2002/03
Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue
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ARTF5990
Assessing the French Revolution
20 credits
Taught
Semester 1,
Year running
2002/03
Pre-requisites
None
Co-requisites
None
This module is available as an elective
Objectives
On completion of this module, students should be able to make their own assessments of how the imagery of the French Revolution functions within history. They will have acquired knowledge of a range of artistic practices and of the key events and personalities of this period. They will have presented seminars and debated set texts and collected together archive material so as to come to an understanding of what art is or can be at a time of revolutionary change when barriers between the Fine Arts or between High Art and what has been termed popular culture break down. Using the publications and collections of the Museum of the French Revolution in Vizille, the students will have considered how representation can come to invade aspects of material culture in its widest sense and in a variety of forms - from items of dress, costume and weaponry to furniture, earthenware, medals and playing cards.
Syllabus
The module will consider the issue of the French Revolution as a founding moment in the modern French nation and in the light of the bicentennial celebrations of 1989. Seminars will deal with the creation of the Louvre as a public museum, the projects for a new National Assembly building, the competitions of year II in painting and architecture, the representation of gender in art and politics, how dress, costume and everyday artefacts merge together and break down previously-held hierarchies of class, culture and art and how, alongside the production of martyr portraiture, caricature can be used to consider the implications of The Terror. Although a visit to the museum at Vizille will not be compulsory, every effort will be made to organise a trip to Vizille in the week after the module ends. This will provide an inside view of the workings of a major French institution, special study collections, library and archive.
Form of teaching
Seminars: 11 x 2 hours
Form of assessment
1 x 4000-6000 word essay
Undergraduate Module Catalogue | Taught Postgraduate Module Catalogue
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to
Geoff Lidster.
Information regarding content of individual modules
should be obtained from the departmental contact who can be found on the
module index page.
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