ARTH328-25S2 (C) Semester Two 2025

Art of the Floating World

30 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 14 July 2025
End Date: Sunday, 9 November 2025
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 27 July 2025
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 28 September 2025

Description

This course studies ukiyo-e, Art of the Floating World, which was produced in Japan from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth century.

This course introduces the history of visual art produced in Japan during the Edo and early Meiji periods. Its primary focus is on the genre of ukiyo-e, made famous by the exquisite multi-coloured woodblock prints which were produced in great numbers.  These were hugely popular not just in Edo period Japan, but in the 19th century in the West also, and are found in collections all over the world.

Learning Outcomes

1. An understanding of the key phases and styles of ukiyo-e pictorial language, from its beginnings in the early 1600s, to the late 19th century.
2. An understanding of the subjects and pictorial devices of ukiyo-e.  
3. An understanding of the institutions and systems in which ukiyo-e objects were made, sold, and used.
4. An understanding of the historical development of print-making in Japan, from the early 1600s to the late 19th century.
5. An understanding of the key methodological debates that have shaped the study of ukiyo-e.

Transferable skills
1. Ability to identify subject, approximate date, artist, and medium of ukiyo-e pictures.
2. Ability to produce a report to a level expected at a public art institution describing an ukiyo-e art object.
3. Developed independent research skills.
4. Advanced written communication skills.
5. Ability to work in a team in identifying ukiyo-e pictorial objects.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:

Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their award

Students know and can critically evaluate and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to topics/issues within their majoring subject.

Globally aware

Students will comprehend the influence of global conditions on their discipline and will be competent in engaging with global and multi-cultural contexts.

Prerequisites

Any 30 points at 200 level from ARTH, or
any 60 points at 200 level from the Schedule V of the BA or from the BFA.

Timetable 2025

Students must attend one activity from each section.

Lecture A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Monday 11:00 - 13:00 Beatrice Tinsley 112
14 Jul - 24 Aug
8 Sep - 19 Oct
Lecture B
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Wednesday 13:00 - 14:00 Ernest Rutherford 460
14 Jul - 24 Aug
8 Sep - 19 Oct

Course Coordinator

Richard Bullen

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Report 25% Written and verbal report (15% and 10%)
Essay 20% 2,000 words
Exhibition proposal 15% 1000 words
Examination 40% Three hours


Please check the course LEARN page for further details and updates.

Course links

Library portal

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,788.00

International fee $8,200.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Humanities .

All ARTH328 Occurrences

  • ARTH328-25S2 (C) Semester Two 2025