Myth and History in Scottish Modern and Contemporary Art 1945-2000 (U02355)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : ACE-4-U02355

Although it might be too much of an exaggeration to claim that there is such a thing as a national school of post-war Scottish art, there is however, undoubtedly a distinctive community of innovative artists - from Joan Eardley to Douglas Gordon, who have clearly discernible personal, professional and art historical connections with Scotland and its cultural traditions and ideological discourses. These Scottish artists make up a loose, but homogenous group and have, against the odds, achieved exceptional success on both the British and International art scenes. This course will survey and critically examine the contextual causes and dominant characteristics of this remarkable phenomenon. The content of the course material will have a broadly balanced approach - between the assessment of the socio-political and critical/theoretical contexts on the one hand, and the detailed examination of seminal works of modern and contemporary Scottish artists on the other. Whenever possible, students will visit displays of Scottish post-war art in Edinburgh.

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : A pass in either History of Art 2 or Architectural History 2a and 2b

? Prohibited combinations : This course is not available to students on the BA Humanities and Social Science degree.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

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

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 4th year

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

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

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
11/01/2008	09:00	10:50

? Additional Class Information : Seminars will take place on Fridays 0900 to 1050 and 1110 to 1300. Students will attend one of these.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

The central intent of this course is to guide students to analyse and assess in critical depth the striking contrast between those post-war Scottish arts who have a particular obsession with the mythic in their work; and those who, in their different ways, engage with the historical process through various forms of modern realism. Furthermore, students will need to appraise the wide range of artistic media used by these artists - from painting and sculpture to installation and video. The student will need to, not only examine the visual nature of post-war Scottish art, but also study a range of textual sources as well. This aspect of the course will focus on the various modern theories of myth and the historical process. Although there will be a broad chronological framework to the presentation of course material, the main intent is to investigate the complex thematic relationships between post modernism and the primitive, culture and native, man and machine, body and gender, representation and identity, and myth and history.