Bilder der Gewalt im Zeitalter der Kunst, 1400-1800
Felix Jäger
Institute of Studies in Art and Art Education,
Art History
2027S,
Academic Seminar
(SEW),
4.0 ECTS,
2.0 semester hours,
course number S51317
Scientific bachelor seminar for teacher education
Description
In early modernity, war and violence were everywhere. Driven by power politics and colonial expansion, gunpowder warfare ravaged battlefields with unprecedented brutality. Within Europe's cities, religious reform and economic hardship ushered in a new sense of civil identity challenged by "modern" measures of discipline. Disavowed by the "fine" arts today, violence in the early modern period in fact closely aligned with artistic and aesthetic concerns. Military equipment – arms, armor, and architecture – was designed for functionality, and yet it also operated through the senses and exalted the use of force. Moreover, according to contemporary artistic discourses, every artwork conveyed visual violence given that its design needed to be coerced into resilient matter, echoed the artist's rampant creativity, and potentially "infected" audiences.
This seminar picks up on art's much-neglected belligerence and retraces the intertwined histories of artistic and military cultures between the 16th and the 18th centuries in Europe and beyond. We look to map out the material and visual cultures of soldiers as much as victims, and more generally gauge the manifestations and experiences of violence through art. How was combat gear worn, handled, and presented, and how did it fortify the user or deter the enemy? Which media informed contemporary military practice, and how did they promote strategic, tactical, or operative viewing habits? In what contexts did artworks sustain symbolic and structural, disciplinary and colonial, gendered and racist power structures? Which compositional and stylistic idioms served to picture armed conflict or to express injury and trauma? Why did artists frame their work in terms of violence – violenza, furore, and terribilità – and why did they often try to entertain a criminal reputation?
Contextualizing art and aesthetics within military culture, this seminar offers insights into classic and lesser-known early modern materials, including arms and armor, fortress architecture and battle painting, as much as ruler portraiture, iconoclasm, and art theoretical discourse. We engage with a broad range of interdisciplinary discourses, from gender and disability studies to current research in military psychology as well as collective trauma and memory. Comparing early modern and current manifestations of violence in art, we are working towards a critical mindfulness of the embeddings of violence in art that is as urgent today as ever.
SUGGESTIONS FOR PRE-COURSE READING:
Dwyer, Philip: Violence: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.
Freedberg, David: The Power of Images: Studies in the History and Theory of Response, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Hale, John Rigby: Artists and Warfare in the Renaissance, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
Examination Modalities
tbc
Comments
Depending on student preferences, this seminar may be held in English or German, or both.
Key Words
sculpture, object sculpture, architecture, fashion design, discussion, drawing, painting, talk, design
Course Enrolment
From 01 February 2027, 09:00
Via online registration
Curriculum Allocation
Art Education: study subject kkp (Bachelor): Academic Practice: GO: Seminar, SEw 034/2026UBA-003.10
Art Education: study subject kkp (Bachelor): Academic Practice: FOR: Course from the Institute IKK.K 034/2026UBA-003.21
Art Education: study subject kkp (Bachelor): Academic Practice: FOR: Seminar, SEw 034/2026UBA-003.30
Art Education: study subject kkp (Bachelor): Degree Completion (kkp): IT: Bachelor Seminar (Academic or Subject-Didactic), SEw (kkp) 034/2026UBA-010.30
Art Education: subject kkp (Enhancements study): Academic Practice: GO: Seminar, SEw 034/2026UEW-003.10
Art Education: subject kkp (Enhancements study): Academic Practice: FOR: Course from the Institute IKK.K 034/2026UEW-003.21
Art Education: subject kkp (Enhancements study): Academic Practice: FOR: Seminar, SEw 034/2026UEW-003.30
Art Education: subject kkp (Enhancements study): Degree Completion (kkp): IT: Bachelor Seminar (Academic or Subject-Didactic), SEw (kkp) 034/2026UEW-010.30
Art Education: study subject dex (Bachelor): Academic Practice: GO: Seminar, SEw 037/2026UBA-003.10
