Art History in the World

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

This subject will involve students in the research and interpretation of works of art encountered in Melbourne's collections, institutions, museums and civic spaces. and through encounters with specialists whose job it is to conserve, collect and display these objects. The subject develops a broad understanding of the historical and aesthetic characteristics of artworks produced during selected artistic periods and locations, both Western and Non-Western (eg Renaissance; Edo; Contemporary). The subject also draw 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. 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 team taught by the art history staff, drawing upon their experience in art historical research, publishing and curating. It will focus on the work of art through the distinctive approaches adopted by the program's art historians, and will also examine the skills necessary for those who practice art hstory as a profession.

Students who complete this subject will:

• be able to research in art history through the experience of data collection, data collation and the interpretation of work of art housed or located in Melbourne through the distinctive methodologies and problems that art historians have separately adopted, as specialists in different periods of art history, to approach the works of different periods;
• encounter art in Melbourne collections, institutions, museums and civic spaces, and encounter specialists whose job it is to conserve, collect and display these objects;
• develop 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);
• understand 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;
• 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;
• achieve 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;
• 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.

A subject reader will be available

• Cramer, Lorinda and Sullivan, Lisa. Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, 2005.
• Dwyer, Tessa (ed.). Good thinking: words and pictures on contemporary Melbourne art, Fitzroy, Vic.: 1st Floor Artists and Writers Space, 2000.
• Elkins, James, Master narratives and their discontents, London: Routledge, 2005.
• Elkins, James, What happened to art criticism? Chicago, Ill.: Prickly Paradigm Press . Bristol: University Presses Marketing, 2003.
• Freeland, Cynthia A. But is it art?: an introduction to art theory, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Galbally, Ann. The collections of the National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1987.
• Goad Phillip et al. Heide: the architecture of Heide Museum of Modern Art, Balmain, NSW: Pesaro Publishing, 2002.
• Goad, Philip. Melbourne architecture, Balmain, N.S.W. Trinity College, The University of Melbourne, 2001.
• Presland, Gary. Aboriginal Melbourne: the lost land of the Kulin people, Ringwood, Vic.: Penguin Books, 1998.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Students who successfully complete this subject will:

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