Duration

14 - 18 July / 1 week

Monday-Friday 10am – 4.30pm

Course leader 

Rose Davey

Level - Varying levels of experience 

Course Description

Description

This week long course will equip students with the necessary tools to identify quality within artworks and explore the many problems this exercise poses. Artworks will be pitted against one another to provoke lively debate and better understand why one work or artist might be perceived as ‘better’ or more ‘valuable’ than another. 

Students will be schooled in the art of looking through the identification of the formal values inherent in art that can discreetly ensure an artworks quality, and the seductive nature of symbolic value which can often propel an artwork to fame. Time will also be spent considering the process of making art, including a visit to a contemporary artist's studio. The course will be structured around lectures and seminars at the Slade, and intense debate whilst stood in front of original artworks. Gallery visits will range from world class collections such as the Tate Modern and National Gallery, to lesser-known commercial galleries showing the work of students fresh out of art school. The course will culminate in students delivering a short presentation on an artwork they perceive to possess quality, in contrast to those they consider to be lacking in quality. The aim is to leave with a curious, critical eye, educated through the observation of the artwork, combined with a knowledge of the context in which it was made. This course is an ideal follow on from Rose's Easter Art History course 'The Original Masterpiece'. 

 

Please Read Slade’s Terms & Conditions: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/shortcourses/evening-courses#general-information