This assignment is designed to give you a broad overview of some of the key developments that have taken place in art and design over the last 500 years. It will also provide a context for these developments, explaining the social, political and cultural conditions in which different art styles and movements were formed.
Throughout the assignment you will be expected to keep a contextual studies notebook, which will provide you with both a visual and written record of your studies. You will also make a powerpoint presentation to communicate your individual research into an area which is of personal interest to you to the rest of the group.
Later on the assignment will introduce you to three of the key art movements of the 20th Century: Cubism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. You will explore how each of these movements evolved through opposition to what preceded it and how each, through formal and conceptual developments, led to a redefinition of what art could be. This will be the focus of a 1500 word essay, which you will complete with the aid of one-to-one tutorials with a member of lecturing staff.
It is important that you also understand that art movements do not take place in a vacuum; but that they evolve in direct relation to the social, political and cultural landscape of the times, and that movements in art are constituted in direct relation to these contexts.
