This module teaches students about the broad topic of Modernism in Europe and North America, and highlights a range of artists, artworks, influences and connections spanning five decades. Beginning with an overview of social and cultural backgrounds internationally in this period, we will look at important developments in art-making, exhibitions and the political use of art. Topics to be covered include Cubism; Collage; Primitivism; Surrealism; modernist sculpture; the Harlem Renaissance and the creation of the black subject; Social Realism and the politics of Mexican muralism in the United States; and narratives of women artists in modern art. Artists studied include: Edvard Munch, Kandinsky, Duchamp, Picasso, Magritte, Edward Hopper, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Frida Kahlo.
Assessment: 100% coursework