Art Noir (U03744)

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

The course will explore a particular phase in the history of the modern artistic sensibility. Modern art has been informed at various times by utopian visions of social and personal liberation. However during the period encompassing the rise of Fascism, the Second World War, the Cold War and the Indo-China conflict, it seemed difficult not to take a more despairing, even tragic, view of the human condition, which seemed to be characterised by spiritual crisis, violence, and a poignant sense of the solitude of the individual.

Art Noir, based on the term Film Noir, is a loose umbrella term that brings together for comparative analysis the diverse, late Modernist manifestations of this outlook. The artistic exploitation of black and white is a frequent feature, beginning with Picassos Guernica. From a starting point in the late 1930s, we shall look at developments in painting, such as British War Art (Sutherland, Moore), US Abstract Expressionism (Pollock, Rothko, Kline), post-war French and Italian painters (Fautrier, Dubuffet, Fontana), the School of London (Bacon, Freud, Kossoff); in sculpture (Giacometti, the Geometry of Fear aesthetic); and in photography (Miller, Brandt). Aspects of the work of Warhol, Richter and Arbus in the 1960s provide a suitable terminus. The visual material ranges, then, from fine art to photography; figuration to abstraction; European to American. The common thread is more in terms of attitudes and underlying content.

The philosophy of Existentialism, and its literary corollaries (Sartre, Beckett etc), provide a valuable context for approaching such visual developments, as indeed does contemporary cinema, such as Film Noir. The course will seek to disentangle the subtle connections between the art of this period and the wider cultural and historical context.

Entry Requirements

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

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 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 3 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
19/09/2007	09:00	10:50

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Tutorial	Wednesday	09:00	10:50	Central

? Additional Class Information : Seminars will take place on Wednesdays 9-10.50 and 11.10-1pm. Students attend one of these.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Students will acquire knowledge and develop understanding of:
the work of major artists and artistic movements in the mid twentieth century
key theoretical accounts of modernism in this period;
key claims which have been made for art and its relation to society in the twentieth century;
methodological and theoretical trends in recent and contemporary art history;

Through their work on the course students will develop abilities to:
look closely at works of art;
read critically and with understanding;
write well and clearly;
analyse ideas and arguments;
debate with their peers;
prepare and organize their work effectively to deadlines.