Professor Mark Ledbury, Director of the Power Institute for Art and Visual Culture, is interested in how artists’ lives and works are portrayed in film, television and popular culture. He unpacks the Oscar-nominated documentary Never Look Away, inspired by the life of German artist Gerhard Richter, and explores why art matters.
Mark and the Art History Team here at the University of Sydney think about why art matters in our teaching and research. Our Core 2000 level unit 'Why Art Matters' led by Mark and colleagues explores the importance of art in the world.
Through object-based seminars, lectures and student led presentations. It asks why art is so fundamental to human experience, and how we might study it and articulate its importance. It builds key art historical skills of recognition, analysis, interpretation and expression, and introduces students to a wide variety of different material objects and artworks. The course is taught in small group streams, largely in the Chau Chak Wing museum and will help all majoring art history students build confidence and skill in researching, analysing and communicating about art.
For more on how to study Art History at the University of Sydney - see our website or get in touch.
Written by Associate Professor Donna West Brett, Chair of Art History.