History of Contemporary Art Criticism
A.Y. 2022/2023
Learning objectives
The course aims to investigate the role of contemporary art criticism in the international context. In particular, the goal is to present to learners the plurality of trends and theories that cross the artistic system from the mid-nineteenth century to the eighties of the twentieth century. Some case studies will be examined which focus on problems of interpretation and historical contextualization.
Expected learning outcomes
Knowledge: to acquire specific knowledge on the tradition and the genres of art literature in the contemporary age
Skills: Development of a critical approach and a method for analyzing the artistic literary text of the contemporary age
Skills: Development of a critical approach and a method for analyzing the artistic literary text of the contemporary age
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Part A (20 Hours and 3 Ects): The art criticism of contemporary art. Reading pathways between 19th and 20th century. Prof. Paolo Rusconi
Didactic part A offers an opportunity for reflection on the role of art criticism, in its various forms (from militant criticism to historiography), against the backdrop of the international contemporary art system, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day.
Part B (20 Hours and 3 Ects): Militant Criticism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Case studies. Prof. Paolo Rusconi, Prof. Viviana Pozzoli.
Didactic part B will address some case studies in the field of art criticism and publishing dedicated to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.
Part C (20 Hours and 3 Ects): Pioneers and masters: criticism, publishing, dissemination. Prof. Viviana Pozzoli
Didactic part C will address the role of specialized publishing and image dissemination system in the affirmation of some key critical crossroads for the historiography of contemporary art.
Didactic part A offers an opportunity for reflection on the role of art criticism, in its various forms (from militant criticism to historiography), against the backdrop of the international contemporary art system, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day.
Part B (20 Hours and 3 Ects): Militant Criticism, Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Case studies. Prof. Paolo Rusconi, Prof. Viviana Pozzoli.
Didactic part B will address some case studies in the field of art criticism and publishing dedicated to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.
Part C (20 Hours and 3 Ects): Pioneers and masters: criticism, publishing, dissemination. Prof. Viviana Pozzoli
Didactic part C will address the role of specialized publishing and image dissemination system in the affirmation of some key critical crossroads for the historiography of contemporary art.
Prerequisites for admission
Basic knowledge of the history of contemporary art.
Teaching methods
Lectures with seminar lessons and monographic readings focused on periods, contexts or individual issues.
Teaching Resources
For attending students
Part A
- Subjects treated in lectures
- Required texts
-S. Bordini, L'Ottocento 1815-1880, Le fonti della storia dell'arte/7, Roma, Carocci, 2022 (chapters II, V, VI, VIII)
-H.B. Chipp, Theories of Modern Art. A source book by Artists and Critics, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, University of California Press, 1968 (chapters III, IV, V)
Part B
- Subjects treated in lectures
- Required texts
M.M. Lamberti, Vittorio Pica e l'Impressionismo in Italia, in "Annali della Scuola Normale di Pisa. Classe di Lettere e Filosofia, III Serie, Vol. V, fasc. 3, 1975, pp. 1149-1201.
Laura Iamurri, Lionello Venturi e la storia dell'impressionismo, 1932-1939, "Studiolo", (5), 2007, pp. 73-90;
- A text to choose between
-S. Mallarmé, Édouard Manet e gli Impressionisti, Milano Scalpendi, 2021
-F. Fénéon, Gli Impressionisti nel 1886, Milano, Scalpendi, 2021
Part C
- Subjects treated in lectures
- Required texts:
Valerie Holman, The art book, in Information Sources in Art, Art History and Design, a c. di Simon Ford, Berlino, De Gruyter, 2015, pp. 60-76.
Viviana Pozzoli, Le edizioni d'arte: un laboratorio per Corrente, in Nuovi Studi su Corrente, a c. di Maria Fratelli, Paolo Rusconi, Milano, Skira, 2020, pp. 55-64.
Viviana Pozzoli, Paolo Rusconi, Le edizioni del Milione all'avvio del quinto decennio: tempi, modelli e identità visiva, in Il libro d'arte in Italia 1935-1965, a c. di Massimo Ferretti, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2021, pp. 27-39.
