The course aims at acquiring autonomous historical analysis and critical interpretation of the artistic phenomena of the contemporary age, with particular regard to the interactions between artistic production and theoretical and aesthetic reflection.
teacher profile teaching materials
The course investigates the genesis and metamorphosis of the concept of modernity in European art from the mid‑nineteenth to the early twentieth century.
Part I – Paris as Laboratory: we examine the rupture introduced by Édouard Manet (Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe, Olympia) and the poetics of the city articulated by Charles Baudelaire in Le Peintre de la vie moderne. Topics include the birth of the urban spectator, the aesthetics of the fragment, the impact of new media (illustrated press, photography) and the turn toward pictorial autonomy.
Part II – Avant‑garde Modernism: focus shifts to the fracture inaugurated by Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) and Marcel Duchamp’s ready‑mades (1913‑17). We analyse the dismemberment of pictorial space, the crisis of the art object, and the redefinition of the artist’s role between conceptual gesture and institutional critique.
Through close reading of artworks, manifestos, theoretical texts and socio‑economic contexts, the course highlights subterranean continuities and radical breaks, inviting students to rethink the artistic revolution that unfolded between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
• Bradley Bailey, Dada Meets Dixieland: Marcel Duchamp Explains Fountain, “October” 182, Fall 2022, pp. 61–96 (PDF)
• Charles Baudelaire, Il pittore della vita moderna (PDF)
• Walter Benjamin, Parigi capitale del XIX secolo (passi scelti, PDF)
• William Camfield, Marcel Duchamp's Fountain: Its History and Aesthetics in the Context of 1917
• T. J. Clark, The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers (PDF)
• T.J. Clark, Picasso and Truth, Princeton University Press, 2013 (saggi scelti, PDF)
• Marcel Duchamp. Critica, biografia, mito, a cura di Stefano Chiodi, Electa, Milano 2009 (parti scelte, PDF)
• Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (cataloghi MoMA 1939; 1988)
• John Richardson, A life of Picasso, 1907-1917 (PDF)
• Leo Steinberg, The Philosophical Brothel; In the Algerian Room, in Id. Picasso, Chicago University Press 2022 (PDF)
Additional readings will be announced during the course and recommended to individual students for their research projects.
Programme
Two Faces of Modernity: Paris–New York 1850‑1917The course investigates the genesis and metamorphosis of the concept of modernity in European art from the mid‑nineteenth to the early twentieth century.
Part I – Paris as Laboratory: we examine the rupture introduced by Édouard Manet (Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe, Olympia) and the poetics of the city articulated by Charles Baudelaire in Le Peintre de la vie moderne. Topics include the birth of the urban spectator, the aesthetics of the fragment, the impact of new media (illustrated press, photography) and the turn toward pictorial autonomy.
Part II – Avant‑garde Modernism: focus shifts to the fracture inaugurated by Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) and Marcel Duchamp’s ready‑mades (1913‑17). We analyse the dismemberment of pictorial space, the crisis of the art object, and the redefinition of the artist’s role between conceptual gesture and institutional critique.
Through close reading of artworks, manifestos, theoretical texts and socio‑economic contexts, the course highlights subterranean continuities and radical breaks, inviting students to rethink the artistic revolution that unfolded between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Core Documentation
Essays and books• Bradley Bailey, Dada Meets Dixieland: Marcel Duchamp Explains Fountain, “October” 182, Fall 2022, pp. 61–96 (PDF)
• Charles Baudelaire, Il pittore della vita moderna (PDF)
• Walter Benjamin, Parigi capitale del XIX secolo (passi scelti, PDF)
• William Camfield, Marcel Duchamp's Fountain: Its History and Aesthetics in the Context of 1917
• T. J. Clark, The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and His Followers (PDF)
• T.J. Clark, Picasso and Truth, Princeton University Press, 2013 (saggi scelti, PDF)
• Marcel Duchamp. Critica, biografia, mito, a cura di Stefano Chiodi, Electa, Milano 2009 (parti scelte, PDF)
• Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (cataloghi MoMA 1939; 1988)
• John Richardson, A life of Picasso, 1907-1917 (PDF)
• Leo Steinberg, The Philosophical Brothel; In the Algerian Room, in Id. Picasso, Chicago University Press 2022 (PDF)
Additional readings will be announced during the course and recommended to individual students for their research projects.
Reference Bibliography
Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss, Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin Buchloh, Art since 1900, Thames & Hudson, years 1900-1940. The Cambridge History of Modernism, Cambridge University Press 2016Attendance
Free choice for students. Attendance is compulsory for anyone who wishes to sit the exam under the “attending-student” option.Type of evaluation
12-credit course – attending students The exam consists of a written paper (minimum length: 24,000 characters, spaces included; bibliography excluded) on a topic agreed with the lecturer at least three months before the exam date. The paper must be submitted by e-mail no later than ten days before the scheduled sitting. During the oral session, discussion will focus on the essay and its bibliography. Access to this format presupposes regular attendance at lectures, collective discussions, off-site visits, and thorough knowledge of course materials (readings, images, films, exhibitions, etc.). 12-credit course – non-attending students The examination likewise requires a written paper (minimum length: 24,000 characters, spaces included; bibliography excluded) on a topic and bibliography agreed with the lecturer at least three months in advance. The paper must be e-mailed to the lecturer at least ten days before the exam. The oral discussion will assess the essay, the set bibliography and the candidate’s ability to present and comment on the historical issues, ideas and artworks covered by the course. A reduced bibliography, corresponding to the 6-credit exam format (40 hours of coursework), must be agreed upon in advance with the instructor.