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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- Art history taster
Course start date: Fri 20 Sep 2024 (and 12 other dates)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayCurious about art history? Join us for this taster session where we explore different ways into visual art and its histories, from the ancient to the contemporary.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £10.00 - What makes a masterpiece Course start date: Mon 23 Sep 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Leslie PrimoLook at works of art in the Western canon and ask why we consider them to be masterpieces. What formal qualities do they all share, if any, or is our interpretation of a masterpiece largely subjective?
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - Introduction to art history Course start date: Mon 30 Sep 2024 (and 4 other dates)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayAre 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 - Understanding contemporary art: ideas and origins Course start date: Mon 14 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Christopher CollierEver wondered what's going on in the mind of contemporary artists? This course explores the ideas and historical background behind some of today’s most intriguing works, from Conceptualism and Video to Body Art and Installation.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - Global arts of Africa Course start date: Tue 15 Oct 2024
Location 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 - Looking inside paintings Course start date: Wed 16 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Online
Discover the secrets of the Old Masters and learn how they created their wonderful effects in this introductory course on painters and painting. We will consider the physical history and scientific examination of artworks in relation to aspects including forgeries, hidden paintings and conservation/ restoration.
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 £169.00 Concession £110.00 - Friday lates: The Bauhaus in London Course start date: Fri 18 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Julie BarlowThe Staatliches Bauhaus opened its doors in Weimar, Germany in 1919. Fourteen years later it was shut down by the Nazis. Celebrate 100 years of Modernism in architecture and design and discover how Bauhaus style spread to London.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - Feminism in modern and contemporary art Course start date: Thu 24 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Irina ChkhaidzeDiscover important modern and contemporary artists whose work can be broadly linked to the feminist project. We will discuss the political and social contexts in which the artworks were created.
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 £169.00 Concession £110.00 - Friday lates: Magical modernism – modern art and the occult Course start date: Fri 25 Oct 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Christopher CollierDiscover Modern Art’s secret history: a mysterious melting-pot of mystic auras, magical colour theories, trances, alchemy and the spirit-physics of the 4th-dimension, hiding beneath the familiar stories of science, reason and industry.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - Art & memory: culture and politics in modern and contemporary art Course start date: Wed 6 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mark Stuart-SmithHow have artists since 1960 engaged with the recent history and memory of political conflict? What role have artists had in remembering a difficult or traumatic past? What are the connections between memory and national identity in their work?Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £110.00 - Friday lates: The East India Company and the passion for chintz Course start date: Fri 8 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Anita ChowdryExplore the story of how Indian painted and printed cottons became an important trade commodity for the Western domestic market, and the far-reaching impact of their design and manufacture.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information. - Friday lates: psychogeography: the art of getting lost Course start date: Fri 22 Nov 2024 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Christopher CollierFrom pub crawls to punk rock, via comic books, action painting and Hegelian philosophy; hear the unlikely tale of the Situationists: international artist-revolutionaries who tried to change the world itself into a work of art.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - Friday lates: Art in Colonial Australia, painting natural history Course start date: Fri 29 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Ben PollittExplore the period of intense artistic activity in the early years of Colonial Australia (c. 1788–1800). We will see how both convicts and military personnel produced hundreds of images depicting the remarkable natural history that they found in the settlement.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £19.00 Senior fee £19.00 Concession £12.00 - 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 - Art of 20th century Spain from Picasso to Almodóvar
Course start date: Wed 15 Jan 2025Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Mark Stuart-SmithThe course provides a general introduction to Spanish art and culture of the period, and considers the distinctive contribution made by Spanish artists to 20th-century visual culture. Explore the development of Spanish art from Impressionist Joaquin Sorolla and Picasso’s 'Guernica' to the installations of Juan Muñoz in the 1980s and the cinema of Pedro Almodóvar.Full fee £249.00 Senior fee £249.00 Concession £162.00
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