Viviana Pozzoli, Colour Reproductions for Modern Art. Venturi and the Print Exhibitions in Post-war Italy, in Motion: Migration, XXXV CIHA world conference proceedings, Campinas, VISCO, in corso di stampa.
SUBJECTS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR STUDENTS WHO COULD NOT ATTEND THE LECTURES
Part A
- Required texts
S. Bordini, L'Ottocento 1815-1880, Le fonti della storia dell'arte/7, Roma, Carocci, 2022.
H.B. Chipp, Theories of Modern Art. A source book by Artists and Critics, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, University of California Press, 1968 (chapters III, IV, V)
Part B
- Required texts
M.M. Lamberti, Vittorio Pica e l'Impressionismo in Italia, in "Annali della Scuola Normale di Pisa. Classe di Lettere e Filosofia, III Serie, Vol. V, fasc. 3, 1975, pp. 1149-1201.
Laura Iamurri, Lionello Venturi e la storia dell'impressionismo, 1932-1939, "Studiolo", (5), 2007, pp. 73-90.
S. Mallarmé, Édouard Manet e gli Impressionisti, Milano Scalpendi, 2021.
F. Fénéon, Gli Impressionisti nel 1886, Milano, Scalpendi, 2021.
Part C
- Required texts:
Valerie Holman, The art book, in Information Sources in Art, Art History and Design, a c. di Simon Ford, Berlino, De Gruyter, 2015, pp. 60-76.
Viviana Pozzoli, Le edizioni d'arte: un laboratorio per Corrente, in Nuovi Studi su Corrente, a c. di Maria Fratelli, Paolo Rusconi, Milano, Skira, 2020, pp. 55-64.
Viviana Pozzoli, Paolo Rusconi, Le edizioni del Milione all'avvio del quinto decennio: tempi, modelli e identità visiva, in Il libro d'arte in Italia 1935-1965, a c. di Massimo Ferretti, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2021, pp. 27-39.
Viviana Pozzoli, Colour Reproductions for Modern Art. Venturi and the Print Exhibitions in Post-war Italy, in Motion: Migration, XXXV CIHA world conference proceedings, Campinas, VISCO, in corso di stampa.
Valerie Holman, Art Books Against the Odds: Phaidon in England 1938-1950, "Visual Resources" Vol. XV (3), 2011, pp. 311-32.
Jessica Sjöholm Skrubbe, Modernism Diffracted. Picture Postcards from The Sturm Gallery and Walden Collection in Berlin, in The Aesthetics of Matter: Modernism, the Avant-Garde and Material Exchange, a c. di Sarah Posman, Anne Reverseau, David Ayers, Sascha Bru, Benedikt Hjartarson, European Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies, vol. 3, Berlino, De Gruyter, 2013, pp. 17-28.
Rachel E. Perry, Immutable Mobiles: UNESCO's Archives of Colour Reproductions, "The Art Bullettin", vol. 99 (2), 2017, pp. 166-85.
Part A
- Subjects treated in lectures
- Required texts
-S. Bordini, L'Ottocento 1815-1880, Le fonti della storia dell'arte/7, Roma, Carocci, 2022 (chapters II, V, VI, VIII)
-H.B. Chipp, Theories of Modern Art. A source book by Artists and Critics, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, University of California Press, 1968 (chapters III, IV, V)
Part B
- Subjects treated in lectures
- Required texts
M.M. Lamberti, Vittorio Pica e l'Impressionismo in Italia, in "Annali della Scuola Normale di Pisa. Classe di Lettere e Filosofia, III Serie, Vol. V, fasc. 3, 1975, pp. 1149-1201.
Laura Iamurri, Lionello Venturi e la storia dell'impressionismo, 1932-1939, "Studiolo", (5), 2007, pp. 73-90;
- A text to choose between
-S. Mallarmé, Édouard Manet e gli Impressionisti, Milano Scalpendi, 2021
-F. Fénéon, Gli Impressionisti nel 1886, Milano, Scalpendi, 2021
Part C
- Subjects treated in lectures
- Required texts:
Valerie Holman, The art book, in Information Sources in Art, Art History and Design, a c. di Simon Ford, Berlino, De Gruyter, 2015, pp. 60-76.
