All modules are 30 credits and taught across terms 1 and 2

The module aims to familiarise you with a range of art-historical methods for interpreting art objects, and for understanding the historicity of art. The Autumn term will concentrate on the most important theoretical approaches from the beginning of the discipline in the early nineteenth-century to recent theories. In the Spring term we shall concentrate on the art in art history, rather than history. Topics studied will include theories of taaste, style, and expression, and social and polirtical theories of art.

Florence remains the locus classicus of the Italian Renaissance, the subject of the most intensive and innovative research in the field of Renaissance visual culture. This module introduces you to traditional narratives of artistic genius and renewal, but also addresses more recent approaches, which have stressed the social, economic, ritual, gendered and political contexts of Florentine visual culture. We will examine the fine arts of painting and sculpture, but also architecture, the urban fabric of the city, and how Florentines experienced art in their daily lives. You will be encouraged to be historiographically literate, to think critically and independently about visual and contextual material, and to compose reasoned arguments using material from both. By familiarising yourself with the debates, genres and terminology of Italian Renaissance art, this course also provides an excellent grounding for the material taught during the Venice term in the autumn of the third year.

you will study the technical aspects of traditional art and have the opportunity to investigate a wide range of approaches to contemporary fine art, including sculpture and installation. The course is also characterised by its use of drawing and objective study through drawing. You will learn a wide range of traditional skills and contemporary approaches in an environment that encourages personal expression and interpretation. It is not intended to produce fully-fledged artists, but will help you in the development of a personal visual language and encourage you to look for new directions.

This module is designed to give you a critical understanding of the self-consciously modern art and theory produced between c.1825 and 1945. It will examine what are considered to be major, or canonical, examples of modern artists and artistic movements, and the criticism purporting to explain them, the objective of bringing into focus what being modern actually meant to artists and their contemporaries. It will also examine the work of artists excluded from the canon, and the reasons for their exclusion. Artists and movements studied may include the French Realists, the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, German Expressionism, Russian Constructivism, Dada, and Surrealism. The module also provides a solid grounding for students wishing to specialise further in the modern/contemporary stream in their final year.