Surrealism, Gender, Sexuality

HART23711 Surrealism, Gender, Sexuality 20 Semester 1 Undergraduate Level 2 Charles Miller Unit coordinator Art History and Cultural Practices 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Middle part of Bachelors ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 10.0 This course addresses issues of gender and sexuality in surrealism and its legacies. Surrealism put sexual desire at the centre of its revolutionary practice. It can legitimately claim to have been the very avant-garde of the modern discourse of sexuality in France, pioneering the reception of psychoanalysis, while valorising sexual perversion and pathology. The heterosexist structure of orthodox surrealism is evident in its cult of ‘woman’, and its leader’s (selective) repudiation of male homosexuality. We will interrogate and critique that structure, considering its (and our own) historicity, while examining how surrealist visual and textual production put at risk or ‘queered’ normative masculinity. We will see how women artists and writers appropriated and critically redeployed surrealist tactics. In order to pursue these topics we will acquaint  ourselves more generally with the history and theory of gender and sexuality in modern Europe, making use of psychoanalytic, feminist, and queer-theoretical perspectives.  This course addresses issues of gender and sexuality in surrealism and its legacies. Surrealism put sexual desire at the centre of its revolutionary practice. It can legitimately claim to have been the very avant-garde of the modern discourse of sexuality in France, pioneering the reception of psychoanalysis, while valorising sexual perversion and pathology. The heterosexist structure of orthodox surrealism is evident in its cult of ‘woman’, and its leader’s (selective) repudiation of male homosexuality. We will interrogate and critique that structure, considering its (and our own) historicity, while examining how surrealist visual and textual production put at risk or ‘queered’ normative masculinity. We will see how women artists and writers appropriated and critically redeployed surrealist tactics. In order to pursue these topics we will acquaint  ourselves more generally with the history and theory of gender and sexuality in modern Europe, making use of psychoanalytic, feminist, and queer-theoretical perspectives. <ul> <li> Analyse the history and theory of surrealism and its legacies</li> <li> Introduce students to the history and theory of sexuality</li> <li> Introduce students to the history and theory of gender</li></ul> By the end of this module, students will be able:<ul> <li> to account for key texts and artworks by artists, filmmakers, photographers and writers such as Eileen Agar, Georges Bataille, Louise Bourgeois, André Breton, Claude Cahun, Maya Deren, Max Ernst, Lee Miller, Dorothea Tanning</li> <li> to discuss theories of gender and sexuality as they have been set out by such figures as Judith Butler, Michel Foucault and Sigmund Freud</li> <li> to describe historical and cultural contexts for the emergence of surrealism and the discourse of sexuality</li> <li> to analyse artworks and texts in relation to historical and theoretical discourses about sexuality and gender</li> <li> to recount debates within art history about the function of sexuality and gender in the historical avant-garde</li></ul>  <ul> <li> Analyse primary images and texts in the history and theory of surrealism and its legacies</li> <li> Analyse scholarly texts about the history and theory of surrealism, gender, and sexuality</li> <li> Articulate critical positions in relation to the history and theory of surrealism, gender and sexuality</li></ul> <ul> <li> Articulate ideas in group discussion</li> <li> Construct arguments in essay form</li> <li> Comprehend challenging texts</li> <li> Render images into discourse </li></ul> <ul> <li> High-level text and image analysis</li> <li> Interpersonal and organisational skills</li> <li> Planning and executing discursive argumentation</li> <li> Participate constructively in seminar discussions</li> <li> Specialised expertise in art, literature and theory </li></ul> 1. Situating Surrealism in Histories of Gender and Sexuality2. Surrealism and the Historical Discourse of Sexuality3. The Gender Politics of Surrealism4. Psychoanalysis and Surrealism5. André Breton, Nadja and the Recherches sur la sexualité6. Dissident Surrealism: ‘Perversion’ and Transgression7. Gender and Sexuality in Surrealist Painting8. Gender and Sexuality in Surrealist Photography9. Gender and Sexuality in Surrealist Film10. Gender and Sexuality in the Surrealist Object  11. Afterlives of Surrealism   Classes will take the form of seminars (2hrs per week) and lectures (one hour per week). The course unit text, images and PowerPoint will be deposited on Blackboard. 0 Other 100% <figure class="table"> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> Assessment task </td> <td> Formative or Summative </td> <td> Length </td> <td> Weighting within unit (if relevant) </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Essay Plan </td> <td> Formative </td> <td> 500 words </td> <td> 0% </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Essay </td> <td> Summative </td> <td> 1500 words </td> <td> 40% </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Essay </td> <td> Summative </td> <td> 2500 words </td> <td> 60% </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </figure> <table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:662px;" width="662"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width:321px;"> Feedback method </td> <td style="width:340px;"> Formative or Summative</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width:321px;"> Written</td> <td style="width:340px;"> formative</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width:321px;"> Written</td> <td style="width:340px;"> summative</td> </tr> </tbody></table>  Y Patricia Allmer and Mary Ann Caws, Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and SurrealismGeorges Bataille, Story of the EyeKatharine Conley, Automatic Woman: The Representation of Women in Surrealism Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality Volume I: The Will to KnowledgeAmy Lyford, Surrealist MasculinitiesJennifer Mundy, ed., Surrealism: Desire Unbound Jose Pierre, ed., Investigating Sex: Surrealist Research 1928-32Susan Rubin Suleiman, Subversive Intent Lectures 11 Seminars 22 0 167