Art Education: study subject dex (Bachelor): Academic Practice: FOR: Course from the Institute IKK.K 037/2026UBA-003.21
Art Education: study subject dex (Bachelor): Academic Practice: FOR: Seminar, SEw 037/2026UBA-003.30
Art Education: study subject dex (Bachelor): Degree Completion (dex): IT: Bachelor Seminar (Academic or Subject-Didactic), SEw (dex) 037/2026UBA-010.30
Art Education: subject dex (Enhancements study): Academic Practice: GO: Seminar, SEw 037/2026UEW-003.10
Art Education: subject dex (Enhancements study): Academic Practice: FOR: Course from the Institute IKK.K 037/2026UEW-003.21
Art Education: subject dex (Enhancements study): Academic Practice: FOR: Seminar, SEw 037/2026UEW-003.30
Art Education: subject dex (Enhancements study): Degree Completion (dex): IT: Bachelor Seminar (Academic or Subject-Didactic), SEw (dex) 037/2026UEW-010.30
Art Education: subject kkp (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/2016UBA-003.80
Art Education: subject kkp (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: IT: Bachelorseminar Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/2016UBA-003.85
Art Education: subject kkp (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 067/2016UMA-003.80
Art Education: subject kkp (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Seminar aus dem Bereich Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften 067/2018UEW-003.25
Art Education: subject kkp (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 067/2018UEW-003.80
Art Education: study subject kkp (Master): Academic Practice: Elective Courses from Academic Practice, SE 067/2026UMA-003.80
Art Education: subject tex (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 071/2016UMA-003.80
Art Education: subject dae (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 072/2016UMA-003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/2017UBA-003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Bachelor): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: IT: Bachelorseminar Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/2017UBA-003.85
Art Education: subject dex (Master): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: Lehrveranstaltung nach Wahl aus wissenschaftlicher Praxis, SE 074/2017UMA-003.80
Art Education: subject dex (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Seminar aus dem Bereich Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften 074/2018UEW-003.25
Art Education: subject dex (Enhancements study): Wissenschaftliche Praxis: FOR: Lehrveranstaltungen nach Wahl aus Wissenschaftliche Praxis 074/2018UEW-003.80
Art Education: study subject dex (Master): Academic Practice: Elective Courses from Academic Practice, SE 074/2026UMA-003.80
TransArts - Transdisciplinary Arts (Bachelor): Theoretical foundations: Theoretical foundations 180/2025UBA-003.01
Expanded Museum Studies (Master): Electives: Art History 537/2021UMA-080.10
Stage Design (2. Section): Kunsttheorie und Kulturwissenschaften: Kunstgeschichte 542/2022U00-207.01
Media Arts: Specialisation in Transmedia Arts (2. Section): Wissenschaft, Theorie und Geschichte : Kunstgeschichte 566/2019U00-208.12
Media Arts: Specialisation in Digital Arts (2. Section): Wissenschaft, Theorie, Geschichte: Kunstgeschichte 567/2019U00-208.12
Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften (Master): Electives Area 1: Art History 568/2021UMA-005.03
Kunst- und Kulturwissenschaften (Master): Electives Area 2: Art History 568/2021UMA-006.03
Design: Specialisation in Design and Narrative Media (2. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Fundamentals: Humanities 576/2024U00-203.02
Design: Specialisation in Communication Design (2. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Basics: Humanities 577/2025U00-203.02
Fine Arts (2. Section): Scientific and Research Practice: Art Theory, Cultural Studies, Art History, Philosophy 605/2019U00-202.01
Fine Arts (2. Section): Scientific and Research Practice: Free Electives out of Scientific and Research Practice 605/2019U00-202.80
Design: Specialisation in Applied Photography and Time-based Media (2. Section): Methodological and Theoretical Basics: Humanities 626/2021U00-203.02
Cross-Disciplinary Strategies (Bachelor): Artistic Strategies and Approaches to Art: Deepening and Application 700/2026UBA-001.20
Art & Science (Master): Methods and Practices of Transdisciplinary Research: Practice and Theory 776/2026UMA-002.16
Co-registration: possible
Attending individual courses: possible