Viviana Pozzoli, Le edizioni d'arte: un laboratorio per Corrente, in Nuovi Studi su Corrente, a c. di Maria Fratelli, Paolo Rusconi, Milano, Skira, 2020, pp. 55-64.
Viviana Pozzoli, Paolo Rusconi, Le edizioni del Milione all'avvio del quinto decennio: tempi, modelli e identità visiva, in Il libro d'arte in Italia 1935-1965, a c. di Massimo Ferretti, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2021, pp. 27-39.
Viviana Pozzoli, Colour Reproductions for Modern Art. Venturi and the Print Exhibitions in Post-war Italy, in Motion: Migration, XXXV CIHA world conference proceedings, Campinas, VISCO, in corso di stampa.
SUBJECTS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR STUDENTS WHO COULD NOT ATTEND THE LECTURES
Part A
- Required texts
S. Bordini, L'Ottocento 1815-1880, Le fonti della storia dell'arte/7, Roma, Carocci, 2022.
H.B. Chipp, Theories of Modern Art. A source book by Artists and Critics, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, University of California Press, 1968 (chapters III, IV, V)
Part B
- Required texts
M.M. Lamberti, Vittorio Pica e l'Impressionismo in Italia, in "Annali della Scuola Normale di Pisa. Classe di Lettere e Filosofia, III Serie, Vol. V, fasc. 3, 1975, pp. 1149-1201.
Laura Iamurri, Lionello Venturi e la storia dell'impressionismo, 1932-1939, "Studiolo", (5), 2007, pp. 73-90.
S. Mallarmé, Édouard Manet e gli Impressionisti, Milano Scalpendi, 2021.
F. Fénéon, Gli Impressionisti nel 1886, Milano, Scalpendi, 2021.
Part C
- Required texts:
Valerie Holman, The art book, in Information Sources in Art, Art History and Design, a c. di Simon Ford, Berlino, De Gruyter, 2015, pp. 60-76.
Viviana Pozzoli, Le edizioni d'arte: un laboratorio per Corrente, in Nuovi Studi su Corrente, a c. di Maria Fratelli, Paolo Rusconi, Milano, Skira, 2020, pp. 55-64.
Viviana Pozzoli, Paolo Rusconi, Le edizioni del Milione all'avvio del quinto decennio: tempi, modelli e identità visiva, in Il libro d'arte in Italia 1935-1965, a c. di Massimo Ferretti, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2021, pp. 27-39.
Viviana Pozzoli, Colour Reproductions for Modern Art. Venturi and the Print Exhibitions in Post-war Italy, in Motion: Migration, XXXV CIHA world conference proceedings, Campinas, VISCO, in corso di stampa.
Valerie Holman, Art Books Against the Odds: Phaidon in England 1938-1950, "Visual Resources" Vol. XV (3), 2011, pp. 311-32.
Jessica Sjöholm Skrubbe, Modernism Diffracted. Picture Postcards from The Sturm Gallery and Walden Collection in Berlin, in The Aesthetics of Matter: Modernism, the Avant-Garde and Material Exchange, a c. di Sarah Posman, Anne Reverseau, David Ayers, Sascha Bru, Benedikt Hjartarson, European Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies, vol. 3, Berlino, De Gruyter, 2013, pp. 17-28.
Rachel E. Perry, Immutable Mobiles: UNESCO's Archives of Colour Reproductions, "The Art Bullettin", vol. 99 (2), 2017, pp. 166-85.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The oral examination consists of an interview on the program topics aimed at ascertaining the knowledge and critical skills acquired by the student. Any additional didactic activities and exercises will be submitted during the lessons.
L-ART/03 - HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY ART - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Professors:
Pozzoli Viviana, Rusconi Paolo
Professor(s)
Reception:
June: 16 (2 pm); 24 (3 pm)
Dipartimento di Beni culturali e ambientali, via Noto 6