Art and Revolution (AHIS20016)

This subject introduces students to the principal artists and art theorists in Europe from Romanticism to the avant-gardes of the late 19th century. Students will be exposed to a range of different models for understanding the revolutionary developments taking place in painting and sculpture during this period, tracing the progressive shift away from traditional and classical ideals in the radical innovations introduced by modern artists in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The work of artists from among several different countries in Europe, such as England, France, Germany and Italy, will be investigated. A particular focus of the subject will be the impact on art of political, social and technological change. These changes will be analysed in the light of recent scholarship on the relationship between social class, sexual identity and the representation of landscape and the human body.