Module Outline (updated 09.05.18)
This module addresses a subject that has historically been one of the abiding concerns of visual art: the body. Although the module covers a broad chronological span – from c. 1300 to c. 1600 (the period that is sometimes termed the Renaissance) – it focuses primarily on the sixteenth century in Italy. The module will explore issues such as narrative, giganticism, androgyny, eroticism, struggle, violence, and dissection, as well as bodily metaphors in architecture, and the artist’s own embodied practice. It will consider how the body became a locus for debates about politics and theology in this period and how it was sometimes regarded scientifically as a ‘body of knowledge.’ In so doing, the module will examine the works of artists such as Giotto, Duccio, Donatello, Masaccio, Ghiberti, Michelangelo, Giulio Romano, Titian, Dürer, Caravaggio, and others.
The aims of the module are:
1. to investigate the tradition of the representation of the human body in the artworks examined within the module;
2. to consider how the body was made to stand for a broad range of complex ideas;
3. to consider how the body became at different times a locus of politics, knowledge, and desire;
4. to encourage students to develop skills in written communication through the writing of essays, and in oral communication through active participation in seminars.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module students should have:
1. a good understanding of the relationship between art and the body in a specific period and geographical location;
2. the ability to describe, analyse and interpret works of art and architecture featured in the module;
3. the ability to write in an informed manner on the relationship between art and the body and to form an argument relating to various aspects of the topic;
4. the ability intelligently to relate works of art to primary sources, and art historical and theoretical literature relating to the topics covered on the module;
5. the ability to articulate the relationship between politics, knowledge, sexuality, and the body in the period under consideration.
This module addresses a subject that has historically been one of the abiding concerns of visual art: the body. Although the module covers a broad chronological span – from c. 1300 to c. 1600 (the period that is sometimes termed the Renaissance) – it focuses primarily on the sixteenth century in Italy. The module will explore issues such as narrative, giganticism, androgyny, eroticism, struggle, violence, and dissection, as well as bodily metaphors in architecture, and the artist’s own embodied practice. It will consider how the body became a locus for debates about politics and theology in this period and how it was sometimes regarded scientifically as a ‘body of knowledge.’ In so doing, the module will examine the works of artists such as Giotto, Duccio, Donatello, Masaccio, Ghiberti, Michelangelo, Giulio Romano, Titian, Dürer, Caravaggio, and others.
The aims of the module are:
1. to investigate the tradition of the representation of the human body in the artworks examined within the module;
2. to consider how the body was made to stand for a broad range of complex ideas;
3. to consider how the body became at different times a locus of politics, knowledge, and desire;
4. to encourage students to develop skills in written communication through the writing of essays, and in oral communication through active participation in seminars.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this module students should have:
1. a good understanding of the relationship between art and the body in a specific period and geographical location;
2. the ability to describe, analyse and interpret works of art and architecture featured in the module;
3. the ability to write in an informed manner on the relationship between art and the body and to form an argument relating to various aspects of the topic;
4. the ability intelligently to relate works of art to primary sources, and art historical and theoretical literature relating to the topics covered on the module;
5. the ability to articulate the relationship between politics, knowledge, sexuality, and the body in the period under consideration.
- Module Supervisor: Caspar Pearson