The World in Twenty Art Works (AHIS10003)

In examining a number of exceptional artworks of many different types and drawn from many cultures and periods, this subject explores how art can be a window into different times, peoples and places across the world, as well as into our own beliefs and the contemporary world. Each lecture will focus on one artwork from a watershed moment in the history of art. Artworks examined will include a wide range of media, from performance art to rock art, calligraphy to altarpieces, painting and sculpture to decorative arts. As well as introducing students to current issues in art history and visual studies, and to a wide variety of art practices, mediums and traditions seen through multiple perspectives, it will equip students with a toolkit for examining, understanding and writing about artworks.

The subject is taught by a team of scholars from the University of Melbourne art history program. On completing the subject students will have acquired basic skills in the analysis of art, including an understanding of the principal issues and methodologies in the discipline of art history. Students will also have been introduced to the breadth, diversity and shared concerns of diverse cultures and histories.