Modernity
Modernity refers to social and cultural conditions that occurred during an historical period. Modernity began in Europe in the sixteenth century and lead into the nineteenth century. Considered a contrast to "antiquity", through social and cultural change, the present is separated from the past. Beginning with the European Enlightenment in the eighteenth century, people increasingly began to move into urban centers. With modernity came the creation of the nation-state, colonialism, imperialism, and scientific advancements. Among the technical advancements was photography, which was developed in France in the 1830's. These developments are reflected in the work of artists such as Pablo Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Edvard Munch during the modernist movement.
Sources:
Buchloh, Benjamin H.D., Serg Guilbaut, and David Solkin, eds. Modernism and Modernity. Halifax: N.S.: Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 2004. UNT Library: N6465.M63V36.1981
Giddens, Anthony. The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford, Calf.: Stanford University Press, 1990. UNT Library: HM131.G397. 1990
Punter, David. "Introduction," and "Modernity and Enlightement." In Modernity by David Punter, 1-23. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillam, 2007. UNT Library: PR478.M6P86 2007
"Modernity." Grove Art Online
Please note Grove Art Online can be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
Oxford Reference Online
Please note Oxford Reference Online can also be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources.
Industrialization
Industrialization was a response to and influenced by the Industrial Revolution, which occured during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century in England. The main features of the Industrial Revolution were technological, agricultural, socioeconomic and cultural advancements. There was a large shift from a rural agrarian society to an urban industrialized lifestyle. Industrialization brought about the rise of modernity and modernism. Industrialization also created an urban middle class who became a new audiance for art that was previously the domain of the aristrocracy and upper class.
Sources:
Benjamin, Walter. Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter Seiner Technischen Reproduzierbarkeit: Drei Studien zur Kunstsoziologie (The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction). Bellknep Press, 2008. UNT Library: N72.S6 B4 1968
Blanning, T.C.W., ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. UNT Library: D299. O84 1996
Blumer, Herbert. Industrialization as an Agent of Social Change: A Critical Analysis. New York: A.de Gruyter, 1990. UNT Library: HD2329 B58 1990
Rubin, James Henry. Impressionism and the Modern Landscape: Productivity, Technology, and Urbanization from Manet to Van Gogh. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. UNT Library: N6465. I4 R83 2008
Modernism
Modernism in European art began during the second half of the nineteenth century and lasted into the middle of the twentieth century. Modern art was introduced to America in the Armory Show in 1913 and by European artists that came to America during the first decade of the twentieth century. In art, modernism began as a rejection of the traditions of art and academic training in favor of experimentation such as materials and the functions of art. Modern art is generally symobolized by abstraction and non-objectivity. Modernism was not a cohesive movement; rather it was characterized by a multiplicity of styles, most notably in painting, design, and architecture. Examples of modernist styles include Fauvism, Cubism, Dadaism, and Futurism.
Sources:
Arnason, H.H. A History of Modern Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1969. UNT Library: N6490 .A713
Britt, David, ed. Modern Art: Impressionism to Post-Modernism. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1999. UNT Library: N6447.5.M63 1999
Buchloh, Benjamin H.D., Serge Guilbaut, and David Solkin, eds. Modernism and Modernity. Halifax: N.S.: Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 2004. UNT Library: N6465.M63. V36 1981
Drucker, Johanna. Theorizing Modernism: Visual Art and the Critical Tradition. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. UNT Library: N6465.M63 D78 1994
Oxford Reference Online
Please note that the Oxford Reference Online can also be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources.
Postmodernism
Donald Preziosi (1941- ) defines postmodernism in The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology as beginning roughly around the 1960’s as a response to modernity; it is antithetical to modernism, yet also coexists with modernism. Grove Art Online defines postmodernism as “relating to, or being any of various movements in reaction to modernism that are typically characterized by a return to traditional materials and forms (as in architecture) or by ironic self-reference and absurdity (as in literature) of, relating to, or being a theory that involves a radical reappraisal of modern assumptions about culture, identity, history, or language."
Further Reading:
“Post-Modernism." Grove Art Online
Please note that Grove Art Online can be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
Oxford Reference Online
Please note that Oxford Reference Online can also be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources.
Nelson, Robert S. & Shiff, Richard. Critical Terms for Art History, University of Chicago Press, 2003. UNT Library: N34. C75 1996
Preziosi, Donald. Art History: A Critical Anthology, Oxford University Press, 1998. UNT Library: N7480 .A79 1998
Rose, Margaret A., The Post-Modern and the Post-Industrial: A Critical Analysis, Cambridge University Press, 1991. UNT Library: B831.2 .R67 1991
Post-industrialization
Post-industrialization is characterized by the effects of modernism and industrialization in urban developments and public spaces, and its influence on society and the economy. Post-Industrialization as it relates to society is marked by the shift of manufacturing based to economy to one that is more service based. Culturally, post-industrialization is characterized by an emergence of self sufficiency and an individual break from society. Post-industrial art is characterized by its reclamation of dilapidated or abandoned buildings, or pieces of machinery, and various other detritus left over from modern society in an attempt to redefine it as art.
