jaka Book, 1992

- K. Pomian, Collezionisti, amatori e curiosi: Parigi-Venezia XVI-XVIII secolo,  Milano, il Saggiatore, 1989

- J. Von Schlosser, La Letteratura artistica (Wien, 1924), La Nuova Italia editrice, Scandicci (Fi)

 

The professor Bentini will be happy to discuss selected books, particularly where “selection” is involved instead of completely works.

Office hours

See the website of Jadranka Bentini