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AH30010

Academic Year 2024/2025

Writings on Art (AH30010)

Subject:
Art History
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
Art History & Cultural Policy
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Aleksandra Gajowy
Trimester:
Autumn
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module is only open to art history majors for whom it is compulsory.

This module provides an overview of some of the principal trends in writing on art from the pre-modern to the present day. It thus builds upon the thematic modules undertaken in Levels 1 and 2, enabling students to place their cumulative experience in a methodological framework. The course develops students’ understanding of art history as a discipline while importantly positioning it in dialogue with diverse approaches and methods to underscore the interdisciplinary nature of the field. Topics include formalism, connoisseurship, feminism, queer theory, and decoloniality. The module aims to provide students with a theoretical and critical context for their final-year study of art history and to aid them in identifying the ideas that inform their own approaches to the subject. It attunes students to current and emerging approaches to art history.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this module, students should be able to demonstrate the following:

- an understanding of the methodologies employed in art history discussed in the module
- an ability to analyse and compare different art historical methodologies
- a familiarity with and understanding of a range of set texts and critical and theoretical sources relevant to the course
- an ability to independently seek out, research, and apply other art-historical methods and theoretical approaches

Indicative Module Content:

Writings in Pre-Modern Art
Vasari and the Biographical Tradition
Connoisseurship
Style and Form
Psychoanalytical Perspectives on Art
Marxism and Social Theory
Intersectional Feminisms
Queer Theory
Trans and Non-Binary Methods in Art History
From Postcolonial Theory to Decolonial Practice

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

10
Seminar (or Webinar)

4
Specified Learning Activities

43
Autonomous Student Learning

43
Total

100

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Lectures, supplemented by occasional tutorials. Lectures will provide broad frameworks while tutorials will be devoted to assessed student presentations.

Generative AI may be used for certain purposes only under the guidance of your module coordinator and within academic integrity guidelines. This corresponds to amber on the traffic light system that has been adopted by UCD Arts & Humanities: https://www.ucd.ie/artshumanities/study/aifutures/trafficlightsystem/. Please see the module handbook for more specific guidance or speak to the module coordinator.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Requirements:

All students wishing to take a major in art history are required to complete this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Pre-requisite:
AH20200 - The Modern to the Contemporary, AH20230 - European Architecture

Incompatibles:
AH10070 - Dublin: Its Museums


 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Reflective Assignment: Learning Journal

Select one text from the required reading list from each week (all texts are available on Brightspace)		 Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12 Graded No
50
 No
Group Work Assignment: In groups, students prepare a teaching session on an assigned topic. They will deliver your teaching session in the specified seminar slot. Week 5, Week 7, Week 10, Week 12 Graded No
50
 No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Individual feedback on Essay Abstract (due in Week 7) will allow students the opportunity to revise their approach in advance of submission of the final assignment. Final written: assignment: individual written feedback post-assessment available on request.

These primers are widely available for purchase. Copies are available in the James Joyce Library and in the School of Art History Reading Room (J007).

Fernie, Eric, Art History and its Methods. London, 1996.
Harrison, Charles and Paul Wood (eds), Art in Theory 1900–2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas. London, 2003.
Hatt, M. and C. Klonk, Art History: A Critical Introduction to its Methods. Manchester, 2006.
Preziosi, Donald (ed.), The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology. Oxford, 1998.

Name Role
Ms Carla Briggs Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Assoc Professor Philip Cottrell Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Roisin Kennedy Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Sean Leatherbury Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Assoc Professor John Loughman Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Assoc Professor Conor Lucey Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Professor Emily Mark-Fitzgerald Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Autumn Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 Fri 12:00 - 12:50
Autumn Seminar Offering 2 Week(s) - 3, 5, 7, 10, 12 Fri 10:00 - 10:50
Autumn Seminar Offering 3 Week(s) - 3, 5, 7, 10, 12 Fri 14:00 - 14:50
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