Writings on Art

This module is only open to art history majors for whom it is compulsory. This module provides an overview of some of the principal trends in writing on art from the pre-modern to the present day. It thus builds upon the thematic modules undertaken in Levels 1 and 2, enabling students to place their cumulative experience in a methodological framework. The course develops students’ understanding of art history as a discipline while importantly positioning it in dialogue with diverse approaches and methods to underscore the interdisciplinary nature of the field. Topics include formalism, connoisseurship, feminism, queer theory, and decoloniality. The module aims to provide students with a theoretical and critical context for their final-year study of art history and to aid them in identifying the ideas that inform their own approaches to the subject. It attunes students to current and emerging approaches to art history.