Studies in Art History

The course deals with the main artists and artistic tendencies of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century in Europe and Usa, providing the historical and critical basis to afford both the past and the fast changing contemporary art world. As in a modern Grand-Tour, during the lessons the museums’ website where artworks are conserved and places from where they come will be visited.

Ability to understand texts; familiarity with the observation of images; basic knowledge of the art of the centuries before the 19th and 20th; motivation to learn both from the study of texts and multimedia sources and from the direct visit to museums and collections.

For the preparation of the exam is required the study of 1. an art history textbook in use in high schools, for example Argan, Cricco-Di Teodoro, Bertelli-Briganti-Giuliano, De Vecchi-Cerchiari or another one already in the student's possession, which deals with the period from Neoclassicism to recent trends. For those who do not have a textbook, we recommend Irene Baldriga, "Dentro l'arte. Contesto, metodo, confronti. Dal neoclassicismo a oggi" (Volume 3, red edition), Electa Scuola Education 2. Kirk Varnedoe, “A Fine Disregard: What Makes Modern Art Modern”, HN Abrams, New York 3. consultation of the didactic materials available on the Sapienza Moodle platform: 2024-25 Sbrilli Storia dell'arte contemporanea Corso base triennale

Attendance is optional.

The examination mode is oral with open questions based on the textbooks and recommended web resources. Students will have to demonstrate their ability to orientate themselves in the art historical development of the program, placing the major works and artists in space and time, recognising in a reasoned manner iconographic themes, techniques, styles, languages and the most important collocations.

In order to orientate oneself historically in the subject, reference should be made to a textbook covering the history of art from the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century (Argan, De Vecchi-Cerchiari, Bertelli-Briganti-Giuliano, Baldriga). Kirk Varnedoe's volume "A Fine Disregard. What Makes Modern Art Modern" offers methodological proposals and innovative readings of crucial episodes in the art dealt with in the course. Jolanda Covre’s book Le avanguardie storiche offers and up-to-date treatment of the avant-garde period. For each teaching unit, extracts from texts that are important for the study of the various themes are also selected and made available, as well as video documents, accessible in compliance with copyright through institutional or private aggregators (libraries, publishers, databases, platforms, including Open Culture, Google Arts & Culture, Europeana, Bridgeman Images, Monoskop).

The lessons are presented in the form of didactic units with an interface that includes the themes, resources, activities that are used to acquire knowledge and skills on the topics covered; knowledge concerning the geographical and historical context in which the artists and female artists have moved; the individual works in the intertwining of iconography, style and technique; the collections in which they are kept; the most illuminating readings that have been given; the online resources concerning them. Each lesson also presents invitations to interaction

A Survey of Art History from Neoclassicism to the present This is an introductory survey course, meant to provide the students with an elementary knowledge of the main historical lines of XIX and XX century art and of the critical and methodological issues concerning the art of the period. From Neoclassicism to Romanticism (14 hours) From Realism to the painting of modern life (14 hours) From Impressionism to Post-impressionism (14 hours) Fauves, Cubism, Futurism, Abstraction (14 hours) Metafisical painting, dada, Surrealism (14 hours) Art since 1945 (14 hours)

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Giulio Carlo Argan, L’arte moderna, Firenze, Sansoni, 1970 (o ed. successive) plus one of the following books Jolanda Nigro Covre, Arte contemporanea. Le avanguardie storiche (nuova edizione), Roma, Carocci, 2021 Ilaria Schiaffini, Arte contemporanea. Dalla Metafisica al Surrealismo, Roma, Carocci, 2011 Claudio Zambianchi, Arte contemporanea. Dall’Espressionismo astratto all’arte pop, Roma, Carocci, 2011 Alessandro Del Puppo, Arte Contemporanea. Tra le due guerre, Roma, Carocci, 2021

Attendance is strongly recommended. For those who cannot attend, the program is the same, and audio recordings of lectures and .ppts of images will be made available on the Sapienza e-learning platform

The exam is meant to evaluate the degree of knowledge of the student about the historical, cruitical and methodological issues of the course. In order to pass the exam a grade above 18/30 is needed. In order to get this grade the student must show a sufficient knowledge of the main issues dealt with in the lectures and readings (only in the readings if s/he cannot attend the lectures) and to move with enough ease as to the chronology and the general issues. To pass the exam with 30/30 cum laude the student must show an excellent knowledge of the topics dealt with in the course, and s/he must show the ability to connect them with ease and coherence.

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