Universität Wien

080072 PS Case Study II/III: Gothic Cathedral Facades (2015W)

Continuous assessment of course work

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Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: German

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Thursday 01.10. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 08.10. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 15.10. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 22.10. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 29.10. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 05.11. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 12.11. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 19.11. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 26.11. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 03.12. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 10.12. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 17.12. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 07.01. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 14.01. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 21.01. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27
  • Thursday 28.01. 16:00 - 17:30 Seminarraum 4 d. Inst. f. Kunstgeschichte (1. Stock) UniCampus Hof 9 3F-O1-27

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

'A facade speaks for the entire building and for its community, and it can project onto that community a striking self-image' (Carolyn Malone).
Richly adorned with an array of sculptures and complex architectural detail, the façades of Gothic cathedrals still tower over their cities to this day. As highly ambitious structures of enormous height and width, these church fronts were conceived as architectural showpieces on which no expenses were spared.
Taking Malone's assertion of the façade's potential to convey messages and to contribute to the self-image of a certain community as a starting point, the course will scrutinize the function and mediality of this part of the building by analysing selected cathedral façades of the 13th and 15th centuries. The case studies will span from the façades of high gothic French cathedrals with their rich portal programmes, the English screen façades, the west fronts of the episcopal churches of competing Italian city states to the study of the architectural drawings of the ambitious façade projects in the Rhineland. The broad geographic range will allow to compare and contrast highly original architectural solutions and study the historic and artistic contexts that shaped them.

Assessment and permitted materials

Regular attendance and active participation in class, oral presentation, seminar paper.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The course wants to practice the analysis of works of art in their original context, help to develop an understanding of recent directions in scholarship on medieval patronage and encourage the study of gothic art in general.

Examination topics

Students will be encouraged to analyse the façades as complex multimedia ensembles (incorporating architecture, full-round sculpture, reliefs, mosaics) and to explore how they functioned as thresholds or interfaces between the church interior and the city space. This will also involve the discussion of the role of cathedral squares and the function of façades as stages or visual counterparts in processions. Further, questions of patronage and the involvement of individuals and communities in the financing of these huge building projects will be addressed. Finally, apart from the study of detailed building chronologies, we will also discuss the complexities of the realization of such giant projects and look at how façades remained work-in-progress for centuries or were even finally dismantled.

Reading list


Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:31