I've Finished My First Year Studying Art History!

This is just a quick post to update on how my second term studying History of Art has gone. Incidentally, the end of second term means the end of my first year of university! It's been a bit of a weird time - especially given the whole global pandemic thing - but a time that I have learnt a lot from and will probably weirdly cherish in hindsight. 

My last post details the less-than-dreamlike experience I had studying in first term, as I struggled to pick up History of Art as an entirely new subject during a pandemic. This term, although not quite plain-sailing, was certainly more academically enjoyable than its predecessor. A degree of that was probably sheer familiarity. However, the content - taking on a more modern focus - was at times more exciting, interesting and accessible. Equally, I think I've started to develop my areas of interest within the discipline a bit more which makes it easier to figure out what I want to tackle in exams and, eventually, modules. 

One of these areas of interest that I have found came along, happily, in week one. This ended up being my favourite week of the entire second term and provided the topic that I eventually wrote my final essay about. The lectures and reading focused on the museum as an inherently ideological institution. Rather than simply being a facilitator for art-viewing, the museum is instead a structured experience designed to convey the social and political aim of its curatorial and founding institutions. In the case of the public survey museum (filled by the state, designed to give a "comprehensive" sense of art history - such as the Louvre), it is often the state's nationalistic agendas that inform exhibitions and the gallery experience. I ended up applying these critical approaches to the National Portrait Gallery, in which the visitor experience is shaped by a pervasive, unaddressed monarchical influence that hints at the subliminal values of different artworks and even visitors. 

As I've mentioned, this term picked up a much more contemporary lens. This was exciting because, as well as focusing on modern objects and art artefacts, the teaching this term also encouraged us to examine objects of the past from a critical modern standpoint. One week that particularly developed this was dedicated towards interventions in heritage sites. We explored how contemporary artists can respond to institutions that typify aspects of colonialism or sexism. For instance, we learnt about Yinka Shonibare's take on Colonel Tartleton in the National Gallery. We also learnt about a National Trust property in Scotland in which an artist covered all the artwork featuring, or done by a man so that the visitor could witness first-hand the scarcity of women artists. Interestingly, this exhibition drew a lot of criticism from visitors who felt they had been short-changed. There's definitely a debate to consider here; on the one hand, there is the importance of interventions in the historical institutions of power represented in heritage venues; on the other, there is the average visitor -  expecting the comfortable, family-fun day out that they have probably paid extortionate amounts of money for. It's difficult to gage how well an intervention at a National Trust property might land if all someone wants to do is sit there with their M&S scotch eggs on their day off. 

Other topics we looked at included the history of photography, suprematism and constructivism, Jackson Pollock, French abstract-expressionism, relational aesthetics, definitions of primitivism and more. I definitely learnt a lot -and it was exciting and refreshing to pick up on some entirely new art movements. I'd never really known much about suprematism, for instance, or the French counterparts to Pollock - and it was surprisingly fun to learn about these new things rather than stay in the comforting jaws of the Renaissance and Baroque (as I had in first term). One thing I slightly lamented is that there was not more about architecture. I had loved learning about architectural history in first term and was keen to pick up more. Sadder still, I've just found out that that the architectural history module I want to pick up next year isn't running either! 

Overall, this term has been somewhat redemptive - especially for someone once considering dropping History of Art altogether. I'm looking forward to next year when I have much more free-rein over what I want to study. Now that I've picked up on some things that really excite me, I'm looking to study modules to do with the museum and the relationship between power and portraiture. Fingers crossed that first term of second year continues my upward trend of enjoyment! 

Thanks for reading! Now I'm on my summer holidays for a while, I hope to write a "Books That Make You Think About Art" Part II. I've been reading some great books lately and love combining lit and art history (especially as a degree topic, lol!).