This unit examines the aesthetic means that artists of European origin used to forge a sense of place, identity and nation. Topics include the role of art in the early period of exploration; the struggle to develop a local identity in the lead up to Federation; the effects of a growing nationalism after World War I on artists; the influence of modernist art in the mid twentieth century and the internationalism which followed World War II; and recent contested identities of postcolonial and global consciousness when the idea of a national art may no longer be useful. Consistent themes throughout the unit are the role of landscape in Australian art, the effects of isolation and colonialism,... -- Course Website
Instructor: Associate Professor Darren Jorgensen
Prerequisites: at least one Level 1 humanities unit
