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 and society in the early modern NetherlandsCourse start date: Mon 5 Jun 2023 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Thomas BalfeThis course focuses on Flemish and Dutch (Netherlandish) art of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The course will examine well-known artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Rembrandt and Vermeer, as well as the role of artworks and visual images in the formation of religious, class, gender and national identities, in early science, and in cultures of collecting.Full fee £139.00 - Art in 1920s ParisCourse start date: Fri 9 Jun 2023 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayExplore 1920s Paris from the perspective of experimental art movements. From textile design to surrealism, abstraction to neo-classicism we look at how the city of Paris was an active collaborator in the art of the era.Full fee £109.00 - The Norwich School - a unique society of landscape painters
Course start date: Fri 9 Jun 2023 (and 1 other date)Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Elizabeth EyresOn this course you will study the fascinating work of the 19th century Norwich School, a loose association of generations of painters from artistic families who worked in Norwich, Norfolk, one of the most important and wealthy regional capitals of the day. You will explore the beautiful landscapes produced by these artists and also discover work produced by remarkable women in the group.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £69.00 - Ways into Islamic artCourse start date: Tue 13 Jun 2023 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Anita ChowdryAn introductory course providing an overview of the development of the visual language of Islamic cultures in Asia, Africa and Europe.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £109.00 - Lunchtime lecture: Los Angeles landscapes - the art of Ed RuschaCourse start date: Mon 19 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayDiscover the light and life of Los Angeles through the work of Ed Ruscha. We consider how Ruscha's works on Los Angeles provide us with ways to explore our relationship to nature, the natural and unnatural.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £8.00 Concession £7.00 - Symbols and stories: saints in art Course start date: Tue 20 Jun 2023 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Elizabeth EyresSaints are represented in masterpieces of Christian art from 1200 to the present – learn how to recognise them, decode their meanings and iconography and enhance your understanding of this aspect of art history. This course includes a gallery visit.Full fee £139.00 - Representing nature in early modern Europe Course start date: Wed 14 Jun 2023 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Thomas BalfeExplore the links between the visual image and ideas of nature in early modernity (c.1500-1750). At this time, tools like the microscope were visualising nature in new ways, changes were afoot in how humans related to animals, and the environments of Asia and the Americas were becoming more familiar to Europeans. We will focus on how artists and skilled artisans engaged with these subjects.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £99.00 - Focus on: 19th-century fashion Course start date: Sat 24 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore the relationship between nineteenth-century society, from the Napoleonic era to the suffrage movement, and men’s and women’s fashions which witnessed constant change, restrictions, extremes and the start of the dress reform movement.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - All that glitters: perceptions of ancient luxury in Neoclassical EuropeCourse start date: Mon 26 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayFrom flowing robes and diamond-encrusted cameos to political ceremony and archaeological plunder, discover the connection of classical luxury and political power in age of Napoleon.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £19.00 - A culture of luxury: ancient China and modern fantasiesCourse start date: Wed 28 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Meitao QuExplore the material culture of imperial China and its influence on modern and contemporary visual cultures.
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 £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Showing the goods: luxury in Greek vascular paintingCourse start date: Fri 30 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Simone ChisenaA the saying goes, “what’s the point of being rich if you cannot brag about it?”; well, the Ancient Greeks were masters at this art to the point of depicting it in plain sight across their vases and vessels. Let us look through this kaleidoscope into the lives of Athenian well-to-dos to see what form their wealth assumed and how its depiction became a synonym for luxury across the Mare Nostrum.
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 £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Focus on: 20th-century fashion Course start date: Sat 1 Jul 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore the ever-changing statement of identity that was twentieth-century fashion through the study of key designers and significant social and political events that shaped the clothes we wore.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Art history taster
Course start date: Fri 7 Jul 2023 (and 17 other dates)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayEver wondered what art history is but don’t want to commit to a whole course? This taster explores some of the ways art historians come to their interpretion art. Build your confidence in looking at art by learning what art and art history really are.Full fee £10.00 - Lunchtime lecture: Hokusai’s natureCourse start date: Mon 10 Jul 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayExplore the life and work of Hokusai beyond the Great Wave. Get an insight into his artistic practice and what his artistic interpretations of nature can teach us about our relationship with the natural world.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £8.00 Concession £7.00 - Van Eyck and the Pre-RaphaelitesCourse start date: Mon 10 Jul 2023 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Emma Rose BarberExplore the work of Van Eyck in relation to Holman Hunt and the Pre-Raphaelites more generally; consider how this 15th century painter influenced artists some 300 years later.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £19.00
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