Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE ART3029

 
TITLE History of Mediterranean Modern Art

 
UM LEVEL 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 6

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Art and Art History

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit examines the development of Modern art in the Mediterranean region, with particular attention given to the Maltese context, and analyses the artistic and social factors that conditioned the birth and consolidation of the international modern movement.

European, South European, and North African examples and their relationship will be considered within the Mediterranean artistic context.

Study-Unit Aims:

The aim of this study-unit is to bring students in contact with the history of Mediterranean Modern art, and to situate Malta within this wider regional context. The unit is designed to provide a broad overview of the art movements and artists who, besides being active on the international scene, determined and defined the evolution of Modernism in the Mediterranean. Critical analysis, research oriented discussion and debate is expected.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- discuss the recognised international context;
- systematically understand and describe the evolution and interaction between the various artists, schools of artistic thought and art movements in the Mediterranean;
- critically analyse the art historical, philosophical and theoretical categories discussed.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- appreciate, evaluate and contextualise the artistic relationships of the Mediterranean region and the international debate revolving around the history of twentieth-century Modernism;
- appreciate better and to deal deeper into Modern art works and concepts that evolved within this region.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main Texts:

- Shabout, Nada M. 2015. Modern Arab Art: Formation of Arab Aesthetics. Gainesville: University Press Of Florida.
- Kholeif, Omar, Candy Stobbs, Bārğīl Muʼassasa Al-Funūn, and Whitechapel Art Gallery. 2015. Imperfect Chronology: Arab Art from the Modern to the Contemporary: Works from the Barjeel Art Foundation. Munich: Prestel.
- Bardaouil, Sam, Till Fellrath, Tate Gallery Liverpool, Centre Georges Pompidou, SofíaReina, and Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen. 2016. Art et Liberté : Rupture, War and Surrealism in Egypt (1938-1948). Paris: Éditions Skira Paris.
- Cassar, Joseph Paul (ed.). 2011. Pioneers of Modern Art In Malta. Malta: PIN.
- Fenech, Victor (ed.). Malta: Six Modern Artists. Malta: Malta University Services.
- Schembri Bonaci, Giuseppe. 2021. Scratches and God, and Some Lines. Malta: Horizons.
- Schembri Bonaci, Giuseppe. 2020. The Beheading of Ignez: Katabasis, Ezra Pound and Three Maltese Artists. Malta: Horizons.
- Schembri Bonaci, Giuseppe. 2019. Metal and Silence: The quest for daringness and authenticity in the arts. Malta: Horizons.
- Schembri Bonaci, Giuseppe. 2019. The Unreality of Realism: An insular perspective on the development of modern art. Malta: Horizons.
- Schembri Bonaci, Giuseppe. 2019. "An Essay on Maltese Modern and Contemporary Art." In Keith Sciberras and Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci (eds.), The BOV Modern and Contemporary Art Collection. Valletta: Midsea Books; Department of Art and Art History, University of Malta, pp. 13-68.
- Schembri Bonaci, Giuseppe and Petroni, Nikki (eds). 2017. The APS Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale 2017: The Mediterranean: A sea of conflicting spiritualities. Malta: Horizons.
- Schembri Bonaci, Giuseppe. 2010. Apap, Cremona, St. Paul. Malta: Horizons.

Supplementary Readings:

- Alex Dika Seggerman. 2019. Modernism on the Nile: Art in Egypt between the Islamic and the Contemporary. Chapel Hill: University Of North Carolina Press.
- Pouillon, François. 2002. “150 Years of Algerian Painting: Relevance for Understanding the Postcolonial Situation.” French Politics, Culture & Society 20 (2). https://doi.org/10.3167/153763702782369731.
- Kamal Boullata, and John Berger. 2009. Palestinian Art 1850-2005. London; Berkeley, California: Saqi.
- Mokhtari, Sophie. 2020. “Farid Belkahia et l’École Des Beaux-Arts de Casablanca, 1962-1974.” Critique D’art, June. https://doi.org/10.4000/critiquedart.61807.
- Gauthier, Michel, Moḥamed Melehi. 2019. Paris: Skira.
- Hopkins, Claudia. 2017. “The Politics of Spanish Orientalism: Distance and Proximity in Tapiró and Bertuchi.” Art in Translation 9 (1): 134–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/17561310.2017.1309927.
- Said, Edward W. 1978. Orientalism. London: Penguin.
- Smith, Andrea L. 2006. Colonial Memory and Postcolonial Europe: Maltese Settlers in Algeria and France. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
- Kitroeff, Alexander. 2019. The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt.
- Cairo and New York: The American University In Cairo Press.
- Chrysanthos Chrēstou. 1994. Modern Greek Engraving. Athens: Ekdot. Athenon.
- Spiteris, Tony. 1972. Arte Dopo il 1945. Grecia: Cappelli Editore. tr.Francesco Golisano.
- Danos, Antonis. 2014. “Twentieth-Century Greek Cypriot Art: An ‘Other’ Modernism on the Periphery.” Journal of Modern Greek Studies 32 (2): 217–52. https://doi.org/10.1353/mgs.2014.0050.s, 32.
- Accascina, Maria. 1982. Ottocento Siciliano. Pittura. Palermo: Edizioni della Fondazione Whitaker.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Examination (2 Hours) SEM1 Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S

 

 
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The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

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