Learning objectives
The course aims to provide students, according to the Dublin Descriptors for the Bachelor's degree (First cycle - European Qualification Framework Level 6), with adequate knowledge and understanding of Museum as an institution (i.e. its meaning, its social role, its essential functions: conservative, scientific, didactic) through the history of collecting (1° Descriptor - Knowledge and understanding).
At the end of the course, the student must be able to:
• demonstrate, by applying knowledge and understanding, to be professionally able to solve through the creation of arguments, different kinds of issues relating to the museology practice (2° Descriptor - Applying knowledge and understanding);
• have the ability to independently collect and understand the sources for history of collecting and history of museums, in Italy and abroad, including the consideration on connected social, scientific or ethic issues (3° Descriptor - Making judgements);
• communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions in the field of museology and on cultural and artistic heritage valorization and conservation strategies to both specialist and non-specialist audiences (4° Descriptor - Communication skills);
• improve the learning skills that are necessary to continue undertaking further study with a high degree of autonomy in the field of cultural and, more specific, artistic heritage (5° Descriptor - Learning skills).
The threshold learning minimum outcomes are the student's ability to recognize different kinds of collections and museums, in Italy and abroad, by applying the knowledge of their origins and characters with attention to different historical and cultural contexts.
Prerequisites
None.
Course unit content
The course aims to provide students with the basic knowledge by applying an historical approach to the Museum, from its origins to its more contemporary forms, through the history of collecting.
The Introduction - Part One will introduce to the some key moments of this history: from the first forms of museum (as studioli, Wunderkammer, galleries) through the great princely collections and Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century quadrerie, to the Enlightenment museums, to attain at the museographic solutions of the Twentieth Century, the museum as landmark and the challenges of the Twenty-First Century. Some space will devoted to the history of provenance, and to the unusual or new museums (house museums, etnographic museums, ecomuseums, corporate museums), and to the functions of museum (purchase, conservation, research, communication and display), after a brief introduction on the history of the protection of cultural and artistic heritage in Italy.
The Single Subject course - Part Two is devoted to this history through the case of the superintendent Armando Ottaviano Quintavalle and the saving of the Regia Galleria di Parma during the Second World War (1943-1945).
Full programme
Introduction - Part One
A little stroll through the history of museum
• From studiolo to the princely collections;
• The Enlightenment museums;
• Napoleon looted art and the birth of Louvre Museum;
• From Nineteenth Century to the present;
• Unusual Museums: some case studies;
• Museums today and their functions.
Single Subject course - Part Two
Armando Ottaviano Quintavalle and the saving of the Regia Galleria in Parma (1943-1945)
• The history of provenance;
• Stolen and saved works of art. A moving history of art
• The rescue of the Regia Galleria in Parma as a model of protection in wartime.
Bibliography
Attending students
Subject matter:
• A DIGITAL DOSSIER: Powerpoint slideshows containing images and sources shown during frontal lessons (available at the end of the course on the platform for blended learning Elly DUSIC);
• THE MUSEOLOGY TEXTBOOK: M.T. Fiorio, Il museo nella storia. Dallo "studiolo" alla raccolta pubblica, Milano, Mondadori, 2011 o 2017;
• THE HISTORY OF COLLECTING TEXTBOOK: C. De Benedictis, Per la storia del collezionismo italiano. Fonti e documenti, Firenze, Ponte alle Grazie, 1991 [or other editions];
• THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER (Single Subject course): G.C. Spattini, F. Veratelli, Armando Ottaviano Quintavalle e il salvataggio della Regia Galleria di Parma (1943-1945), in Storia di Parma, vol. IX, La storia dell’arte: secoli XVI-XX, a cura di A.C. Quintavalle, Parma, MUP Editore, 2020, pp. 7-39.
Non-attending students
The list of recommended readings above, plus a chosen book, discussed in Part Two) among:
1. F. Bottari, Rodolfo Siviero: avventure e recuperi del più grande agente segreto dell’arte, Roma, Castelvecchi, 2013;
2. R. Fontanarossa, La capostipite di sé. Una donna alla guida dei musei. Caterina Marcenaro a Genova 1948 -’71, Roma, Etgraphiae, 2015.
3. E. Franchi, I viaggi dell'Assunta: la protezione del patrimonio artistico veneziano durante i conflitti mondiali, Pisa Univ. Press, 2010;
4. F. Haskell, The King's pictures. The formation and dispersal of the collections of Charles I and his courtiers, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2013;
5. E. Modigliani, Memorie. La vita movimentata di un grande soprintendente di Brera, a cura di M. Carminati, J.M. Bradburne, Milano, Skira, 2019;
6. P. Wescher, I furti d'arte. Napoleone e la nascita del Louvre [1976], Torino, Einaudi, 1988.
Teaching methods
Classroom lectures, with powerpoint projections (sources, works of art, video, documentaries). Powerpoint slideshows containing images and sources shown during frontal lessons are available at the end of the course on the platform for blended learning Elly DUSIC).
Assessment methods and criteria
Oral exam.
The exam (20 minutes max) concerns the entire course and aims to test the student knowledge on the first part and on the second part of the course.
Students who don't attend the classes on regular basis must refer to the list of recommended reading.
In Italian Universities grades are given on the basis of 30 points (30/30). When the student's performance is considered outstanding, a laude can be added. The minimum passing grade is 18/30. Grades below 18 are a fail and are not registered.
A fail is determined by: 1. a lack of understanding of the basic content of the course; 2. the inability to express oneself adequately; 3. by a lack of autonomous preparation; 4. the inability to solve problems related to information retrieval and its decoding; 5. the inability in making judgements independently.
The minimum passing grade (18-23/30) is ascribed when the student's performance is acceptable, according to the 5 evaluation indicators expressed above. Middle-range scores (24-27/30) are assigned to students who show more than a sufficient level (24-25/30) or a good level (26-27/30) according to the 5 evaluation indicators expressed above. High scores (from 28/30 to 30/30 cum laude) are assigned to students who show a very good or an excellent level according to the 5 evaluation indicators expressed above.
Other information
The course "Museology and History of Collecting" replaced the ancient course "History of Art Criticism". From autumn 2018 students enrolled in past academic years are requested to prepare this program for the exam.
For any further information please contact the teacher during the Office hour (https://personale.unipr.it/it/ugovdocenti/person/186653).
