Learning objectives
The course has the goal to train the students in the interpretation of artistic literature’s references, in a strict relationship with the thesis research: it will put under the spotlight critical statements and their relationship with a precise artistic, historical and cultural context. A general knowledge around the essential guidelines inside the debate over the artistic debate from Renaissance till nineteenth century, a knowledge around the manuals of modern and contemporary art.
Prerequisites
A general knowledge around the essential guidelines inside the debate over the artistic debate from Renaissance till nineteenth century, a knowledge around the manuals of modern and contemporary art.
Course unit content
“So those letters are written by artists and they delight you for their simplicity and naturalness, and none of these qualities are present in the ones written by men of letters, otherwise they are the work of scholars or amateurs that state the results from their researches and their thoughts about artistic disciplines, and the usefulness that derives from them for the history of art makes their diffusion desired and accepted”. Giuseppe Campori wrote these words in the forewords of his collection of unpublished artistic Letters, printed in Modena in 1866 after the works by Bottai and Gaye. The course will take on the different problems posed by the interpretation of the artists’ letters, fundamental tools for the art historian. A bibliography will be provided for the students, alongside with many texts which will be analysed during the lessons. Towards many models, from Pietro Aretino’s letters to the ones written by Paolo Toschi inside Parma Academy: a particular attention will be reserved to Dante Gabriel Rossetti letters, alongside many others written by British and French artists during the nineteenth century ( Manet, Degas, Moreau, Regnault, Fromentin). The last part of the course will shift its attention over the Italian context, in particular over some post-unity documents.
Full programme
D.G.Rossetti, Lettere scelte, acura di G.Silvani e V.Strukelj, Parma, MUP, 2010
V.Strukelj, Il pittore, la lettera, il viaggio. La correspondance di Eugène Fromentin e il progetto de Les Maîtres d'autrefois, in "La Torre di babele", 2, 2004, pp.47-69
E.Degas, lettere e testimonianze, a cura di L.Giudici, Milano, Abscondita, 2002
Lettere dei macchiaioli, a cura di L.Giudici, Milano, Abscondita, 2008
Bibliography
D.G.Rossetti, Lettere scelte, a cura di G.Silvani e V.Strukelj, Parma, MUP, 2010
V.Strukelj, Il pittore, la lettera, il viaggio. La correspondance di Eugène Fromentin e il progetto de Les Maîtres d’autrefois, in “La Torre di babele”, 2, 2004, pp.47-69
E.Degas, Lettere e testimonianze, a cura di L.Giudici, Milano, Abscondita, 2002
Lettere dei macchiaioli, a cura di L.Giudici, Milano, Abscondita, 2008
Teaching methods
Frontal lessons and seminars
Assessment methods and criteria
Written tests are fixed while the lessons are in progress, and the final exam will be oral
Other information
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