Further Reading:
Lloyd, Richard. Neo-bohemia: art and commerce in the postindustrial city, New York: Routledge, 2006. UNT Library: HQ2044.U6 L56 2006
Rose, Margaret A., The Post-Modern and the Post-Industrial: A CriticalAnalysis, Cambridge University Press, June 28, 1991. UNT Library: B831.2 .R67 1991
Bell, Daniel, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting, Basic Books, May 1, 1999. UNT Library: HN17.5 .B38 1999
Kumar, Krishan, From Post-Industrial to Post-Modern Society: New Theories of the Contemporary World, Blackwell Publishers, December 1995. UNT Library: HM449 .K85 2005
Time
A series of events, or occurances of no particular magnitude that occur in an unchangeable order, starting with the past and moving towards the future.
"Time," c.v. www.thefreedictionary.com.
History
A chronological record of significant events (as affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes. An established record. A branch of knowledge that records and explains past events. Events of the past.
Sources:
Miriam-Webster.com, s.v. "History," http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/history.
Additional Resources:
See Oxford Reference Online, Historicism in art history and "Social History of Art," Grove Art Online.
Please note that Grove Art Online can be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
Please note the Oxford Reference Online can also be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources.
Archive
Archive refers to a valuable historical document selected for long-term preservation. Archives are usually unpublished and can only be accessed through the facility that stores them. In art historical research, archives function as primary sources and therefore, the discipline as whole heavily depends on their existence and preservation. Archive can also refer to a specific place where the documents are stored. Archives are usually housed in libraries or museums, but individual art historians and artists have also made a significant contribution in creation of archives. Grove Art Online outlines six main types of archives:
First type of archives contain original records of artists, collectors, dealers, art critics, authors and publishers, museums, societies and any agency related to the arts; they may include correspondence, diaries, financial papers, reviews and exhibition records.
Second type of archives contain collections of original works of art, mostly graphic art (drawings, etchings, lithographs and photographs), which may include sketches for paintings, sculptures, architecture and industrial design, as well as original book illustrations.
Third type of archives, public and frequently commercial, includes collections of photographs, prints and microforms of works of art gathered primarily for reference and teaching purposes; when commercial, such collections may be devoted to the distribution of reproductions.
Fourth type of archives are commercial collections of all kinds of visual images including some in the arts,
Fifth type of archives includes published collections of original papers and drawings of artists and architects and out-of-print illustrations.
Sixth type of archives include journals with ‘Archives’ or ‘Archive’ in their title (e.g. the Archives of Contemporary Art); most of these are published by a repository or an organization interested in original art documents, and they report on recent acquisitions and projects.
Further Reading:
Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the United States. Washington, DC: Oryx Press, 1988.
"Archive," Grove Art Online
Please note Grove Art Online can be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching "Grove Art Online" under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
Oxford Reference Online
Please note Oxford Reference Online can also be accessed through the University of North Texas LIbrary home page by searching under electronic resources.
Berner, R. Archival Theory and Practice in the United States: A Historical Analysis. Seattle; London: University of Washington Press, 1983.
W. Deiss: Museum Archives: An Introduction. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1984.
Temporal
An adjective that describes people, places or things as they are limited within their relation to time. Also relates to the order in which things occur.
Source:
Mirriam-Webster.com, s.v. "Temporal," http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/temporal.
Context
The parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning. The interrelated conditions in which something exists or occurs.
Sources:
Meriam-Webster.com, s.v. "Context," http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/context.
Historical Context
The way in which something is interpreted and reflects the time and place in which the event took place. Additionally, the way in which they impact the events that follow them.
Sources:
"Glossary." Stanford University. http://www.stanford.edu/group/arts/nicaragua/student/mural/glossary.html.
Additional Resources:
Harshe, Robert B. A Reader's Guide to Modern Art. 1915.
Baur, John I.H. Revolution and Tradition in Modern American Art. 1951.
Hunter, Sam. Modern Art From Post-Impressionism to the Present: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. 1977.
Cayton, Mary Kupiec and Peter W. Williams, eds. Encyclopedia of American Cultural & Intellectual History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001.
Waller, Philip, ed. Chronology of the 20th Century. Oxford: Helicon, 1995.
Cayton, Mary Kupiec, Elliot J. GOrn and Peter W. Williams, eds. Encyclopedia of American Social History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1993.
