OVERVIEW

The course aims to provide a comprehensive and detailed overview of the debates surrounding the world of art and artists in the modern era, with a particular focus on the 19th and 21st centuries. Alongside the establishment of art history as a discipline within the academic and university world, with a specific focus on the Italian context, the lectures during the coming academic year will examine the distinctive features of Aby Warburg’s school, concentrating on the figure of Ernst Gombrich, a keen scholar of the visual arts and visual perception.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The teaching aims to offer an overview of discussions related to the world of art and artists in the modern age, with particular attention to the period between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. The emergence of the teaching of art history as a discipline within the academic and university world will also be examined, with a particular regard for the Italian reality.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide students with a summary of discussions on the arts, with a focus on those of the modern period (18th-20th centuries), as well as to illustrate and discuss the sources used by scholars as material for their writings.
Particular attention will be paid to the ways in which the teaching of art criticism has gradually changed, especially during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Considerable focus will also be given to the work of Ernst Gombrich, who successfully combined research into the visual arts with the study of visual perception.

The ultimate and most ambitious aim of the course will be to provide students with a full mastery of the methodologies employed as well as the lexicon used by art criticism as it has evolved over time.

PREREQUISITES

As the course will cover the historical period from the 19th to the 21st century, it is highly recommended to have taken and passed the Art Literature course.

TEACHING METHODS

Classes are held in presence. Attendance, although not compulsory, is recommended. Only students who attend lessons in person are considered to be attending.
The teacher, at the specific request of each student received by e-mail, allows the lectures and related recordings to be used remotely via the Teams platform (but students who have not attended the lectures in person cannot be considered as attending).
Please remember to subscribe to the course's Aulaweb, an indispensable tool for communication and access to materials useful for study and for the final exam.
The teacher will in fact make supplementary materials useful for exam preparation available on AulaWeb.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course programme includes the presentation and discussion of the following topics:
- The tools of art-historical research: sources, archival documentation, figurative documentation and related historiography.
- The history of art historiography from Luigi Lanzi to the 20th century.
- The school of Aby Warburg and especially the figure of Ernst Gombrich.
- Paths of art-historical research with special focus on questions of periodisation, definition of styles, examination of production processes, circulation of artefacts and collecting.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography (the programme is intended for attending students):

L. Venturi, Storia della critica d'arte, Turin, Einaudi, 2000;
La storia delle storie dell'arte, edited by O. Rossi Pinelli, Turin, Piccola Biblioteca Einaudi, 2014;
G.C. Sciolla, La critica d'arte del Novecento, Turin, Utet, 1995.  
The following volume is highly recommended reading:

E.H. Gombrich, The Uses of Images, London, Phaidon, 2002 (or other edition).

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Lessons will begin in the second half of September 2026.

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The examinations will be conducted orally.

Details on how to prepare for the examination and the degree of depth required for each topic will be provided in the course of the lessons.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The assessment will take the form of an oral examination that will test: knowledge and understanding of the bibliography; the ability to make connections between the topics covered; critical and personal reflection skills.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The examinations will take place in the teacher's office.
An intermediate written exam is foreseen, which will focus on the topics dealt with in the first part of the Course and will allow - if passed with a mark equal to or higher than 24/30 - to reduce the number of texts to be brought to the exam, since the following essay will be removed: La storia delle storie dell'arte, edited by O. Rossi Pinelli, Turin, Piccola Biblioteca Einaudi, 2014.

Erasmus students not proficient in Italian may request a substitutive bibliography, and take the examination in English (or French).

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Students with disabilities or learning disorders.

Students with disabilities or learning disorders are entitled specific adjustments, provided they upload the relevant certifications and documents on the University's dedicated webpage. See http://servizionline.unige.it under rubric 'Students'. The documents will be validated by the relevant office within the University (Settore servizi per l’inclusione degli studenti con disabilità e con DSA dell’Ateneo) (https://rubrica.unige.it/strutture/struttura/100111).

At least 10 days before the exam, students will have to email the Professor, Cc'ing the aforementioned office, as well as the School's deputy for matters concerning students with disabilities and learning disorders (elisabetta.colagrossi@unige.it). Please specify the following in your email:

- name, surname, student number
- course name and number
- date of your exam
- adjustments required

Once the School's representative confirms your eligibility, you will liaise with your Professor to finalize the details. The final decision on what adjustments are acceptable rests with your instructor.

Please note that any request must be sent at least 10 days before your exam, to successfully complete the process in time. Please also note that the mind maps to be used on the day of your exam have to be significantly more concise than those you use when you study.

For further information, please see:
https://unige.it/sites/unige.it/files/2024-05/Linee%20guida%20per%20la%20richiesta%20di%20servizi%2C%20di%20strumenti%20compensativi%20e_o%20di%20misure%20dispensative%20e%20di%20ausili%20specifici%20Maggio%202024.pdf