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TWENTIETH CENTURY ART - ART270 Spring 2025
Course
Alice Nemcova
About
ART270-Selected Topics in Twentieth Century Art
Course Title
Course code: ART270-Selected Topics in Twentieth Century Art
Term and year: Spring 2025
Day and time: Wednesday 9:45-12:30Instructor: PhDr. Alice Němcová, Ph.D.
Instructor contact: alicenemcova@aauni.edu
Consultation hours: After class
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Credits US/ECTS |
3/6 |
Level |
Introductory |
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Length |
15 weeks |
Pre-requisite |
None |
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Contact hours |
42 hours |
Grading |
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1. Course Description
The course will focus on various aspects of European art in the 20th century, including its key movements, figures, and historical context. Lectures will be supplemented with thematic excursions to galleries and museums in Prague, providing opportunities to view selected works in their authentic setting. Students will gain both theoretical and practical insights into art and its development over the past century.
2. Student Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
· It is important for students to have the ability to independently navigate a basic overview of 20th century art history. This includes being able to differentiate between various artistic trends, such as modern art, pre-war avant-garde, and inter-war art. Additionally, gaining insight into the possibilities of artistic development after the Second World War is crucial. By understanding these concepts, students can develop a deeper appreciation for the evolution of art throughout the 20th century.
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3. Reading Material
· Lahoda Vojtěch - Uhrová Olga,Vincenc Kramář : from the old masters to Picasso : National Gallery in Prague, Collection of Modern and Contemporary art - Veletržní palác 13.10.2000-28.1.2001, Prague : National Gallery in Prague 2000
· Dolanská Karolína et al., Modern and Contemporary Czech Art 1890-2010, Prague: National Gallery 2010.
· Morganová Pavlína, Czech action art : happenings, actions, events, land art, body art and performance art behind the iron curtain, Prague : Karolinum 2014.
· Morganová Pavlína (ed.), Začátek století = The beginning of the century, Plzeň: Západočeská galerie 2012.
· Malinowski Jerzy (Hrsg.), History of Art History in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, 2 Bde., Toruń 2012
· Bydžovská Lenka - Lahoda Vojtěch - Srp Karel, Czech modern art : 1900-1960 : [catalogue of the modern art collection at the National Gallery in Prague, Prague : National Galery 1995.
· Musilová Helena (ed.) František Kupka : the road to Amorpha : Kupka’s salons 1899-1913 : [The National Gallery in Prague - The Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art, Salm Palace, November 30, 2012 - March 3, 2013], Prague : National Gallery 2012.
· Krauss,R. E., The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths. Cambridge 1985
· Krauss, R. E., Passages in modern sculpture. Cambridge 1981
· Ingo F. Walther, Art of the 20th Century, Taschen, 2017
Required Materials
- Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss, et al., Art Since 1900
- Sylvan Barnet, Writing a Review of an Exhibition, in: A Short Guide to Writing about Art, 2005
- Jessica Sjöholm Skrubbe (ed.), Curating differently: feminism, exhibition and curatorial spaces, Newcastle upon Tyne 2016
Recommended Materials
- H.H. Arnason, History of Modern Art
- E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Art
- Whitney Chadwick, Women, Art, and Society
4. Teaching methodology
Each session will consist of slide-based lectures, discussions of images and texts, class presentations, as well as excursions to museums, art galleries, and historical sites.
