Aesthetics and Theories of Art
Objectives
To recognize there are both differences and points of contact between art history, history, aesthetics, art criticism. To recognize art history´s writing limitations. To identify main aesthetic and art theories in the writing of art history. To interpret fundamental texts of art theory and to relate artistic practices and art theories. To acquire the flexibility to critically analyze theories and practices in art history and to apply acquired knowledge in the study of art subjects of different times and places, and in other learning contexts. To relate theory from other disciplines or contexts with art theory and art history.
General characterization
Code
01100550
Credits
6.0
Responsible teacher
Maria Margarida Simão Tavares da Conceição
Hours
Weekly - 4
Total - 168
Teaching language
Portuguese
Prerequisites
Non Applicable
Bibliography
Alberti, Leon Battista ed. Mário Kruger, trad. Arnaldo Espírito Santo. 2011. Da arte edificatória. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
Alberti, Leon Battista, trad. José Serra, intr. Isabel Nogueira. 2017. Da Pintura, seguido Da Escultura. Silveira: Book Builders, 2017.
Blunt, Anthony. 1989. Artistic Theory in Italy 1450-1600. Oxford University Press.
Cooper, David E., ed. 1995. A Companion to Aesthetics. Oxford: Blackwell.
Foucault, Michel, trad. António Ramos Rosa. [1966] 1998. As Palavras e as Coisas. Lisboa: Edições 70.
Gaut, Berys, and Dominic Mclver Lopes, eds. [2000] 2013. The Routledge Companion to Aesthetics. London: Routledge.
Greenberg, Clement, trad. João R. Figueiredo. 2018. Vanguarda e Kitsch. Lisboa: Imprensa da Universidade de Lisboa.
Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood e Jason Gauger, eds. 2000. Art in Theory, 1648-1815. Oxford: Blackwell.
Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood e Jason Gauger, eds. 2003. Art in Theory, 1815-1900. Oxford: Blackwell.
Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood e Jason Gauger, eds. 1992. Art in Theory, 1900-1990. Oxford: Blackwell.
Holanda, Francisco. [1548] 2019. "Da Pintura Antiga". In: Primeiros Tratados de Pintura, ed. P. Monteiro e V. Serrão, 78-283. Lisboa: Círculo de Leitores.
Kant, Immanuel, trad. A. Marques. [1790] 2017. Crítica da Faculdade de Juízo. Lisboa: INCM.
Lessing, G.E., trad. José Miranda Justo. [1765] 2021. Laooconte ou sobre as fronteiras da pintura e da poesia. Lisboa: Antígona.
Preziosi, Donald, ed. 1998. The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology. Oxford & New York: Oxford University Press.
Teaching method
Topics will be taught on lecture format, combined with readings discussion in class.
Evaluation method
The final assessment should balance the following itens: a) oral readings discusson (20%); b) midterm test (40%), c) final test (40%). All assessment elements are mandatory.
Subject matter
1. Concepts: art history, aesthetics, art theory.
2. Theories of art in classical and medieval texts.
Plato and Aristotle. Vitruvius and Pliny the Elder.
Plotinus, the Stoics and Saint Augustine.
The art system and medieval thought.
3. Art theory and academies in the Early Modern Period.
Alberti and the theoretical foundations.
Marsilio Ficino and the neo-Platonic currents.
Francisco de Holanda and the theory of design.
Art theory in the academies. The dispute between Ancients and Moderns.
4. Aesthetics and Enlightenment. Concepts of Beautiful, Sublime and Genius. Kant and the theory of art.
5. Idealism and Romanticism: Hegel and Nietzsche.
6. Aesthetics, Politics and Modernity: from Marx to Walter Benjamin.
7. Structuralism and Post-Structuralism: impact on art theory.
8. Jacques Rancière’s aesthetic regime of the arts.
9. Postcolonial Theory: critique of Eurocentric thought.