University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 30

ECTS credits : 15

Level : SCQF level 10

Semester: 2

Availability restrictions: Not automatically available to General Degree students

Planned timetable: 3.00 pm - 5.00 pm Tue and 9.00am Thu

This module traces the history of modern European and American photography during the first part of the twentieth century. Key figures and aspects which will be examined include: Stieglitz and his circle, the documentary style as seen in the work of Atget, Auguste Sander, Walker Evans and the FSA photographers, the modernist New Vision of Moholy-Nagy and others, Surrealist photography, Henri Cartier-Bresson, the Magnum agency and humanist photography. Through a consideration of aesthetic features, theoretical issues and technical developments in tandem with their social and political context, key questions of photographic practice will be examined, such as: the role of the photograph as a document of truth or reality; the importance of fashion, advertising and press photography; the articulation of a modernist or avant-garde photographic aesthetic.

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: 1 x 2-hour lecture and 1 x 1-hour seminar.

Scheduled learning hours: 33

Guided independent study hours: 280

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: Coursework = 100% (including Time Restricted Visual Analysis Test = 35%)

As defined by QAA
Written examinations : 0%
Practical examinations : 0%
Coursework: 100%

Personnel

Module coordinator: Professor N A Adamson
Module teaching staff: Dr N Adamson