Course Catalogue

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The purpose of this course is to trace key developments and debates in American art, ranging from the emergence of Abstract Expressionist painting as a distinctively 'American' style in the period following the end of WWII, to the 'post-medium' and globalised artistic practices that arguably characterise art today. The course covers the major art movements of the period including Pop, Minimalism, Land Art, Conceptual Art, performance and video, amongst others, and maps two particularly significant shifts which these movements effected: from consideration of the artistic object to critique of the aesthetic subject; from reflection on the individual work to critique of the institutional frames in which artworks assume value.

1 x 1hr lecture; 1 x 1hr seminar per week over 10 weeks, per semester, as scheduled on MyCampus.

Successful completion of Junior Honours History of Art.

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The standard assessments for this course are:

■ Essay 1, 3000 words, 30%

■ Essay 2, 3000 words, 30%

■ Presentation, 10 minutes, 20%

■ Live exercise, 1 hour, 20%

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:

■ There is no alternative to the essays, but a flexible deadline can be offered as reasonable adjustment (students should follow the usual process for extensions).

■ Recorded presentation as alternative to the presentation.

■ Individual exercises as alternative to the live exercise.

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.

This course aims to: 

■ provide students with detailed knowledge of the major artistic practices and debates that emerged in America in the post-WWII period.

■ investigate the genealogies of these practices, and relate them to the political and theoretical commitments of their practitioners and supporters.

■ relate the various artistic practices discussed to the critique of Modernism, and to associated developments in theory.

■ familiarise students with the writings of key artists and critics, and to develop their abilities to analyse such sources.

■ develop students' abilities in dealing with critical/theoretical texts as primary source material, so that they can discuss, evaluate and use them appropriately.

■ encourage self-reflective 'deep' learning through engagement with critical texts, participation in seminar discussions, and use of virtual learning environment web-forums.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ identify and comment on individual artists and their works

■ apply knowledge of general artistic trends to both individual works and to the characterization of the period as a whole

■ critically discuss the historical trajectory of artistic and critical Modernism in America, up to and including 'anti-modern' and 'post-modern' art.

■ draw on source texts and critically evaluate them to reach conclusions about artists and movements  

■ summarise and use key theoretical ideas (e.g. psychoanalysis) to analyse individual art works, as well as artists and art movements.

■ differentiate between Modernism, 'anti-modernism' and 'postmodernism' in art and theory, and evaluate the critique of Modernism as it developed during the period in question.