Art History Course

Lesson 1 • Core Vocabulary and Visual Language

Introduces formal elements—line, colour, texture, space, composition—as analytical tools. Builds the descriptive language students apply throughout the course.

Lesson 2 • Chronological and Geographic Frameworks

Maps major periods and regions onto a global timeline, establishing the scaffolding for all subsequent chapters. Students practise locating works in time and place.

Lesson 3 • Writing and Citing in Art History

Covers discipline-specific citation conventions, descriptive writing, and thesis construction. Prepares students to produce credible written analysis from the outset.

Lesson 4 • Defining Art History as a Discipline

Examines what art history studies, how it differs from studio art, and its relationship to adjacent humanities. Grounds students in disciplinary identity before engaging primary material.

Lesson 1 • Art of Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt

Examines hierarchical scale, frontality, and narrative relief in Mesopotamian and Egyptian art. Students decode visual conventions tied to kingship and the afterlife.

Lesson 2 • Prehistoric Image-Making

Analyses cave paintings, portable figurines, and megalithic structures as evidence of early symbolic thought. Connects material evidence to theories of ritual and cognition.

Lesson 3 • Greek Art from Archaic to Classical

Traces the evolution from rigid Archaic kouroi to naturalistic Classical sculpture and vase painting. Students analyse idealisation as a cultural and political statement.

Lesson 1 • Late Antique and Early Christian Art

Examines the transition from pagan to Christian imagery in catacombs, mosaics, and basilica architecture. Students trace how Roman forms were redeployed for new religious purposes.

Lesson 2 • Islamic Art and Architecture

Covers geometric ornament, calligraphy, and architectural programmes in mosques, madrasas, and palaces. Students recognise how Islamic theology shaped non-figural visual culture.

Lesson 3 • Romanesque and Gothic Traditions

Contrasts the heavy masonry and narrative sculpture of Romanesque churches with Gothic light, height, and scholastic imagery. Students analyse how architecture embodies theology.

Lesson 1 • High Renaissance Masters

Analyses the monumental compositions, sfumato, and idealised forms of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Students evaluate how papal and court patronage shaped these canonical works.

Lesson 2 • Fifteenth-Century Italian Renaissance

Covers linear perspective, anatomical study, and Florentine patronage networks in the Quattrocento. Students connect artistic innovation to humanist philosophy and civic identity.

Lesson 3 • Northern Renaissance Art

Examines Flemish oil technique, disguised symbolism, and the impact of print culture in Northern Europe. Students compare Northern and Italian approaches to realism and devotion.

Lesson 4 • Mannerism and Late Renaissance

Identifies Mannerist elongation, spatial ambiguity, and courtly artifice as responses to High Renaissance idealism. Students situate Mannerism within political and religious crisis.

Lesson 1 • Origins and Ideology of the Baroque

Traces Baroque origins in Counter-Reformation Rome and its spread across Catholic Europe. Students analyse how the Church used art as persuasion and emotional engagement.

Lesson 2 • Spanish Baroque and Velázquez

Examines Spanish court painting, mystical religious art, and Velázquez's illusionistic innovations. Students analyse Las Meninas as a case study in representation and power.

Lesson 3 • Rococo Style and Aristocratic Culture

Analyses the lightness, pastel palette, and erotic playfulness of Rococo as an aristocratic reaction to Baroque grandeur. Students evaluate Rococo's social and gendered dimensions.

Lesson 4 • French Classicism and Absolutism

Covers Poussin's rational classicism and Louis XIV's use of art and architecture to project royal power. Students analyse Versailles as a total work of political art.

Lesson 1 • Romantic Painting and the Sublime

Examines Romantic emphasis on emotion, nature, and the individual genius against rational Enlightenment norms. Students analyse the sublime as an aesthetic and philosophical category.

Lesson 2 • Realism and Social Critique

Covers Courbet's rejection of academic idealism in favour of working-class subjects and material honesty. Students situate Realism within industrialisation and political upheaval.

Lesson 3 • Enlightenment and Neoclassical Ideals

Connects Enlightenment rationalism and archaeological discovery to the revival of Greco-Roman severity in painting and sculpture. Students read Neoclassical works as moral and civic statements.

Lesson 1 • Futurism, Dada, and Constructivism

Examines machine aesthetics in Futurism, anti-art provocation in Dada, and utopian design in Constructivism. Students connect each movement to World War I and political revolution.

Lesson 2 • Surrealism and the Unconscious

Analyses Surrealist automatism, dream imagery, and Freudian influence in painting, sculpture, and photography. Students evaluate Surrealism's engagement with gender and the body.

Lesson 3 • Fauvism, Expressionism, and Cubism

Covers the liberation of colour in Fauvism, psychological distortion in Expressionism, and the fracturing of form in Cubism. Students analyse each as a distinct response to visual convention.

Lesson 4 • Abstract Expressionism and Mid-Century Art

Covers gestural painting, colour field, and the New York School's claim to artistic leadership after World War II. Students analyse the politics of abstraction during the Cold War.

Lesson 1 • Conceptual Art and Minimalism

Covers the dematerialisation of the art object in Conceptualism and the reduction of form in Minimalism. Students analyse how both movements challenged traditional definitions of art.

Lesson 2 • Postmodernism and Identity Politics

Examines appropriation, deconstruction, and identity-based practices in postmodern art from the 1980s onward. Students analyse how artists challenged master narratives and canonical exclusions.

Lesson 3 • Digital Art and New Media

Analyses video art, net art, and AI-generated imagery as extensions and disruptions of traditional art history. Students evaluate how digital tools alter authorship, medium, and audience.

Lesson 4 • Global Contemporary Art

Surveys non-Western contemporary practices, biennials, and the decolonisation of art history as a discipline. Students evaluate how globalisation reshapes artistic production and reception.