art history - post 1950

This module examines Modernist and Post-Modernist art practice and theory from the second half of the twentieth century up to the present day. Students gain a comprehensive knowledge of the major art movements of the period, including Pop Art; Abstract Expressionism; Minimalism; and Installation, Conceptual, Performance and Digital Art. We will consider the influence of art criticism (Clement Greenberg) and of artists themselves on the development of other ways of seeing than the traditions of the academy. The module covers art in Europe and America in the post-war period, and considers the influence that the atomic bomb, the Cold War, the Vietnam War and popular culture had on art and visual culture. Artists studied include: Jackson Pollock; Jasper Johns; Robert Rauschenberg; Claes Oldenburg; Andy Warhol; Barbara Kruger; Gerhard Richter; Richard Hamilton; Andy Goldsworthy; Anselm Kiefer; Damien Hirst and Mona Hatoum.

Assessment: 100% coursework