Module Outline (updated 06 August 2018)
In this module, we will probe the fluid boundaries that have always existed between art and science, highlighting the creative possibilities and inherent tensions. We will examine an exceptional group of pathological images created by medical doctors who consciously combined scientific analysis and artistic skill. As head of the medical service at Paris' Hôpital de la Salpêtrière for more than thirty years, Doctor Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893), one of the founders of modern neurology, nurtured the artistic sensibilities of the many doctors who worked under him. Their artworks demonstrate not only the selective and interpretive processes inherent to any artistic practice, but also an active engagement with contemporary artistic practices and discourses, even as they professed dedication to absolute objectivity.
Doctor Paul Richer (1849-1933), one of the most important members of the Salpêtrière School, created a series of sculptures of pathology that were revealingly described by a contemporary as 'scientific artworks'. This phrase is not an oxymoron: it indicates the purposive collapse of the objective (scientific) and subjective (artistic) binary in Richer's works and can be applied to the myriad images of nervous pathology that emerged from the Salpêtrière at the end of the nineteenth century.
This module will explore questions that can be broadly applied to images throughout art history and especially in contemporary art practice. For example, we will engage with fundamental issues in portraiture (what is a portrait?), photography (can a photograph be objective?), and sculpture (is a cast a work of art?), while also considering the museum as fundamentally a cabinet of curiosities. While examining medical imagery from the end of the nineteenth century, we will explore critical issues in the history of art.
Aims:
The aims of this module are:
* to provide students with a grounding in the relationship of art, science and knowledge in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries;
* to introduce students to specialised debates in past and recent literature in the history of art;
* to raise student awareness of different methods of approaching the discipline through cutting edge and innovative research;
* to stimulate students to develop skills in written communication through essay and oral communication and debate in seminars;
* to encourage students to reflect upon research at post-graduate level and beyond;
* to cultivate a critical attitude to the use of art-historical resources;
* to develop an understanding of the role of critical debate in research;
* to foster the participation of students in research-led discussions of challenging subjects.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this seminar, students are expected to be able to:
1. display in-depth knowledge of the relevant topic;
2. display detailed knowledge of the texts studied in the module;
3. develop a critical assessment of at least some of the views examined in class and articulate their own views on the same topic;
4. write a well-researched paper on a subject selected within the field of art history and in relation to the module's main topic.
In this module, we will probe the fluid boundaries that have always existed between art and science, highlighting the creative possibilities and inherent tensions. We will examine an exceptional group of pathological images created by medical doctors who consciously combined scientific analysis and artistic skill. As head of the medical service at Paris' Hôpital de la Salpêtrière for more than thirty years, Doctor Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893), one of the founders of modern neurology, nurtured the artistic sensibilities of the many doctors who worked under him. Their artworks demonstrate not only the selective and interpretive processes inherent to any artistic practice, but also an active engagement with contemporary artistic practices and discourses, even as they professed dedication to absolute objectivity.
Doctor Paul Richer (1849-1933), one of the most important members of the Salpêtrière School, created a series of sculptures of pathology that were revealingly described by a contemporary as 'scientific artworks'. This phrase is not an oxymoron: it indicates the purposive collapse of the objective (scientific) and subjective (artistic) binary in Richer's works and can be applied to the myriad images of nervous pathology that emerged from the Salpêtrière at the end of the nineteenth century.
This module will explore questions that can be broadly applied to images throughout art history and especially in contemporary art practice. For example, we will engage with fundamental issues in portraiture (what is a portrait?), photography (can a photograph be objective?), and sculpture (is a cast a work of art?), while also considering the museum as fundamentally a cabinet of curiosities. While examining medical imagery from the end of the nineteenth century, we will explore critical issues in the history of art.
Aims:
The aims of this module are:
* to provide students with a grounding in the relationship of art, science and knowledge in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries;
* to introduce students to specialised debates in past and recent literature in the history of art;
* to raise student awareness of different methods of approaching the discipline through cutting edge and innovative research;
* to stimulate students to develop skills in written communication through essay and oral communication and debate in seminars;
* to encourage students to reflect upon research at post-graduate level and beyond;
* to cultivate a critical attitude to the use of art-historical resources;
* to develop an understanding of the role of critical debate in research;
* to foster the participation of students in research-led discussions of challenging subjects.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this seminar, students are expected to be able to:
1. display in-depth knowledge of the relevant topic;
2. display detailed knowledge of the texts studied in the module;
3. develop a critical assessment of at least some of the views examined in class and articulate their own views on the same topic;
4. write a well-researched paper on a subject selected within the field of art history and in relation to the module's main topic.
- Module Supervisor: Natasha Ruiz-Gomez