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ART HISTORY

Major Combinations:
NQF level 5: ARH1501, ARH1502
NQF Level 6: ARH2601, ARH2602, ARH2603
NQF Level 7: ARH3701, ARH3702, ARH3703, ARH3704, ARH3705

Visual Literacy - ARH1501
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 5 Credits: 12
Module presented in English
Purpose: The purpose of this module is for students to equip students with the basic principles of academic writing and the main art historical methods and terminology, and to acquire sufficient analytical and theoretical skills relating to looking at images, art criticism and interpretation, which will allow students to engage meaningfully with historical and contemporary artworks.
Introduction to Art History - ARH1502
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 5 Credits: 12
Module presented in English
Purpose: The purpose of this module is to equip students with an overview of art history, its themes, styles, purposes, prospects and problems, as understood through a survey of the development of artistic styles and thinking from prehistoric to present time. Basic terms and perspectives of art history will be discussed by looking at an art historical timeline from a global perspective, specifically highlighting developments in the Global South.
The Arts and Ideology I - ARH2601
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 6 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: ARH1501
Recommendation: To have passed ONE first level in Art History - ARH1501 or ARH1502
Purpose: The purpose of this module is to equip students with the ability to solve well-defined but unfamiliar problems relating to the visual arts as an expression of socio-political ideologies. Students will be able to use correct procedures and provide appropriate evidence to demonstrate their understanding of classicism, humanism and feminism
Introduction to Art History in Africa - ARH2602
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 6 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: ARH1501
Recommendation: To have passed ONE first level in Art History - ARH1501 or ARH1502
Purpose: The purpose of this module is to equip students with the ability to engage in debates relating to the study of the history of art in Africa. Students will focus on the difficulties encountered when trying to interpret the meaning of artifacts produced by African cultures over many centuries. They will be able to adopt and apply appropriate methodologies for the study of African art in the absence of written sources
Visual Culture I - ARH2603
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 6 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: ARH1501
Recommendation: To have passed ONE first level in Art History - ARH1501 or ARH1502
Purpose: The purpose of this module is to equip students with knowledge and competence to analyse and evaluate the relationship between cultural practices and visual culture. Students will be required to understand the context and aims of visual culture, semiotics, and South African photography
Art and Ideology II - ARH3701
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 7 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: ARH1501
Recommendation: To have passed any two NQF level 6 modules in Art History - ARH2601and ARH2602 or ARH2603
Purpose: The purpose of this module is to equip students with the ability to analyse and critically debate the power structures at work in selected examples of historical and contemporary art. Students will be able to engage with the ways in which ideologies shape the production and reception of art.
The Arts in Africa - ARH3702
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 7 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: ARH1501
Recommendation: To have passed any two NQF level 6 modules in Art History - ARH2601and ARH2602 or ARH2603
Purpose: The purpose of this module is to equip students with the ability to analyse and critically debate artistic traditions, practices and discourses in Africa. The aim is to investigate African art from different contemporary theoretical perspectives. By exploring past and present social issues surrounding the arts, students will learn how socio-economic conditions impact on the production of art in Africa.
Visual Culture II - ARH3703
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 7 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: ARH1501
Recommendation: To have passed any two NQF level 6 modules in Art History - ARH2601and ARH2602 or ARH2603
Purpose: The purpose of this module is to critically engage with the relationship between cultural practices and visual culture such as space and place, the landscape and visual art, and myth-making in popular culture.
Modernism and Postmodernism - ARH3704
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 7 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: ARH1501
Purpose: The purpose of this module is to critically analyse and evaluate the impact of postmodernismﾒs deconstruction of modernism.
The Arts and the (Post)Colonial - ARH3705
Under Graduate Degree Semester module NQF level: 7 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: ARH1501
Recommendation: To have passed any two NQF level 6 modules in Art History - ARH2601and ARH2602 or ARH2603
Purpose: The purpose of this module is to analyse and critically debate the impact of colonial power structures on art. Students will be able to conduct an art theoretical analysis of ideas, concepts and arguments within the colonial and postcolonial debate.
Contemporary International Art - ARH411R
Under Graduate Degree Year module NQF level: 7 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: ARH3701, ARH3703 & ARH3704 Co-requisite: ARH412S
Purpose: To guide students to understand and analyse contemporary discourse around visual culture in the international context, but with sharp focus on controversies and deliberations of the last 30 years. Debates on the relationship between art and the community or the public, categorisations and definitions of art and critical methodologies are scrutinised.
Contemporary South African Art - ARH412S
Under Graduate Degree Year module NQF level: 7 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Pre-requisite: ARH3701, ARH3703 & ARH3704 Co-requisite: ARH411R
Purpose: To enable students to understand and analyse contemporary discourse on visual culture in the South African context. Debates on the relationship between art and the South African community and the public, categorisations and definitions of art and critical methodologies are scrutinised. Conceptualism and Postmodernism form the core of this module, but with local application. Special attention is paid to the nature and orientation of exhibitions in the South African context.
Memory and Identity - ARH4801
Honours Year module NQF level: 8 Credits: 24
Module presented in English Module presented online
Purpose: To guide students in analysing and evaluating the societal implications of memory and identity in visual culture.
Revising Modernism - ARH4802
Honours Year module NQF level: 8 Credits: 24
Module presented in English Module presented online
Purpose: To guide students in undertaking relevant revisions of modernist art historical constructs, and in understanding the implications of such revisions with regard to contemporary balances of power.
The Practice of Art History - ARH4803
Honours Year module NQF level: 8 Credits: 12
Module presented in English Module presented online
Purpose: To guide students in analysing and evaluating selected art historical research methodologies, specifically with regard to the truth claims one can reasonably make when interpreting works of art and visual culture in general.