Unit information: Conflict and Transformation in the Visual Arts of the Hispanic World in 2019/20

Unit name	Conflict and Transformation in the Visual Arts of the Hispanic World
Unit code	HISP20103
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Paul Merchant
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

The visual arts are sometimes regarded as far removed from the everyday concerns of ordinary people, as hidden away in the inaccessible spaces of galleries or private collections. This unit explores the work of artists, filmmakers and movements from across the Hispanic world who sought to make works that spoke to common concerns and responded to political and social upheaval. The period covered spans the 20thcentury, from the Mexican revolution to the Spanish civil war, unrest in Colombia and migration in Chile.

Discussion of the works will focus on issues including race, gender and class identities, political violence, and the consequences of rapid urban expansion. Both world-famous figures like Frida Kahlo and marginalised artists like grafiteros in Chile are represented, and the media analysed range from painting to cinema and sculpture. Students will consider how the formal characteristics of artworks, and the contexts in which they are exhibited, shape their cultural and social impact.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate a broad knowledge of twentieth century Hispanic visual art, and the relationship between visual art and politics.
2. Describe, analyse, compare and develop interpretations of different forms of visual art.
3. Comparatively assess the cultural impact and importance of several key political developments in 20th-century Latin America and Spain.
4. Show critical awareness of theoretical scholarship in the field of study and the ability to articulate a critical position in both oral and written form as appropriate to level I.
5. Demonstrate sophisticated visual analytical skills.
6. Demonstrate the ability to carry out independent research appropriate to this level of study.
7. Demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively.
8. Demonstrate sophisticated presentation skills.

Teaching Information

1 weekly lecture

1 weekly seminar

Assessment Information

Assessment Details

1 x 2000 word essay (summative, 50%), testing ILOs 1-6.

1 x 2-hour exam (summative, 50%), testing ILOs 1-6

1 x group presentation (formative), testing ILOS 1, 4-8

Reading and References

Selected Primary Texts

 

• Paintings by Frida Kahlo
• Photographs by Horacio Coppola
• Sculpture and installations by Doris Salcedo
• El espíritu de la colmena (Víctor Erice, Spain, 1973)
• Chile, la memoria obstinada (Patricio Guzmán, Chile, 1997)
• El hombre de al lado (Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat, Argentina, 2009)

Selected Critical Reading

• Aneus, Alejandro, Leonard Folgarait, and Robin Adèle Greeley (eds), Mexican Muralism: A Critical History (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2012)

• Baddeley, Oriana and Valerie Fraser, Drawing the Line: Art and Cultural Identity in Contemporary Latin America (London: Verso, 1989)

• Bal, Mieke, Of What One Cannot Speak: Doris Salcedo’s Political Art (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011)

• Faulkner, Sally, A History of Spanish Film: Cinema and Society 1910-2010 (London: Bloomsbury, 2013)

• Merchant, Paul, ‘Melodramatic Materials: The Roof and The Man Next Door’, Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies 4:3 (2016), 337-354

• Merchant, Paul, ‘Spectres of hierarchy in a Chilean domestic archive’, Journal of Romance Studies 18:2 (2018), 143-157

• Mirzoeff, Nicholas, An Introduction to Visual Culture, 2nd ed. (London: Routledge, 2009)