Courses in Art History

Looking at British Landscape: Space, Place and Time
Kitty Hauser

This course will examine ways of seeing and representing landscape through art historical traditions and contemporary art as well as archaeology. Practical workshops involving drawing and photography will be augmented by regular visits to the nearby Ashmolean Museum as well as selected London venues. Related sessions on the aerial view and map-making, the idea of the “genius loci,” spatial theory, landscape and memory, and the making of the British landscape will be scheduled. Lectures on individual artists such as Stanley Spencer and groups such as the Brotherhood of Ruralists will be enhanced by visits to Spencer’s village in Cookham and other sites in the Oxfordshire, Somersetshire, and Wiltshire countryside.

Art forms examined will include site-specific installations to further consider how the idea of place has been explored in various media by artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Richard Long. There will be a particular emphasis on photographic images, and how contemporary artists have engaged with the post-industrial landscape.

Making full use of the landscape around Oxford, which is rich in ancient and prehistoric sites such as the White Horse of Uffington and Stonehenge, this course will encourage students to pursue their own relationship to space and place through a personal project in text and image.

Dr. Kitty Hauser graduated from Oxford with a first class degree in history and English. After completing an M.A. in art history at the Courtauld Institute in London, where she specialized in nineteenth and twentieth century art and gained a distinction for her work on Neo-Romantic painting, she returned to Oxford to undertake a D.Phil. on photography and the representation of the English landscape. Before coming to Oxford she trained as a fine artist and worked with stained glass at the City Literary Institute in London. Her research interests focus on the theory and material practices of visual representation in specific historical contexts, and she has taught historiography and critical theory at Oxford University. Her book on Stanley Spencer was recently published by the Tate Gallery.

Stained Glass: Materials and Meaning
Kitty Hauser

Oxford has been described as having ‘one of the finest collections of stained glass anywhere in the world.’ Making full use of this resource, this course aims to be an introduction to the history of stained glass. We will be paying particular attention to ‘ways of seeing’, considering perception, light and colour, material and subject matter in their historical and architectural contexts.

The course will be divided into three main parts — medieval, Victorian and modern glass — and will have an emphasis on the study of materials and meanings. In the first week we will examine some medieval techniques alongside a consideration of the metaphysical implications of light in the Middle Ages in the context of Gothic architecture. The nineteenth century saw a revival of the medieval principles of stained glass, and in the second week we will be looking at both mass-produced windows and also at the work of the Pre-Raphaelite artists whose work in glass is included in Christ Church College Cathedral. As part of our study of modern glass in the third week, we will be taking a trip to Coventry Cathedral to see the windows designed by artists such as John Piper. There will also be informal talks given by practicing stained glass artists.

The course will include a drawing element as a way of both documenting and helping to understand some of the images we will be looking at.

 

Last Modified: November 9, 2004