5. Course Schedule
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Date |
Class Agenda |
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Session 1 February 5 |
Topic: Introduction to the course; Syllabus review Excursion – National Gallery, 1796–1918: Art of the Long Century - Part I Men of 19th century / Trade Fair PalaceDescription: The exhibition 1796–1918: Art of the Long Century purposefully and naturally connects Czech and international art. The exhibition shows what the National Gallery Prague has amassed in the course of its more than 220-year-long history in the broad context. Reading: Lahoda Vojtěch - Uhrová Olga,Vincenc Kramář : from the old masters to Picasso : National Gallery in Prague, Collection of Modern and Contemporary art - Veletržní palác 13.10.2000-28.1.2001, Prague : National Gallery in Prague 2000 Assignments/deadlines: |
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Session 2 February 12 |
Topic: Lecture – Fauvism and Expressionism / Excursion – National Gallery, 1796–1918: Art of the Long Century – World of 19th century; Part II / Trade Fair Palace Description: The exhibition shows more than 450 artworks by 150 artists in three major chapters: Man, The World and Ideas. The exhibition presents painting as well as sculpture. Free sculpture is accompanied by paintings. Public sculpture forms a separate section paraphrasing three basic themes in the sections of Architecture, Monument and Tombstone with respect to a selected approach and availability of the exhibits. Reading: Veronika Hulíková, Otto M. Urban, Filip Wittlich: Art of the long Century, Národní galerie Praha, 1796–1918, 978-80-7035-729-3 Assignments/deadlines: |
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Session 3 February 19 |
Topic: Lecture - French and Czech Cubism / Excursion – National Gallery, 1918–1938: First Czechoslovak Republic – Part I Description: The permanent exhibition on the third floor of the Trade Fair Palace was created on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia. Based on the collections of the National Gallery Prague, complemented with loans from institutions and private collections, the exhibition introduces the rich and cosmopolitan art scene in the young independent Czechoslovakia between 1918 and 1938. Reading: Dolanská Karolína et al., Modern and Contemporary Czech Art 1890-2010 Assignments/deadlines: |
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Session 4 February 26 |
Topic: Lecture - Futurism, Rayonism, Lucism / Excursion – National Gallery, Excursion – National Gallery, 1918–1938: First Czechoslovak Republic – Part II/ Trade Fair Palace Description: The exhibition presents the art of the first republic through the eyes of a 1920s and 1930s art goer and introduces prominent galleries, art clubs and institutions, as well as the important cultural centres of the young state. It primarily concentrates on Prague as an art centre with lively exhibition activity that focused not only on local artists but also on the most progressive names from all around Europe. However, the exhibition also addresses other centres such as Brno, Zlín, Bratislava, Košice and Uzhgorod. The curators partly reconstruct important exhibitions that were held in these centres during the first republic period (the exhibition of the Tvrdošíjní group, the Exhibition of Contemporary Culture in Brno, Poesie 32, the First Exhibition of Surrealists in Czechoslovakia).Reading: Alena Pomajzlová: Růžena – Story of the painter Růžena Zátková, Arbor vitae, 2011 Assignments/deadlines: |
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Session 5 March 5 |
Topic: Lecture – Dadaism and Surrealism / Excursion - VILLA BÍLEK František Bílek built his studio villa in the Prague Hradčany Disctrict 1910 and 1911 according to his own plans and design. Description: Bílek was mainly a sculptor and graphic artist, but his religious approach to art gradually steered him towards the need to create complex environments in which his works would find multi-layered function and roles, thus fulfilling Bílekʼs vision of spiritualizing human life. Reading: André Breton, Manifesto of Surrealism, 1924; Lucie Vlčková: Czech Cubism: A Guide to the Permanent Exhibition of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague, 2015 Assignments/deadlines: |
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Session 6 March 12 |
Topic: František Kupka and the birth of abstraction / Excursion - The House at the Black Madonna Description: The Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague’s permanent Czech Cubism exhibition presents it as a style that extends across fine art, applied art and architecture. Reading: Musilová Helena (ed.): František Kupka : the road to Amorpha : Kupka’s salons 1899-1913 : [The National Gallery in Prague - The Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art, Salm Palace, November 30, 2012 - March 3, 2013], Prague : National Gallery 2012 Assignments/deadlines: |
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Session 7 March 19 |
Topic: Devětsil and the interwar avant-garde / Excursion - The Museum of Decorative Arts – ART, LIFE Description: ART, LIFE - The permanent exhibition of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague aims to present a vibrant, multi-dimensional image of European applied arts from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Reading: Meghan Forbes: Devětsil and Dada: A Poetics of Play in the Interwar Czech Avant-Garde, ARTMargins (2020) 9 (3): p. 7–28. Assignments/deadlines: Submission of the topic in the form of a title and a short annotation for the final paper, which must be approved to earn credit. If the topic is not approved, it must be revised without delay. |
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Mid-term break |
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Session 8 April 2 |
