Art History for Beginners

This ten week evening course has been designed for people who are intrinsically attracted to Fine Art, but may never have been formally educated or inducted into this fascinating and rich discipline of aesthetic tradition. For many, enjoyment of Fine Arts is often associated with a privileged and higher educational background. Our view, and the genesis for this course, is that this perception is increasingly less relevant and indeed, more importantly, wrong and unnecessarily elitist.

Our mantra is simple - “Art is for All” – to which the genesis of this course transcends to, irrespective of educational attainment or background. Indeed, art is probably the oldest form of human expression. Accordingly, the motive behind this course is to provide those who may visit galleries and exhibitions, but who have little formal knowledge of Fine Art, with an opportunity to learn rapidly about its context and content, thereby enhancing the enjoyment from experiencing original works as art forms, such as painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture. The key to our approach is to distil the salient points of each art movement, within its history, in such a way that it allows the course participants the opportunity to further develop their understanding of art from a foundation.

The principal aims of the course are fourfold:

1. Provide a concise, yet thorough course that gives participants a historic context in which to understand how different art forms and genres emerged
2. Explain why art is so important to our understanding of history, culture and – ultimately - ourselves
3. Demystify the often complex narratives that surround Fine Art so that paintings and sculpture can be enjoyed by all
4. Provide learning platforms so that participants can further develop their understanding within many other areas of art

The course takes the world of Western European Art and divides it into its eras of development. It aims to explain these traditions as to the significance of the characteristics and key features from each movement within each of these eras.

Course Content

Week One: Overview

• What is fine art and its origins? Why is it important?
• Key art periods and movements of Art
• Important terminology associated with great art works – form, content, purpose and provenance and other terminology of compositions, its manufacture and history
• Methodology and theory of art history development from Vasari to Panofsky

Week Two: Techniques and Composition – following themes and concepts discussed in lectures and case studies of old and modern master paintings.

• Portraits, Stories, narratives, action and Life drawings
• Still life, landscape
• Abstract compositions
• Perspective and light
• Techniques and pigments

Week Three: Early Art Forms from the Medieval Period to Early Renaissance

Relevance of Patronage as from the Nobility and Church within Europe influencing the rise of commissioned artist creating Gothic style art from earlier Medieval forms. Transitions of painting medium with tempera and oils on panel to oil on canvas such as those from the Italian and Netherlandish schools.

Week Four: High Renaissance

Schools of Florence, Rome and Venice and the International Style comes to fruition in the latter part of the Middle Ages and the traditions carried down further to later generations of European artists. The Master artist and his studio workshop are visited too.

Week Five: 17th Century Baroque

Art as political leverage among Princes for diplomacy, relevance to further changes in style as reflected in architecture and interior design - influences of approaches from earlier traditions. The changes in art as reflected on Intellectual views in Europe, in particular the Counter Reformation in Italy, France and Spain.

Project assignment one: Image identification of art seen thus far, 5% of grade.

Week Six: 18th Century: Baroque

The Eighteenth Century British Grand Tour of Mediterranean Europe and the relevance of collecting of paintings and classical antiquities adds further canons and adapted fashions of collecting into art produced; Rococo emerges as a novel decorative design movement for interiors.

Project assignment: Identifying and analysing paintings from 16th to 18th century in terms of school, style, manufacture and relevance. Counting as 20% of grade.

Week Seven: The 19th Century

The development of the Academy in the U.K and France, the salon and the beginnings of the art market. Movements looked at Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Arts and Crafts, and Post-Impressionism bringing art into the Modern era.

Week Eight: 20th Century

Focus on the development of the Paris and London School together with concurrent emergence of the New York school attaining International prominence. Movements and styles to examine: Fauvism, Cubism, Constructivism, Bauhaus, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art.

Week Nine: Epilogue and Revision

Week Ten: Final Exam, counting as 75% of grade.