Art and America

Module code: HA2026 

This module will afford an opportunity for students to explore ways in which artworks have been affected by being produced in and about America. The aim is to replace stereotypes and preconceptions which we receive from various sources in our everyday lives concerning American art and identity, including those manufactured by the mass media, with more problematic and sophisticated understandings.

The aim of the module will be to combine an awareness of different artists, art movements, geographical locations and perspectives that have been generated over the past five centuries in relation to America.

Particular attention will be paid to the strategies by which artists construct or create the places and/or people they depict; appreciating that America can be as much a fictional concept as a factual subject. It will also foster a sense in which despite the ‘isolationism’ and cultural dominance of America at times (especially post-1900) this nation’s artistic identity has also been influenced by external perspectives.