107-038 Modernist Avant-Gardes

Usually 12.5 points of first-year art history, see Prerequisites.

This subject examines responses to modernity in avant-garde art, culture and theory during the high modernist period (1900-1950). A variety of geographical locations (which may include Europe, Asia, North America and Australia) and stylistic categories (futurism, expressionism, cubism, constructivism, dada, surrealism, suprematism) will be considered. The social, historical and theoretical context in which diverse modernist aesthetics were formed will be studied using historical sources and contemporary theory. Students should become familiar with issues such as the rise of abstraction, the relationship of art and politics, the impact of urbanism on art, utopian models of art, nationalism and the arts, colonialism, gender and sexuality.

A 2000-word class paper and a 2000-word essay.