Modernism and the Motion Picture: Critical Topics at the Intersection of Film and 20C Art

AHCP33011 Modernism and the Motion Picture: Critical Topics at the Intersection of Film and 20C Art 20 Semester 1 Undergraduate Level 3 Kevin Parker Unit coordinator Art History and Cultural Practices 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Last part of a Bachelors ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 10.0 While the invention of the motion picture represents perhaps the greatest technological advance in visual representation since the development of artificial perspective in the fifteenth century, its relationship to the other modernist arts was complicated by its popular appeal and the naturalism of its imagery. From a general historical perspective everything about film is ‘modern’ (its automatized mechanicity, its reproducibility, the way it lends itself to industrial production scaling, its roots in a distinctly modern scientific understanding of perceptual experience) yet it would appear that by its very nature film was unable to play a significant role in the twentieth-century adventure of ‘modern art’. Early in medium's career, before the advent of synchronized sound, artists, film makers and theorists attempted to bring film into line with the formalizing, anti-narrative, anti-representational tendencies of modern painting with mixed success. Movements in modern art more open to the possibilities of representation in art, namely German expressionism and Surrealism, proved more congenial for film makers eager to participate in the experiments of avant-garde art.  Film also played a significant role in the unravelling of modernist formalism in the 1960s, most especially by its use in Pop art. This seminar organizes the history of the sometimes uneasy and complex relationship of film to modernism in the visual arts around five critical themes each focussing on a different period in the history of film from the 1860s to the 1960s. While the invention of the motion picture represents perhaps the greatest technological advance in visual representation since the development of artificial perspective in the fifteenth century, its relationship to the other modernist arts was complicated by its popular appeal and the naturalism of its imagery. From a general historical perspective everything about film is ‘modern’ (its automatized mechanicity, its reproducibility, the way it lends itself to industrial production scaling, its roots in a distinctly modern scientific understanding of perceptual experience) yet it would appear that by its very nature film was unable to play a significant role in the twentieth-century adventure of ‘modern art’. Early in medium's career, before the advent of synchronized sound, artists, film makers and theorists attempted to bring film into line with the formalizing, anti-narrative, anti-representational tendencies of modern painting with mixed success. Movements in modern art more open to the possibilities of representation in art, namely German expressionism and Surrealism, proved more congenial for film makers eager to participate in the experiments of avant-garde art.  Film also played a significant role in the unravelling of modernist formalism in the 1960s, most especially by its use in Pop art. This seminar organizes the history of the sometimes uneasy and complex relationship of film to modernism in the visual arts around five critical themes each focussing on a different period in the history of film from the 1860s to the 1960s. This course unit aims to provide an historical and theoretical framework for understanding the relationship between film and modern art. By the end of this course students will be able to• Think critically about the “modern” as an historical period.• Think critically about theories of representation.• Think critically about the role of formalism in the visual arts.• Develop a vocabulary for analysing a film sequence formally .a. Management of space (depth of field, composition, angle, focal length, mise en scène).                                                                                                                                                                                                          b. Montage (parallel, by attraction, accelerated).c. Camera movement.d. Sound. By the end of the course students will be able to:• Discuss the relationship of film form to other kinds of pictorial form. • Comment on the relationship of both popular and avant-garde film to other kinds of modern art.  • Comment on the various ways in which the “modern” as an historical concept has been defined. • Understand the advantages and disadvantages of aesthetic arguments based on formal essence claims. • Understand and present material on specific images or writings in the class. By the end of the course students will be able to: • Dissect and analyse a film sequence. • Dissect and analyse an abstract painting. • Read and critically analyse written sources related to modern art and film. • Produce a well-reasoned argument on specific issues or debates surrounding the relationship of film to modern art. By the end of this course students will be able to: • Produce a detailed visual analysis of a film sequence. • Carry out supervised research. • Produce a professionally presented and coherently argued essay. • Give a presentation using Powerpoint and a concise handout with a bibliography.   By the end of this course students will be able to:•  Critically evaluate written and visual sources. •  Present coherent arguments in written work. •  Manage time effectively in order to complete assignments. •  Present material in class using PowerPoint and respond to questions arising from the presentation. •  Use PowerPoint and Word in order to present work professionally. •  Respond to feedback in order to improve their study skills and understanding of material discussed in class. Group/team working Reflection on discussions and assignments enabling future improvement. Project management This course unit will enable students to gain and improve a number of skills including ¿ ¿ Time management and being able to work to deadlines Oral communication How to organize visual media, including film clips, for a successful presentation. Presenting an argument to an audience and being able to field questions. Research Working, with guidance, on research including finding suitable material for assessments and being able to assess this material. Written communication Presenting written material in a professional format. While the invention of the motion picture represents perhaps the greatest technological advance in visual representation since the development of artificial perspective in the fifteenth century, its relationship to the other modernist arts was complicated by its popular appeal and the naturalism of its imagery. This seminar investigates this complicated relationship at five thematic intersections in the history and theory of modernism in the visual arts, each comprising a two week block. These two week blocks are preceded by an introduction in the first week and a seminar devoted to summation and review in the eleventh week. One or two students each week will be responsible for a presentation relating to that seminar meeting's reading and imagery.Week One: IntroductionIntroduction to the problem of the historical and art historical definition of the ‘modern’, followed by coverage of some of the vocabulary and analytical tools specific to the analysis of film meant as a supplement to the more general image-analysis skill-set of an art history student.  Several film sequences are analysed and discussed.Weeks Two and Three: The Temporalization of the EyeThis block covers the prehistory of cinema leading up to the invention of the motion picture by Edison and the Lumiere brothers as a part and parcel of a broader interest in the temporal conditions of visual experience in art, popular visual culture, and the science of perception in the nineteenth century.Weeks Four and Five: Showing versus Telling: The Modernist Aversion to NarrationThis block draws on the avoidance of narration as a means to formal purity in both early film criticism (Jean Epstein) and in orthodox theorizations  of modern art (Clement Greenberg).Weeks Seven and Eight: Organism and MachineThis block uses Georges Canguilhem's 1947 essay ‘Organism and Machine’ to frame an analysis of the transformation of the human-machine relationship in the visual culture of the 1920s and in which film plays a crucial role.Weeks Nine and Ten: Surrealism's Cinematic UnconsciousThis block considers the role of cinema in surrealist art, literature and theory.Week Eleven: The Cinematic Face and Pop ArtThis block considers the ways in which Pop artists used film and film imagery to undermine the theoretical conceits of modernist formalism.  This course is seminar based. Student will participate in class discussion based on set reading. Readings will be available via BlackBoard. 1 Written exam 50% 2 Written assignment (inc essay) 40% 7 Oral assessment/presentation 10% • Oral feedback on individual presentation and handout • Written feedback on plan for essay 1 • Written feedback on essays 1 and 2 • Additional one-to-one feedback (during consultation hour or by making an appointment) Y Bazin, André,  What Is Cinema? 2004Breton, Andre The Manifestoes of Surrealism, 1969Canguilhem, Georges, “Machine and Organism,” 1947Crary, Jonathan, Techniques of the Observer, 1992Deleuze, Gilles, Cinemas I & II, 2013Greenberg, Clement, Art and Culture, 1971Perez, Gilberto, The Material Ghost, 2000Rancière, Jacques,  Film Fables, 2016 Assessment written exam 2 Seminars 33 0 165