This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
After decades of neglect, beauty has made a controversial ‘return’ both in contemporary art and as a concept in contemporary aesthetics, art theory and criticism. In very different ways, beauty can be seen in the work of artists as diverse as Vanessa Beecroft, Chris Ofili, Robert Mapplethorpe, Gary Hume and Jenny Saville, and it has been rehabilitated as a critical term in the writings of critics such as Dave Hickey and Arthur Danto.
The module examines the issues raised by this recent resurgence of beauty. Looking at the concept of beauty, the roles of beauty in culture and society, and its presence in contemporary art and theory, the module explores the issues that make the return of beauty such a controversial topic.
The module will draw on a variety of sources and disciplines to examine the place of beauty: classic philosophical texts (Plato, Kant, Lessing), contemporary philosophy (Levinson, Gaut, Nehamas, Walton, Zangwill, Hepburn), cognitive and evolutionary science (McMahon, Etcoff), art criticism (Danto, Hickey, Beckley), art history (Gombrich, Clark), sociology and cultural theory (Wolff). In addition, a range of traditional, modern and contemporary artists will be discussed, including Goya, Warhol, Orlan, Duchamp, Picasso, Goldsworthy, Rubens, Ofili, Poussin, Serrano, Metsys, Velazquez, Motherwell, Rembrandt, Mangold.
4 hours per week: a 2 hour lecture and a 2 hour seminar
100% Coursework: An essay (50%) and a Seminar diary and critical portfolio (50%).
Plato, Phaedo, Symposium.
Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Judgement, tr. J. C. Meredith, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1952 (1790).
Arthur C. Danto, The Abuse of Beauty: Aesthetics and the Concept of Art, Chicago: Open Court, 2003.
Alexander Nehamas, Only a Promise of Happiness: The Place of Beauty in a World of Art, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2007.
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
As a consequence of taking this module, students will:
1. have gained an introduction to classical and contemporary theories of beauty;
2. understand some models for the informed critical analysis of the manifestations and uses of beauty in art and society;
3. be able to demonstrate an understanding of the interdisciplinary scope of art history and the philosophy of art, and of the wide range of concepts and methods that are pursued by art historians and philosophers of art;
4. have developed their abilities to apply these concepts and methods, so broadening their ability to investigate and understand artworks
5. have gained a detailed and in-depth understanding of the philosophical, theoretical and critical issues around beauty;
6. have actively and critically engaged with questions concerning beauty in philosophy and society.
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