Cultural History
Cultural history is the study of cultural traditions that utilizes methods from anthropology and history fields. Jacob Burkhardt (1818-1897) is credited with helping to establish cultural history as a discipline. The objects of study in cultural history include various forms of cultural productions such as specific traditions, ceremonies, performance, literary, and visual arts, political ideas, economic conditions, social beliefs, and others. Cultural history can provide better understanding of the work of art and the artist, as its subject matter features a variety of cultural interpretations.
Further Reading:
Burkhardt, Peter. What is Cultural History? Cambridge: Polity Press, 2004.
"Cultural History," Grove Art Online
Please note Grove Art Online can be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching "Grove Art Online" under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
Oxford Reference Online
Please note Oxford Reference Online can also be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources.
Melching, W., and W. Velema. Main Trends in Cultural History: Ten Essays. Amstredam: Rodopi, 1994.
Poster, M. Cultural History and Postmodernity: Disciplinary Readings and Challenges. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
Methodology
Methodology refers to the process of analyzing specific ways of study in a particular discipline. Within art historical writing methodology refers to the research and use of a specific method or approach to examine a work of art, and anexplanation of why the method is appropriate. Specific methods include: biography, iconography, psychoanalysis, and semiotics.
Further reading:
Adams, Laurie. The Methodologies of Art: an Introduction. New York:IconEditions, c. 1996.
"Art History and its Methods" Grove Art Online
Please note Grove Art Online can be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
Oxford Reference Online
Please note Oxford Reference Online can also be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources.
Hatt, Michael and Charlotte Klonk. Art History: A Critical Introduction to its Methods. Manchester; New York: Manchester University Press, 2006. UNT Library: N748. H38 2006
Preziosi, Donald. The Art of Art History: A Critical Anthology. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. UNT Library: N7480 .A79 1998
Historiography
Historiography is the study and writing of history. A historiographical account outlines the historical development of an institution or discipline. It is the recording of past events. A historiography of art history reveals the history of writing about art history. This gives the multiple views on history, art, and the relationships between them. Historiography aids research through an understanding of provenance so as to have a clear understanding of the life of the object, as well as having a basic knowledge of what has been discussed concerning a specific area of research.
Sources:
Hatt, Michael and Charlotte Klonk. "Hegal and the Birth of Art History". In Art History: A Critical Introduction to its Methods,Michael Hatt and Charlotte Klonk, 11-39. New York: Manchester University Press, 2006. UNT Library: N748. H38 2006
"Historiography." Oxford Reference Online
Please note that Oxford Reference Online can be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
"Historiography of Photography." Oxford Reference Online
Please note that Oxford Reference Online can also be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
"Origins of the Art History Survey Text." Art Journal 54, no. 3 (1995): 24-29. JSTOR
Please note that JSTOR can be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
Provenance
Provenance is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as a place of origin, or derivation. In art history a study of provenance refers to the history of ownership of a valued object or work of art or literature. Provenance is the formal practice of studying the physical history of an object or work of art, also concerned with its physical location, as well as listing ownership overtime. This is a difficult process that can be hampered by false information or claims, thus making it a meticulous practice, with veracity of claims often being contested. Provenance not only aids with providing knowledge of ownership, but also in maintaining that the object is in fact the original and not an act of forgery.
Select “Art Auction Records” to view a long list of “Sales, Prices, and Provenance”, as well as call numbers and the libraries in which they can be located that may be found useful.
Further Reading:
Adams F.B. The Uses of Provenance, University of California Press, 1969.
Graves, Algernon. Art sales from early in the eighteenth century to early in the twentieth century (mostly old master and early English pictures), Burt Franklin & Co., Inc. 1970. UNT Library: N8675 .G72
"Provenance." Grove Art Online
Please note that Grove Art Online can be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
Oxford Reference Online
Please note that Oxford Reference Online can also be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources.
Michael, Clark. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, Oxford University Press, 2001. UNT Library: N33 .C575 2001eb
Further Notes:
The National Gallery of Art provides a list of its collections provenance, and may be a helpful resource in learning how to list information properly.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s website also offers a database on the provenance of its collection.
Provenance Research Database Collection at the Getty Museum.
Iconography
Is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, as 1: pictorial material relating to or illustrating a subject 2: the traditional or conventional images or symbols associated with a subject and especially a religious or legendary subject 3: the imagery or symbolism of a work of art, an artist, or a body of art. Iconography is the practice of seeing the inner meaning of an object or image. For example, in religious iconography a cross symbolizes Christianity; a Star of David is iconographic of Judaism. Art Historian Erwin Panofsky (1892-1968) is credited with defining the three strata of subject matter as a way of discerning the meaning of an icon. The primary level concerns the pure form of the icon; for example when one sees a hexagonal red sign with white lettering. The secondary level involves the viewer’s knowledge of what they see; for example if the viewer was aware that it was a sign and said “stop”. The tertiary level engages with personal history of the viewer; i.e. a red hexagonal sign that reads “stop” means to stop the car.
