The History of Contemporary Art (i) (2005/2006)

Learning outcomes

The study of history of Contemporary art investigates the hisotrical-artistic path that goes from the Eighteenth to the end of the Twentieth century, in the awareness that history of art is found by two unseparable elements: art and history. In this vision, the investigation is carried out on two different and connecting tracks: the alternation of artists, movements and situations and the relationships that connect the historical-artistic path to the rest of the culture. Through these two aspects, the investigation provides a comprehensive view of a determined period of time.

The whole path of Contemporary art, with particular attention to the artists and the movements which has characterized it. Some of the main subjects of the course: Introduction to history of art, modern and contemporary space, Turner and the phenomenology of shapeless, Impressionism and beyond (Monet, Degas), Cézanne, Simbolism (Seurat, Gaugain), Fauvism and Matisse, Expressionism (Schiele, Kirchner), Cubism and Picasso, Futurism and Boccioni, Bio-morphism and Kandinski, Metaphysics and De Chirico, Surrealism (Dalì, Magritte, Mirò), Realism, American Informal, Informal in Europe and Italy, the universe of objects in the Sixties (Pop Art, Gnoli’s blow-up), Body Art, Land Art, Post-modern and many more.
Focus: In the section of the programme pertaining (i) and (p), the course investigates an artist, a situation, an issue with interdisciplinary connections. The subject will be defined during the course.

Attendance is suggested, still the exam can be prepared on the text-books with the adequate integration (students who can’t attend must see the professor). From an iconographical point of view, the test pertains images that were discussed in class and that can be find in the books. Written test. Evaluating criteria: 1)interest and level of preparation; 2)mastery of the subject; 3)elaborative and argumentative ability; 4)expressive quality. Photocopies are ruled by law which restricts their use. The purchase of text-books is optional.