Admission requirements
Admission to MA Arts and Culture: Museum Studies / Art History, research master Arts and Culture, research master Arts, Literature and Media. Priority is given to students of the MA Arts and Culture.
Description
This MA course investigates debates around the conception, production, display, reception, and consumption in the decorative arts of the period between c. 1750 and c. 1900.
The period covered in the course was one of immense change, as it saw the birth of modern consumer cultures, the growing impact of industrial(ized) production, the impact of the second print revolution, and the first international exhibitions of manufactured goods, all of which severely impacted the ways in which people – designers, craftsmen, industrialists, patrons, buyers, critics – thought about the decorative arts.
The course will also address the idea of ‘decorative arts’ or ‘applied arts’ and their position within the hierarchy of the arts; how did the advent of industrial(ized) production and the development of new materials impact the status of the object, and the role of (handi)craft? How did ideas about gender and gendered forms of consumption impact design debates? How did print cultures impact debates around taste and the furnishing of homes? And what was the role of exhibitions and museums – specifically newly founded museums for applied and decorative arts – in these debates around decorative and applied arts?
Course objectives
In this course, students will
Gain insight into the nature of the decorative arts through gaining knowledge concerning the debates around consumer cultures, industrialization, and design in the period between c. 1750 and c. 1900.
Obtain an insight into the relations between print cultures, exhibitions and museums, and the production of decorative arts in the period between c. 1750 and c. 1900.
Develop skills in analysing primary sources used in the study of the decorative arts, including visual analysis of decorative art objects, and close reading of written primary sources.
Learn to recognize and produce productive research on the questions raised during the course, starting from an object-based investigation.
Learn to initiate and carry out a modest research project in which they explicitly frame their own reading, and situate themselves critically within modern and contemporary scholarly and artistic debates.
Present their research project in both oral and written form.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of Instruction
Seminar
Excursion
Engaging in and commenting on each other’s presentations
Assessment method
Paper, including oral presentation of its subject (80 %)
Oral presentation on a work of art (20 %)
Weighing
The final grade is the average of the two grades (20 % and 80 %). To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher .
Resit
The resit consists of rewriting or adjusting the paper (80 %).
Reading list
To be announced on Brightspace.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Arsenaal
Remarks
No additional remarks