Impressionism and the Third Republic, Culture, Politics and Social Change, 1865-1900 (P01524)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : ACE-P-P01524

The course is concerned with the interchanges between the production of art, political processes and the larger patterns of social change under the early Third Republic. Taking account of the final years of the Second Empire, and in particular the effects of Haussmann's rebuilding of Paris, the course considers crucial political events and social currents, from the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune of 1870-1 through to the Ralliement and the Dreyfus Affair in the 1890s. Impressionist painting, of which the National Gallery of Scotland has outstanding examples, is central to the course, as is the work of less-well known artists whose reputations were high under the Third Republic. Painting forms the core of the course, with drawing, sculpture and printmaking also having a place. The aim of the course is to place the creation and consumption of art within social, economic and political processes, so topics will include the art market, the poster, landscapes of tourism or national identity, the pictorial articulation of republican values, the imagery of anarchism, or the concept of decadence.

Entry Requirements

? This course is not available to visting students.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

History of Art, (School of Arts, Culture and Environment, Schedule A)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Not being delivered

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

? Additional Class Information : Semester 1 or 2, at times to be arranged.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

It is intended that studends acquire a good knowledge and understanding of the material studied through preparing a series of short seminar presentations on selected topics, reading the texts recommended in the bibliography, week by week and engaging actively in general discussion during seminars. The students are urged to use archive, gallery as well as library sources and thus get used to documentary research and the analysis of primary sources from the beginning of the MSc degree. One-to-one tutorials are used to help them select the subject of the course essay and to monitor the progress of their research and thinking. The other purpose of these tutorials is to aid them make the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate study and to develop their self-confidence and sense of their potential contribution as art historians.