Modern European History course for adults

The European History Workshop, run by tutor Dr Angela Jianu, is an established history seminar open to all in the heart of Earlsdon. New members are always welcome. Those interested can express an interest by logging on to the website or they can simply turn up for the first session. Here is an outline of the study programme:

Europe 1900: France, Britain and Germany (10 weeks).

Recommended preliminary reading: William Morris, News from Nowhere, 1890 (free online access and cheap paperback editions widely available).

Themes for the spring term:

  • Defining our terms: fin-de-siècle, modernism, decadence
  • Socialism and Anarchism in fin-de-siècle Europe: the masses, the lone assassins and the legacy of Karl Marx
  • Race Hygiene, Neurosis and the Fear of Degeneration in Society and the Arts
  • Art for art’s sake or art for public consumption? (the Arts and Crafts movement; the Glasgow School, Symbolism in France and Britain)
  • French Impressionism between aestheticism and politics (Gustave Caillebotte, Toulouse Lautrec)
  • Women in the arts: roles and representations (the Pre-Raphaelites, the French Impressionists)
  • Two Central European artists and their time: Arnold Böcklin and Gabriel von Max
  • Symbolism in France and Britain: Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, G. F. Watts , Aubrey Beardsley
  • Utopian visions of a better world? (William Morris, News from Nowhere, 1890)
  • Germany and France in WW1 – the war’s impact on society: the work of August Macke, Franz Marc, George Grosz; the Panthéon de la guerre; Edouard Vuillard, André Dunoyer de Segonzac

The course starts on Monday 3 February 6.30 – 8.00pm. The venue is St. Barbara’s Church Meeting Room, (car parking and coffee-making facilities available). The course fee is £100 for 10 weeks. For further details please visit the website.