Select "Art Iconography and Symbolism” for a condensed list of books on the subject of iconography, as well as their call numbers.
Further Reading:
Hall, James A. Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, Westview Press; 2 edition, 2007. UNT Library: N7560 .H34 2007
Hatt, Michael & Klonk, Charlotte. Art History: A Critical Introduction to its Method, Manchester University Press, 2006. UNT Library: N7480 .H38 2006
Nelson, Robert S. & Shiff, Richard. Critical Terms for Art History, University of Chicago Press, 2003. UNT Library: N34 .C75 1996
Roberts, Helen. Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Theme Depicted in Works of Art, Routledge Press, 1 edition, April 1, 1998. UNT Library: N7560 .E53 1998
Oxford Reference Online
PLease note that Oxford Reference Online can also be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources.
Narration
The act of describing art’s growth, maturity or decline. The way in which an artwork conveys a story or concept.
See Oxford Reference Online and “Narrative and the Visual and Literary Arts." Grove Art Online.
Please note that Grove Art Online and Oxford Reference Online can be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
Critical Theory
Critical theory is defined as a theoretical approach developed by the Frankfort school, a group that consisted of member from the Institute of Social Research in the 1930's. Critical theory stresses that "of social thinkers, which stresses that all knowledge is historical and biased and thus claims to "objective" knowledge are illusory". One of the many aims is to reveal connections between social movements, and to show various dimensions of society.
Sources:
Critical Theory- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Cultural Studies and Critical Theory
University of Iowa Rhetorical and Cultural Studies
Contemporary Philosophy, Critical Theory and Post Modern Thought
Postcolonial Studies Resources- Emory University
Eddie Yeghiayan's Critical Theory and Philosophy Bibliographies
University of California, Irvine Theory Archive
Critical Thinking
Critical theory is defined as a theoretical approach developed by the Frankfort school, a group that consisted of member from the Institute of Social Research in the 1930's. Critical theory stresses that "of social thinkers, which stresses that all knowledge is historical and biased and thus claims to "objective" knowledge are illusory." One of the many aims is to reveal connections between social movements, and to show various dimensions of society.
Further Reading:
Click here to explore the Center for Critical Thinking. This center disseminates advanced research and information on critical thinking.
"Critical Thinking," Grove Art Online
Please note Grove Art Online can be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching "Grove Art Online" under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
Oxford Reference Online
Please not Oxford Reference Online can also be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources.
Hughes, William. Critical Thinking: an Introduction to the Basic Skills. Peterborough: Broadview Press, c2000.
Organ, Troy Wilson. The Art of Critical Thinking. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965.
Personal Response
Personal response is closely linked to reception theory that focuses on the viewer’s or reader’s reception of a text or a work of art. Personal response within the context of art history suggests that an art object does not inherently carry meaning. Rather, the viewer is an active participant in creating meaning for the object. The viewer develops meaning to an object in relation to his or her cultural background and belief system.
Further Reading:
"Personal Response," Grove Art Online
Please note Grove Art Online can be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching "Grove Art Online" under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
Oxford Reference Online
Please note Oxford Reference Online can also be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources.
Holub, Robert C. Crossing Borders: Reception Theory, Poststructuralism, Deconstruction. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992.
Holub, Robert C. Reception Theory: A Critical Introduction. London: Methuen, 1984.
Jauss, Hans Robert. Toward an Aesthetic of Reception. Trans. Timothy Bahti. Minneapolis: Univerity of Minnesota Press, 1982.
Subjectivity
The ensemble of the modes of perception, affect, thought, desire, and fear that animate acting subjects... the cultural and social formations that shape, organize and provoke those modes of affect, thought and so on. One could look at the unfolding of social and cultural theory over the whole 20th century and beyond as a struggle over the role of the social being -- the person, subject, actor, or agent -- in society and history. During the 20th century this appears as a debate between the newly evolving social sciences on one hand and certain lines of philosophic thinking on the other.
Source
Ortner, Sherry B. Anthropology and Social Theory: Culture, Power, and the Acting Subject. Durham: Duke University Press (2006), pp. 107-108.
See Oxford Reference Online and “Narrative and the Visual and Literary Arts." Grove Art Online.
Please note that Oxford Reference Online and Grove Art Online can be accessed through the University of North Texas Library home page by searching under electronic resources. Click here to view the electronic reserve database.
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.