Art History in Practice

This subject is not offered in 2008.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject is team taught by the art history program, introducing the experience of research in art history by focusing on the work of art through the distinctive methodologies and problems that the program's art historians have separately adopted, as specialist in different periods of art history, to approach the works of different periods. This subject introduces students to these different periods through encounters with art in Melbourne collections, institutions, museums and civic spaces, and through encounters with specialists whose job it is to conserve, collect and display these objects. This subject will involve the students in research and interpretation of the works of art encountered in Melbourne institutions. The subject develops a broad understanding of the historical and aesthetic characteristics of artworks produced during selected artistic periods (for example High Renaissance, baroque, rococo, neoclassical, contemporary art). The subject draws attention to the varying contexts informing works of art, including the relationship between art and its methods of production and preservation; its engagement with society and installation in museum settings; and the different ways in which viewers respond to art and interpret the meanings and messages which it conveys. Students will develop a range of approaches to understanding art, from issues of censorship and art, to gender and sexual identity in art, and art and politics. The subject provides students with a fundamental grounding in the methodologies of the discipline of history, and in the broader critical and analytical skills necessary for the study of art at higher levels.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• be able, through the competent use of the library and other information sources, be able to define areas of inquiry and methods of research in the preparation of esays;

• be able to conceptualise theoretical problems, form judgements and arguments and communicate critically, creatively and theoretically through essay writing, tutorial discussion and presentations;

• be able to communicate knowledge intelligibly and economically through essay writing and tutorial discussion;

• be able to manage and organise workloads for recommended reading, the completion of essays and asssignments and examination revision;

• be able to participate in team work through involvement in syndicate groups and group discussions.

This is a Capstone subject and is compulsory for students undertaking the Art History major in the New Gen degree. This subject is only available at 3rd year level and is not available to students not undertaking the Art History major.