Unit information: Modern Art in Britain 1910-1960 (Level I Special Field) in 2017/18

Unit name	Modern Art in Britain 1910-1960 (Level I Special Field)
Unit code	HART26003
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Professor. Shaw-Miller
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	HART22225 Special Field Project
School/department	Department of History of Art (Historical Studies)
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This Unit will consider this vibrant period in British art starting with the 1910 Post Impressionist Exhibition organised by the influential critic and artist Roger Fry. We will examine British Art and its response to the conflict of the First World War and chart the variety of modern artistic practice in the inter war years with particular reference to Abstraction and Surrealism. The significance of landscape and the importance on the artistic colony at St Ives in Cornwall will also be addressed. Attention will also be paid to the variety of art produced during the Second World War and for the 1951 The Festival of Britain. The internationally renowned British figurative tradition from Stanley Spencer to Francis Bacon and Lucien Freud will also be assessed.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the unit students should have:

• identified, analysed, and deepened their understanding of the significance of key themes in Modern Art in Britain 1910-19
• understood the historiographical debates that surround the topic
• learned how to work with primary sources
• developed their skills in contributing to and learning from discussion in a small-group environment

Teaching Information

Weekly 2-hour seminar Access to tutorial consultation with unit tutor in office hours

Assessment Information

2-hour unseen written examination (summative, 100%)

The examination will assess their understanding of the unit’s key themes, the related historiography as developed during their reading and participation in / learning from small group seminars, and relevant primary sources. Further assessment of their handling of the relevant primary sources will be provided by the co-requisite Special Field Project (HART 22225)

Reading and References

GREEN, Christopher (ed), Art Made Modern. Roger Fry’s Vision of Art (London, 1999)

HARRISON, Charles, English Art and Modernism 1900-1939 (New Haven, 1981).

PETERS CORBETT, David, The Modernity of English Art 1914-30 (Manchester, 1997)

ROBINS, Anna Gruetzner, Modern Art in Britain 1910-1914 (London, 1997)

TICKNER, Lisa, Modern Life and Modern Subjects. British Art in the Early Twentieth Century (New Haven, 2000)