Art History courses online and in London
Looking to build your confidence in discussing and interpreting art? Or are you interested in taking your established knowledge of art in new directions? Then come and join City Lit’s Art History learning community!
Our exceptional range of courses, both introductory and in-depth, are designed for all learning levels. Our programme approaches art history from a variety of perspectives including social and cultural context, art theory and philosophy, curation and collecting, general art appreciation and so much more.
Choosing the right class for you
Our courses are open to all. Our students come from all backgrounds and learning experiences, from the absolute beginner to those refining their knowledge and understanding. We aim to give you the confidence to engage meaningfully with art, whatever level you are working from. Our students use our courses for personal fulfilment as well as professional and educational development. Many of our students go on to advanced degree and certificate programmes and many are able to use their knowledge in art making and gallery work.
Learn from expert tutors
At City Lit we are proud of the expertise of our tutors who are all professional art historians working actively in museums, galleries, research and writing, universities and auction houses. As experts in the field, they are able to provide you with the support and guidance you need to develop your art historical knowledge. As teachers they provide student-focused education, helping students achieve their art historical goals, both the personal and the professional.
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- Global arts of Africa
Course start date: Tue 15 Oct 2024Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Thomas BalfeThis course introduces major forms of African art in their regional and global contexts. It studies classical traditions of carving, metal casting, architecture and textile arts as well as twentieth-century and contemporary developments, including the work of photographers and conceptual artists.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £129.00 - Introduction to art history Course start date: Mon 30 Sep 2024 (and 4 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Thomas BalfeAre you interested in art and want to get more out of looking at art and exhibitions? Want to know what an art historian does? Develop your interpretative skills by exploring at how art is made and what social and cultural factors construct our understanding of it.Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00 - London's smaller art collections Course start date: Wed 30 Oct 2024 (and 2 other dates)
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Julie BarlowDiscover some of London’s fascinating smaller art collections and hidden art treasures on this gallery-based art history course.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Still life in the history of art: opulence and fragility Course start date: Tue 5 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Elizabeth EyresStill-life paintings usually represent ordinary things, often small and arranged on an indoor surface, without human presence. Long regarded in western art as the lowliest subject or “genre”, one that only required technical skill rather than imagination, still lifes are now considered some of the most charming and best loved paintings and can contain intriguing meanings that repay close study.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - The beauty of the medieval manuscript Course start date: Wed 20 Nov 2024 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Emma Rose BarberIt is generally accepted that medieval illuminated manuscripts are very beautiful things. Something to do with all that gold-leaf maybe. While we cannot hold them in class, close-up digital reproduction will allow us to see if they really are as beautiful as we are told. Indeed, are none of them ugly? Join this course to find out.Full fee £119.00 Senior fee £95.00 Concession £77.00 - Ways into art history Course start date: Tue 7 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Emma Rose BarberAn introduction to studying art history, inviting you to get close to works of art and learn how to improve your visual and analytical skills.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £199.00 Senior fee £159.00 Concession £129.00 - Five revolutionary exhibitions in art history Course start date: Tue 14 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Henry MartinFrom the opening of the Louvre in 1793 to the present-day Venice Biennale, this course uses five exhibitions (in Anglo-European history) as a jumping off point to explore and examine art-historical and contemporary themes and talking-points, including nationalism, modernism, colonialism, identity politics and representation.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £84.00 - Women in art 1800-1900 Course start date: Tue 14 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Elizabeth EyresDuring the 19th century female painters and sculptors gained greater prominence, although a career in art was still challenging for women artists. In this course we examine their work and how such progress was achieved. - Looking at paintings Course start date: Tue 1 Oct 2024 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Julia MusgraveLook at masterpieces in major London galleries in this introduction to European painting. Explore different painting techniques and genres (landscape, portrait and history painting) for a basic understanding and increased enjoyment of Western art.Full fee £279.00 Senior fee £223.00 Concession £181.00 - Weird and wondrous: the strange art of Bosch, Brueghel and the Surrealists Course start date: Tue 28 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Emma Rose BarberWelcome to the weird and wonderful world of Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Breughel the elder – two northern Renaissance artists and a larger group of 20th-century artists known as the Surrealists who share many similarities with the strange and curious subjects that they conjured up to ignite discussion and even outrage.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £199.00 Concession £162.00 - The art of the French Renaissance Course start date: Tue 18 Feb 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Julia MusgraveWhat makes the art of the renaissance in France so fantastical and fanciful? How much does it owe to Italian artists? Where can you see examples and why does so little survive? Discover the story of the rise and fall of the French renaissance.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - Art of medieval empires Course start date: Tue 4 Mar 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Richard PlantThis course will explore a range of arts, painting, metalwork sculpture and architecture of the lands ruled, sometimes rather tenuously by the German Kings and Emperors, from the time of Charlemagne to the 15th century. For much of the period this was the dominant political entity in Europe, and the geographical reach will be broad: though focussing on central and northern Europe, some works in Italy will also be considered.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £129.00 Concession £84.00 - A stroll through British art: 1500-1850 Course start date: Tue 4 Mar 2025
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Elizabeth EyresOn this informal gallery-based course you will explore and discuss the history and characteristics of British art from the 16th century to the mid-19th century. The course will take place offsite at both the National Gallery and Tate Britain.Full fee £159.00 Senior fee £127.00 Concession £103.00 - Art & mysticism in 19th and 20th century Europe Course start date: Tue 11 Mar 2025
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Emma Rose BarberCan a work of art be all touchy/feely and well… spiritual and mystical? We will explore what the words spiritual and mysticism mean in relation to art produced by 19th and 20th-century artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Hilma af Klint, Georgaina Houghton, Piet Mondrian and Anna Cassell.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £84.00 - Women in art: 1900-1960 Course start date: Tue 29 Apr 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Elizabeth EyresOn this course we shall explore and examine the considerable, and significant, contributions of women painters and sculptors to the avant-garde art world during the first half of the 20th century.
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