Course Details in 2025/26 Session

Module Title	LH Fashioning Flesh and Technology: Modernism and the Body in Germany 1918-1933
School	Lan, Cult, Art Hist & Music
Department	Art Hist, Cur and Vis Studies
Module Code	09 28455
Module Lead	Camilla Smith
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-10 hours Seminar-20 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	This module considers the concept of German Modernism in relation to discourses on real and imagined bodies during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933). Examining a range of works of art, design and film, as well as textual sources, it explores the ways in which some of the defining practices and theories of Modernism revolving around technology, mass culture, and sexuality can be used to understand attitudes towards the body. The module will focus in particular on the representation of the body and; warfare in relation to debates around prosthetics and war neurosis; technology and capitalist modes of production and consumption; free body culture: nudity, dance and sport; sexual identity through the pioneering work of German Sexologists. In order to consider such discourses, this module will analyse several art historical moments associated with German Modernism (including Neue Sachlichkeit, Dada and late German Expressionism). Artists such as; Otto Dix; George Grosz; Willi Baumeister; Jeanne Mammen and Martha Hegemann amongst others, will be examined. As well as developing an understanding of the body as a site of complex social and psychological negotiations, students will be encouraged to engage critically with both historical (Freud, Hirschfeld, Schlemmer) and more contemporary theoretical considerations of the body (Foucault, Mosse, Cowan) in order to frame their interpretations of art works. Through emphasis on the body, students will also be asked to question the lasting myth of Weimar Germany as a period of ‘Golden Twenties’ (Gay, Laqueur, Willet), as well as the unproblematic image of German culture as founded on a teleological model ‘cut short’ by the National Socialists.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Demonstrate a detailed and comprehensive knowledge of the module’s taught content. Describe relationships between relevant artworks and the cultural and social environment of the period covered by the module. Identify and analyse relevant artworks produced during the period covered by the module. Comment on theoretical and other matters embodied in primary or other sources relating to the period covered by the module.
Assessment	28455-01 : 1.5 hour Exam Unseen : Exam (Centrally Timetabled) - Written Unseen (50%) 28455-02 : Essay : Coursework (50%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	1 x 2500-word essay (50% of the final module mark) 1 x 1.5-hour unseen examination (50% of the final module mark) Alternative assessment if on campus activity is restricted: proctored exams will be converted to take home papers. Re-assessment: Re-submission of failed component
Other
Reading List