Global Impressionisms
| Module title | Global Impressionisms |
|---|---|
| Module code | AHV2023 |
| Academic year | 2024/5 |
| Credits | 15 |
| Module staff | Dr Alexandra Courtois de Vicose (Lecturer) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
Module description
This module will broaden the geographical scope of late nineteenth and early twentieth century art history to examine art informed by “impressionism” (specifically landscape and plein-air painting) produced in Japan, Turkey, South Africa and Brazil among other regions. It, thereby, amends the euro-centric narrative (and consequential narrow chronological framework) of impressionism as a movement. On this module you will look at transregional and transcontinental patterns that complicate and enrich artistic narratives, and engage with Art History’s current concern with globalizing the discipline’s scope. Lectures and seminars will emphasize the important discussion of landscape painting in relation to ancestral lands of indigenous peoples, and of women artists from the assigned readings. Prior knowledge of European academic and modernist art may be beneficial, but not necessary.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This module aims to:
-introduce you to the history of plein air painting and impressionism as departures from academic principles, and to the migration of impressionistic styles beyond Europe, to the Americas, Australia and Africa.
-introduce you to discourses of colonial expansions and population displacement, asking “who has access to what land, to paint it”?
-help you develop an understanding of art history as a field with evolving concerns, through a combination of lectures, in-class discussions, and readings.
-develop your abilities in sustained close-looking and visual analysis through in-class discussion, written and audio assignments.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Interpret recent developments in the study of impressionism informed by the decentering of Europe and an interest in transregional patterns.
- 2. Address the instability of the term impressionism, its definition being dependant on geographical, cultural, and political context.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 3. Demonstrate an ability to convey the visual/viewing experience into words, using specific, evocative language, and more broadly following the principles of visual analysis.
- 4. Demonstrate an ability to interrelate texts, artworks and theoretical discourses specific to the modernist interests of the late 19th and early 20th centuries
- 5. Critically evaluate the dominant concepts, methods and debates more broadly in art historical study.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 6. Through essay writing and practical exercises, demonstrate a basic capacity to construct a coherent, substantiated argument, and a capacity to write clear and correct prose.
- 7. Demonstrate basic proficiency in research and bibliographical skills, information retrieval, analysis and sharing
- 8. Through seminar work and group presentations, demonstrate communication and project management skills, and an ability to work creatively and imaginatively both individually and in groups
Syllabus plan
The module will consist of a series of lectures and seminars, including engagement with works of art, theoretical texts, and exhibition reviews.
Lectures and seminars topics will track the emergence of impressionism in Europe and will follow its expansion across other continents into the twentieth century. Topics will likely include:
-The Academy, Realism, and Plein Air painting.
- What is impressionism, and what do we mean by “global”?
- Italy/Germany: impressionism as a modernist tool or threat to the construction of national identity
- Japonisme/Japan
- Turkey: plein air painting and the shift from the Ottoman empire to the Turkish Republic
- United States/Canada: national identity and indigeneity
- Puerto Rico/Brazil: artistic education and racial identity
- Australia; who paints the “bush” and how?
- South Africa and apartheid
Full details of weekly topics will be given on ELE
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 128 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 11 | Lectures |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching | 19 | Seminars these will be led by a tutor. You will need to prepare for each seminar by thoughtfully doing the assigned reading. |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 1 | Tutorial guidance for reading, research, and essay writing |
| Guided Independent Study | 10 | Study group preparation and meetings |
| Guided Independent Study | 10 | Seminar preparation (group and individual) |
| Guided independent study | 108 | Reading, research and assessment preparation |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual analysis | 500 words | 3,4,6,7 | Written |
| Global impressionism group curatorial exercise/presentation | 15/20 minutes, depending on group size | 1-8 | Written |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 100 | 2750 words | 1-8 | Written |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay (2750 words) | Essay (2750 word) | 1-8 | Referral/Deferral Period |
Re-assessment notes
Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.
Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
- Paul Barlow, “Fear and Looting of the Academic or Just What is it that makes the avant-garde different, so appealing” in Art and the Academy in the Nineteenth Century .
- Alexis Clark and Frances Fowle, Eds., Globalizing Impressionism (Yale, 2020)
- Norma Broude, Ed. World Impressionism: The International Movement, 1860-1920 (1994)
- Edward Sullivan, “Francisco Oller and France: New Perspectives.” Nineteenth Century Studies (2021)
| Credit value | 15 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 7.5 |
| NQF level (module) | 5 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 28/01/2024 |
