AHT1102 · Modernism and the avant-garde

Overview

In this unit, you will explore the major movements in Modern Art from 1850 to 1960, including Impressionism, Cubism, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, and Pop Art. You will investigate key artworks from each movement and consider how these works have been interpreted by art critics and historians from the twentieth century to the present. Each week, you will focus on a different movement, examining its defining artworks alongside influential art-historical texts that have shaped our understanding of Modern Art.

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

100% in-semester assessment

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

Learning outcomes

1. Interpret the cultural significance of works of art and design by placing them in the appropriate social, cultural and artistic climate;
2. Chart the aesthetic and semantic origins of works and identify their social role, engaging a structured combination of historical information and imaginative conjecture;
3. Cultivate theoretical curiosity for the increasing alienation of design, art and craft in the industrial period;
4. Produce a perceptive description of works and imaginatively connect such description with critical awareness;
5. Present a combination of factual and subjective arguments in an articulate, critical and written manner;
6. Recognise and champion critical values when conducting visual analysis and purposefully identify subjective habits and assumptions underlying attempts at historical or objective observation.

Workload

12 hours per week including 3 contact hours plus 9 hours of independent study, or equivalent.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.