Week 1

Introduction to Art Theory and Modernism
What is theory and why is it important?
-the history of photography
-it leads to practical
-a tool to develop visual and contextual analysis
-tool for enquiry
-some theories used in humanities: semiotics, Marxism, queer theory, psychoanalysis, iconography, critical theory
-“the masters tools will never dismantle the masters house”. Audre Lorde. Sister outsider, 1984.
-we don’t know what’s culturally embedded until we are pulled out of it.

Positivism
-refuses to engage with interpretation
-“Only facts”- from science as source of knowledge
-Founder: Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
-highly descriptive of formal qualities
-human behaviours follow laws/science
-descriptive account of art
-cultural, social and political contexts- not fixed

Critical Theory-contextualise and interpret
-politics of reception, power and ideology
-Interdisciplinary, not fixed
-away of looking and interpreting
-what we define as art, or opinion, different perspectives
-Production process- photographs don’t speak for themselves

Introduction to modernism-what is it?
-differences between “modern”, “modernity” and “modernism”
-how did modernist differ from romantics
-formalist and positive approaches to art theory


How we talk about art- art history and art theory-theory as discourse
-not neutral
-not impartial
-not universal