This course focuses on how style has been understood and analysed in art history. Through lectures, discussions, field trips and writing exercises, students will learn how to critically look at formal concepts and stylistic developments in art and architecture. The course aims to guide students through key theoretical questions in style theory, encouraging them to develop their own analytical and writing skills. In this course, we will discuss how to understand the language of art style and how to examine it as a reflection of broader historical and social contexts. Throughout the course, we will analyse text and artistic manifests from theoretic and methodological points of view. The course will introduce students to texts and ideas developed by Giorgio Vasari, Heinrich Wölfflin, and Walter Benjamin, alongside movements from Renaissance classicism to the -isms of modernism and postmodernism. We will also explore debates surrounding the "end of style" in contemporary discourse and the role of style in cultural heritage preservation. Students will study movements from Renaissance classicism to modernism and postmodernism, while also examining non-Western perspectives on style and their impact on contemporary discourse. Additionally, the course will address how art intersects with other disciplines, such as literature, philosophy, and cultural studies, to deepen our understanding of style as a multidisciplinary phenomenon. Through case studies on movements like the Bauhaus, Dada, and Postmodernism students will critically explore how style reflects and shapes cultural narratives across different traditions. The course will also consider how artistic styles engage with broader intellectual movements, such as existentialism, structuralism, and postcolonial theory. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with the tools to approach art with a deeper understanding of what is the idea of "style" and how it communicates ideas across different periods and cultures. This will prepare them for further academic exploration in the field of art history.
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