1.1 Introduction and course presentation
1.2. Post-Impressionism and Symbolism: on ‘abstraction’ and ‘historicism’ circa 1900
Required Reading:
Briony Fer, “What is Modern?” in Modernity and Modernism, ed. Frascina, Blake, Fer, Garb and Harrison, Yale,1993: pp. 3-14.
2.1. The Historical avant-gardes and the question of teleology
Required Reading:
Fer, “Invisible pictures;” “The Modern in Formation” in ibidem, 1993: pp. 15-27.
Further reading, posted on Moodle AH278:
Denis, "From Gauguin and van Gogh ..." (1909)
Wassily Kandinsky, from “Concerning the Spiritual in Art “ (1911)
2.2. Modernism and Post-modernism: some issues
Required Reading:
Fer, “The spectator-The artist;” “The modern in fragments-After modernity?” in ibidem: pp. 28-48.
3.1. Fauvism
Required reading:
Gill Perry “The decorative, the expressive and the primitive” in Primitivism, Cubism, Abstraction. The Early Twentieth century, ed. Harrison, Frascina, Perry, Yale 1993: pp. 46-61.
Further reading posted on Moodle AH278: :
Matisse, "Notes of a Painter" and "Statements to Tériade"
3.2.Expressionism
Required reading:
Gill Perry “The Expressive and the Expressionist;” “Expression and the body- Conclusion” in ibidem, pp. 62-85.
Further reading, posted on my JCU AH 278:
Kirchner, "Programme of Die Brücke,"
Marc, "'Foreword' to ... Der Blaue Reiter”
4.1.Cubism
Required reading:
Francis Frascina “An Introduction to semiotics and Cubism” in ibidem, pp. 87-100.
Further reading, posted on Moodle AH278:
Picasso, "Conversation with Picasso"
Braque, "Thoughts on Painting"
Picasso "Picasso Speaks"
4.2. Thursday: Futurism
Required reading: from Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe, ed. Vivien Greene, Guggenheim, 2014.
Further reading, posted on Moodle AH 278:
Marinetti, "Manifesto of Futurism"
5.1. Russian Constructivism and Suprematism
Required reading:
Francis Frascina, ”Kazimir Malevich” in ibidem, pp. 228-249.
Further reading, posted on Moodle AH 278:
Kazimir Malevich, “Non-Objective Art and Suprematism” (1919)
Rodchenko & Stepanova, "Program ... Constructivists"
5.2. Bauhaus and De Stijl
Required reading:
Francis Frascina, “Piet Mondrian” in ibidem, pp. 250-264
Further reading, posted on my Moodle AH 278:
De Stijl, "Manifesto 1;” Gropius, "Theory and Organization of Bauhaus;”.
6.1. Wednesday: Dada and Surrealism
Required reading:
Marcel Duchamp, "The Richard Mutt Case" (1917); Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1936)
Further reading, posted on Moodle AH 278:
Tristan Tzara, "The Dada Manifesto" (1918);
Duchamp, "The Creative Act" (1957), "Apropos of 'Readymades'" (1961)
André Breton, "First Manifesto of Surrealism" (1924);
6.2. Purism, the “Return to Order” and art between the Two World Wars
Required reading:
Jonathan Harris “Capitalist crisis and artistic culture during the 1930s,” in Modernism in Dispute. Art since the Forties, ed. Wood, Frascina, Harris, Harrison, Yale, 1993: pp. 6-32 (lots of illustrations).
Further reading, posted on Moodle AH 278:
Fernand Léger, "The Origins of Painting and its Representational Value" (1913)
Clement Greenberg, “Avant-Garde and Kitsch" (1939)
7.1. Midterm review and paper practicum
7.2. Midterm examination
8.1. Gestural Abstraction and Color Field Painting
Required reading:
Jonathan Harris “Abstract Expressionism and the politics of criticism,” in Modernism in Dispute. Art since the Forties, ed. Wood, Frascina, Harris, Harrison, Yale, 1993: pp. 42-64.
Further reading, posted on Moodle AH 278:
Harold Rosenberg, "The American Action Painters" (1952)
Barnett Newman, "The Plasmic Image" (1943-45)
8.2. Pop Art
Required reading:
Mark Francis and Hal Foster, from Pop, Phaidon, 2010.
Further reading, posted on Moodle AH 278:
from Lucy Lippard Pop Art, Praeger, 1966.
9.1. Minimalism and Conceptual Art
Required reading:
Francis Frascina, “Issues and Debates: the late 1960s as a representative moment” in Modernism in Dispute. Art since the Forties, ed. Wood, Frascina, Harris, Harrison, Yale, 1993: pp. 90-102.
Further reading, posted on Moodle AH 278:
Donald Judd, "Specific Objects" (1965)
Michael Fried, "Art and Objecthood" (1967)
9.2. Monday: Site-Specific and Environmental Art
Required reading:
Land-Art, in Foster et alii
Further reading, posted on Moodle AH 278:
James Turrell, "Mapping Spaces" (1987)
10.1. Happenings, performance art and the politics of institutional critique in the late 20th c.
Required reading:
Francis Frascina, “Making fantasies?…” in ibidem, pp. 104-123.
Further reading, posted on Moodle AH 278:
Allan Kaprow, "Guidelines for Happenings" (c. 1965)
Barbara Kruger, "Pictures and Words: Interview of Jeanne Siegel" (1987)
10.2. Technocultures and Hyperreality
Required reading: Jean Baudrillard, “Simulacra and Simulation” (1981)
Further reading, posted on Moodle AH 278:
Raphael Lozano Hemmer, "Perverting Technological Correctness" (1999)
Takashi Murakami, "The Super Flat Manifesto" (2000)
11.1. Globalism, relational aesthetics and social practice in the age of relativism
Required reading:
coll., "The (Dis)Placement of National Art in a TransNational Art World" (2008)
No required reading
11.2. Critical state-of-the field of 20th-c art.
12.1 & 12.2: note that these lectures are combined into a double-class on-site at the GNAM museum, date TBD in accordance with student's' schedules week 6
13.1 & 13.2 note that these lectures are combined into a double-class on-site at the MAXXI museum, date TBD in accordance with student's' schedules week 13.
14.1: Contemporary tendencies and debates about 20th-c art
No assigned reading.
Final paper is due.
14.2: Course review and final examination review.
Week 15: Final exam date TBA.