ATS3650 - Ways of looking: Women, art and archetypes

Overview

A sensuous goddess, a damsel in distress, a femme fatale, a terrifying witch – this limited set of archetypes, found everywhere in cultural images from European art history to contemporary advertising and Instagram posts, has long suppressed women’s identities, influencing ideas of how women should appear and how they should behave. At the same time, women artists have historically been overlooked and hampered from creating more empowering identities. This unit asks you to evaluate what some of the most iconic images in art history and contemporary online images tell us to value, and investigate how women artists have offered us new ways of thinking about women’s identities across differences (gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality) and power. You will look at how archetypal constructions of womanhood have been used to contain and limit women, and how these archetypes endure in our contemporary culture, shaping our ideas of not only beauty and taste, but also national identity, political authority, and gender/sex/sexuality.

Offerings

T2-58-PRATO-ON-BLK

Rules

Enrolment Rule

Contacts

Chief Examiner(s)

Dr Samuele Grassi

Unit Coordinator(s)

Associate Professor Axel Fliethmann

Dr Felicity Chaplin

Dr Samuele Grassi

Dr Barbara Pezzotti

Notes

This unit is taught either in intensive mode or across standard teaching periods. For intensive mode teaching dates, please refer to the non-standard dates website for the census date and information regarding financial penalties.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you should be able to:

reflect how the history of European art, from past to contemporary images, both shapes and confines expressions of gender identities;

critically analyse and interpret a variety of European cultural texts and their relevance to challenging gender stereotypes and biases across social categories;

communicate effectively in written and oral academic formats through individual and group work;

research a specific visual/cultural/literary archetype using different theoretical positions or arguments relevant to gender studies and visual arts.

Teaching approach

Active learning

Research activities

Field trips

Enquiry-based learning

Assessment summary

Within semester assessment: 100%

Assessment

1 - Analytical exercise

2 - Journal

3 - Poster

4 - Artefact

Scheduled and non-scheduled teaching activities

Workshops

Workload requirements

Workload

Availability in areas of study

European languages