107-036 Nineteenth Century French Art

Usually 12.5 points of first year art history, see Prerequisites, or first year European studies, see Prerequisites.

This subject aims to give students a broad understanding of the development of French painting and sculpture from Romanticism to the Symbolist Movement of the 1890s. Students are asked to consider the relationship between creative visual expression and social and political change; to develop an understanding of the academic techniques of both painting and sculpture to see how they came under threat as the century progressed and new materials came into use. A particular focus is the creation of modern Paris with its grand boulevards, theatres, cafes and street life and how this imagery was utilised by visual artists. A close examination of particular examples is central to the teaching and specific classes are held in front of the artworks in the National Gallery of Victoria.