Topic: Jindřich Štyrský and Toyen / Excursion – National Gallery, 1956–1989: Architecture for All / Trade Fair Palace Description: The exhibition focuses on architecture and lifestyle between 1956 and 1989. Lifestyle is a phenomenon in which everyday experiences and experiences intersect with architecture and design as creative disciplines. Against the backdrop of modernity, characterized by the transition to a post-industrial society, the growth of the tertiary sector, services, and significant advances in (tele)communication and audiovisual media, the specific Czech situation appears as a special case study with different aspects of political developments during the Cold War. The aim of the exhibition is to overcome the binary view of East vs. West, artificially maintained ever since the fall of the Iron Curtain thirty years ago, and to make it comprehensible in a European context. Reading: Anna Pravdová, Annie Le Brun, Annabelle Görgen-Lammers (eds.) The Dreaming Rebel: TOYEN (1902–1980), Národní galerie Praha 2022 Assignments/deadlines: |
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Session 9 April 9 |
Topic: Fine art in the Prague metro - a lecture followed by a guided tour Description: During the construction of the first sections of the Prague Metro, between 1966 and 1985, more than a hundred works of art and architectural design found their home on and around its stations. The Metro thus became, in its own way, an exhibition of the art of its time. Prominently featured were artists working with glass and ceramics, although you will also find sculptural works in some of the stations. Reading: Marianne Strom: Metro Art in the Metropolis, Art Creation Realisation 1994 Assignments/deadlines: |
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Session 10 April 16 |
Topic: Informel, Abstract expressionism, Pop art, Minimalism / Excursion – National Gallery, 1939–2021: The End of the Black-and-White Era Description: The End of the Black-and-White Era is not a comprehensive title for the years 1939–2021 but rather a slogan summarizing an approach that seeks to avoid premature ideological appraisal of the surveyed material from this often-painful time. The aim is to show that art has always included multiple and parallel conceptions of artistic quality. Reading: Ingo F. Walther, Art of the 20th Century, Taschen, 2017 Assignments/deadlines: |
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Session 11 April 23 |
Topic: Viennese Actionism, Body art, Land art / The Bell ’25, Dům U Kamenného zvonu, Galerie hlavního města Prahy Description: The exhibition aims to present the influence of gaming environments on the visuality of the emerging generation of artists and the imagination of future forms of human civilization, including possible alternatives for its end. The curators have chosen the impact of game storytelling and design on the imagination of the future as the framework for the exhibition. Reading: Pavlína Morganová, Czech Action Art, Karolinum, 2015 Assignments/deadlines: |
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Session 12 April 30 |
Topic: Final presentations Description: Reading: Assignments/deadlines: |
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Session 13 May 7 |
Topic: Final presentations Description: Reading: Assignments/deadlines: The final deadline for submitting the final paper. |
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Session 14 May 14 |
Topic: Final test Description: Reading: Assignments/deadlines: |
6. Course Requirements and Assessment (with estimated workloads)
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Assignment |
Workload (hours) |
Weight in Final Grade |
Evaluated Course Specific Learning Outcomes |
Evaluated Institutional Learning Outcomes* |
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Class Participation |
42 |
20% |
Active participation in class discussions showing knowledge of the topics relevant to the class. |
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Class Presentation |
30 |
20% |
Presentation skills, ability to explain the studied topic to peers, identify key issues, subject knowledge. |
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Mid-term |
25 |
15% |
Submission of the topic in the form of a title and a short annotation for the final paper, which must be approved to earn credit. If the topic is not approved, it must be revised without delay. |
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Final paper |
50 |
25% |
Prepare and present research on a chosen topic. Show knowledge of the given subject, an ability to express thoughts in a clear prose, as well as an imagination to accompany the written text with illustrative photographs and pictures. |
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Final exam |
53 |
20% |
Test will be based on information based on discussed topics and excursions. |
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TOTAL |
150 |
100% |
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*1 = Critical Thinking; 2 = Effective Communication; 3 = Effective and Responsible Action
7. Detailed description of the assignments
Assignment :
Assessment breakdown
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Assessed area |
Percentage |
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Knowledge and understanding of the topic |
40% |
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Ability to think independently and afresh in regard to a topic at hand |
20% |
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Structure and organization of presentation |
20% |
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Delivery of presentation (visual effectiveness, clarity, impact, etc.) |
20% |
8. General Requirements and School Policies
General requirements
All coursework is governed by AAU’s academic rules. Students are expected to be familiar with the academic rules in the Academic Codex and Student Handbook and to maintain the highest standards of honesty and academic integrity in their work. Please see the AAU intranet for a summary of key policies regarding coursework.
Course specific requirements
There are no special requirements or deviations from AAU policies for this course.