Modern Art: Progress and Tradition

URL study guide

https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2025-2026/L_AABAMKD215

Course Objective

At the end of this course, students are expected to:Have knowledge and insight into developments in the visual arts of the 19th and 20th centuries; Have knowledge and insight into various theories concerning the course of art and art history in relation to notions of tradition, progress, originality, the end of art (history), etc; Have acquired a critical approach to various discourses on the progress of art and art history, including that of museum presentation; Be able to apply the gained insights to an assigned art historical question and to an actual work of art, preferably on location; Be able to clearly communicate their findings in an oral presentation.

Course Content

Much of the art of the 19th and 20th century, and especially that of the "avant-garde", was born under the sign of "progress", whether meaning new styles, new materials, new subject matter, or new media. Innovation, however, is always rooted in tradition, and ignoring the latter may lead to a misguided celebration of progress. This course focuses on the permanent tension between looking forward and backward in 19th
- and 20th-century visual art, both from the perspective of modernist narratives of progress, and from that of postmodern critiques on this notion and its role in art history (e.g., ideas about the 'end' of (art) history). By means of capita selecta from both art history and art theory (Gombrich, Greenberg, Bürger, Foster, Doorman), we will critically assess individual works of art, art criticism, various art theories, and Art History as a discipline through the lens of various socio-historical and scientific-philosophical views on progress and tradition, in order to develop a more critical attitude towards art, art history and various of its assumptions. The course builds on the first-year course History of MKDA: Modern which, among other things, offered a survey of avant-garde movements in art, and on the preceding second-year course Early Modern Art: Production and Reception. It invites a more problem
- and theory-oriented view on modern art, but also aims to provide students with knowledge, insights and tools with which to assess individual art works' qualities in the sense of relating them to the past, present and future.

Teaching Methods

Lectures, seminars, and excursion(s). The lectures of this course are offered in English only. Students following the Dutch (i.e. bilingual) track can do oral presentations and submit written assignments in either English or Dutch.

Method of Assessment

This course comprises two oral presentations, one (1) on an assigned problem in art history (25%), the other (2) on a painting (15%), and a written exam on the literature and lectures (60%). Of these, the written exam has to be passed with a sufficient grade (5.5 or higher) in order to pass the course. Connection between learning objectives and assessment:Learning objective 1: written exam, oral presentation 1.Learning objective 2: written exam, oral presentation 2.Learning objective 3: written exam, oral presentations 1 and 2.Learning objectives 4 & 5: oral presentation 1 and 2.End terms BA MKDA: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12

Literature

A list of mandatory class literature will be published on Canvas and/or the Study Manual. Please note that the lectures are not a repetition of the literature, but an addition to it.

Target Audience

This course is compulsory for all BA MKDA students in their second year who chose Art as their specialisation, and for pre-Masters Art & Culture. It is open as an elective to other MKDA students.

Additional Information

For attendance rules, see Teaching and Examination Regulations. Students should be aware that regular attendance is necessary to pass the course.

Entry Requirements

See the Onderwijs
- en Examenregeling (OER), c.q. Teaching and Exam Regulations (TER) for MKDA.

Recommended background knowledge

The course builds on the first-year course History of MKDA: Modern. The literature then studied will be assumed familiar; students who did not follow this course are advised to study beforehand: E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Art, London (Phaidon) 1995, pp. 475-506, and Penelope Davies et al., Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition (Eight Edition), Upper Saddle River etc. (Prentice Hall) 2011, pp. 859-74, 903-22, 945-61, 964-72, 983-87, 993-99, 1003-7, 1035-40 and 1049-53.