2008/09 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

ARTF3023 Femininity/Modernity/Representation - Rethinking the Twentieth Century with Women in Mind

20 creditsClass Size: 32

Module manager: Prof Griselda Pollock
Email: G.F.S.Pollock@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2008/09

Pre-requisite qualifications

Students wishing to take this module as an elective at level three must have completed at least 20 credits from ARTF 2000 or any other level two ARTF coded module.

This module is approved as an Elective

Module summary

PRE-REQUISITES: Students wishing to take this module as an elective at level three must have completed at least 20 credits from ARTF 2000 or any other level two ARTF coded module.Feminist cultural history challenges existing periodisations and categorisations typical of the canonical histories of art. Modern culture is primarily studied as a developmental model of a self-referential avant-garde in which great individuals react against their fathers and brothers to produce stylistic innovations. It is not possible to recognise or analyse women artists' relations to modernity through this model. This module draws on feminist cultural, literary and historiographical theory to produce a provisional mapping in which questions necessary for our 21st century can be studied. The importance of sexuality in the construction of modernism has never been completely ignored, but it has been discussed from a heterosexual masculine bias - e.g. celebrations of the sexuality of Picasso or de Kooning. The question of sexual difference has been repressed, as if feminism and women's campaigns against their exclusion from, and exploitation by, the bourgeois state were not themselves a crucial part of the histories of modernity. Framing the questions through both historical and theoretical approaches, the module examines the points of coincidence and difference between women and modern culture in ways which necessarily defy purely chronological, nationalist and avant-garde models. Assessment: 1 x 2-3,000 word essay (50%) plus 1 x archive (50%)

Objectives

On completion of the module students should have utilised a wide range of historical and theoretical approaches to analyse the relations of women to modernity. They should have acquired a broad understanding of the points of coincidence and difference between women and modern culture. They should have examined the social and historical conditions of women of varying classes, ethnicities and sexualities during the twentieth century. They should have engaged with feminist theory and history, and be able to outline a provisional map of modernist culture through which questions necessary to the understanding of women's creative participation and allegorical place in the configurations of modernity can be explored. They should have a grasp on key issues in art historical methodology, and they should have created an archive of information, biographies and images through which to negotiate their studies of twentieth century art and culture with women in mind, and should be able to offer a semiotic as well as a formalist analysis of a range of visual media.

Skills outcomes
Verbal and written fluency in constructing a logical and coherent argument.
Use of audio visual aids
Participation in group discussions
Co-ordination and dissemination of a range of historical, contextual visual information
Using bibliographies and databasesVerbal and written fluency in constructing a logical and coherent argument.
Use of audio visual aids
Participation in group discussions
Co-ordination and dissemination of a range of historical, contextual visual information
Using bibliographies and databases

Syllabus

Doing feminist cultural history involves challenging existing periodisations and categorisations typical of the canonical histories of art. Modern culture is primarily studied in terms of a developmental model of a self-referential avant-garde in which great individuals react against their fathers and bothers to produce stylistic innovations; avant-garde gambits. It is not possible to recognise or analyse women artists' relations to modernity through this model. The module draws on feminist cultural, literary and historiographical theory to produce a provisional mapping in which questions necessary to an understanding of women's creative participation in modernity can be studied. The importance of issues such as sexuality in the construction of modernism has never been completely ignored, but it has been discussed from a heterosexual masculine bias - e.g. celebrations of the frank sexuality of Picasso or de Kooning. The question of sexual difference has been repressed, as if feminism and women's campaigns against their exclusion from, and exploitation by, the bourgeois state were not themselves a crucial part of the histories of modernity. Framing the questions through both historical and theoretical approaches, the module examines the points of coincidence and difference between women and modern culture in ways which necessarily defy purely chronological, nationalist and avant-garde models. Themes will include: Women and History; Femininity and Modernity; Modernity and Sexuality; Gender and Authorship; Modernity and the Iconography of the Artist; Representation and the Politics of Identity; Ecriture/Peinture Feminine and the Feminist Critique of Representation. These issues will be dealt with by a combination of theoretical readings and specific case studies of artists associated with major practices in the twentieth century.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Seminar	10	2.00	20.00
Private study hours			180.00
Total Contact hours			20.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Private study

150 hours - class preparation
30 hours - essay preperation and writing

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- attendance at seminars
- registers taken
- contribution to class discussions

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	1 x 2-3,000 word essay	50.00
Assignment	1 x archive folder consisting of information, biographies and images on women artists, to include evidence of weekly bibliographical and image-based research for each class and designed to develop key skills in working with visual material, and in using bibliographies and databases to gather information.	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 08/04/2009

Disclaimer

Browse Other Catalogues

• Undergraduate module catalogue
• Taught Postgraduate module catalogue
• Undergraduate programme catalogue
• Taught Postgraduate programme catalogue

Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team.PROD