Modernist Avant-Gardes

Subject 670-348 (2009)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2009. Search for this in the current handbook

Credit Points: 12.50
Level: 3 (Undergraduate)
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

Semester 1, - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start not applicable
Teaching Period not applicable
Assessment Period End not applicable
Last date to Self-Enrol not applicable
Census Date not applicable
Last date to Withdraw without fail not applicable


Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: A 1-hour lecture and a 1.5-hour seminar per week
Total Time Commitment: 2.5 contact hours/week , 6 additional hours/week. Total of 8.5 hours per week.
Prerequisites: Usually 12.5 points of first-year art history.
Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: None
Non Allowed Subjects: None
Core Participation Requirements:

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

Coordinator

Dr Anthony George White

Contact

Anthony White
email: a.white@unimelb.edu.au

Subject Overview: This subject examines responses to modernity in avant-garde art, culture and theory during the high modernist period (1900-1950). A variety of stylistic categories (including Futurism, Expressionism, Cubism, Constructivism, Dada and Surrealism) and individual artists (including Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian and Marcel Duchamp) will be considered. The social, historical and theoretical context in which diverse modernist aesthetics were formed will be studied using historical sources and contemporary theory. Students should become familiar with issues such as the rise of abstraction, the relationship of art and politics, the impact of urbanism on art, utopian models of art, nationalism and the arts, colonialism, gender and sexuality.
Objectives:
  • have developed an understanding of fundamental models of avant-garde cultural practices;
  • have developed an understanding of the ways in which such models incorporate or respond to the conditions of modernity;
  • have developed an understanding of the ways in which avant-garde practice incorporate ideologies of subjectivity, gender, nation and ethnicity.
Assessment: A 1500 word assignment 30% (due during the semester) and a 2500-word essay 70% (due during the examination period). Note: Assessment submitted late without an approved formal extension will be penalised at 2% per day. Students who fail to submit up to 2-weeks after the final due date without a formal extension and special consideration will receive a fail grade for the piece of assessment.
Prescribed Texts: A subject reader will be available.
Breadth Options:

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Generic Skills:
  • be able to research through the competent use of the library and other information sources, and be able to define areas of inquiry and methods of research in the preparation of essays;
  • 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 assignments and examination revision;
  • be able to participate in team work through involvement in syndicate groups and group discussions.
Related Majors/Minors/Specialisations: Art History
Art History Major

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