HAU33035/36 Painting Revolution: 1848 to 1968

This course tracks the links between the genre of history painting and the practice and theory of revolutionary politics. Beginning with the revolutions of 1848 and the numerous abandoned or destroyed paintings they left in their wake, we will analyse artists’ attempts – failed or otherwise – to fix historical change in colours on canvas. We will encounter dissident student graffiti artists, Black radicals, and communist realists, and will read revolutionary thinkers, from Karl Marx, to Rosa Luxemburg, to C.L.R. James. Students should leave the course well versed in the history and theory of revolution and its intersections with the practice of painting.