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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- Study day: Manet & the revolutionaries of realism
Course start date: Sat 19 Oct 2024Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore Realism in the nineteenth century, focusing on Manet as its key example, considering such issues as social and political change, formal and subject developments, theoretic interests and artistic influences.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Japonisme: Japanese influence on European art in the 19th century Course start date: Sat 2 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore how 19th century European artists from the Impressionists to Art Nouveau transformed their artistic language with the study of Japanese prints.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Study day: Impressionism – radical style Course start date: Sat 9 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore the Impressionist movement, focusing on Monet as its key example, considering such issues as stylistic progress, artistic influences, material developments, modern subject matter, and social context.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Study day: Modern art and colour – from post-impressionism to fauvism Course start date: Sat 16 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore the experimental use of colour and form in the late nineteenth century post-Impressionists and Symbolists paintings, and study its impact on the Fauve artists, with focus on Matisse.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Study day: Cubism and its impact – from orphism to futurism Course start date: Sat 23 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore the Cubism, focusing on Picasso as its key example, and the movements it influenced including Orphism, Futurism, and Vorticism, considering such issues as formal and material experimentation, and social context.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Study day: Rothko, Pollock and Abstract Expressionism Course start date: Sat 30 Nov 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore the Abstract Expressionist movement, focusing on Pollock and Rothko as its key examples, considering
issues such as the movement’s social and political context, artistic influences, and stylistic progress.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Study day: Pop Art, from Warhol to Hockney Course start date: Sat 7 Dec 2024
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersStudy work of artists such as David Hockney, Richard Hamilton, Roy Lichtenstein, and Andy Warhol within the context of the international Pop Art movement and the changing world of mass culture, consumerism, and celebrity.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Demystifying Tate Modern Course start date: Sat 7 Dec 2024 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Mark Stuart-SmithGet an overview of Tate Modern with this straightforward and lively insight into the gallery’s current displays and the role of the gallery in the contemporary art world. #arthistory #tatemodern.Full fee £39.00 Senior fee £31.00 Concession £25.00 - The Victorians: art, architecture and design Course start date: Sat 18 Jan 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore the visual culture of Victorian Britain through a range of artworks and disciplines including painting, sculpture, architecture, graphic design, furniture, fashion, and textiles. Includes a visit to the V&A Museum.Full fee £129.00 Senior fee £103.00 Concession £84.00 - European design 1915-1935: designing utopia Course start date: Sat 1 Mar 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersStudy the dominant design aesthetic of the twentieth century, considering its development, successes and failures. Movements will include Russian Constructivism, the Bauhaus and Purism. Design practices will include graphics, furniture and architecture.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £51.00 - Focus on: Hopper Course start date: Sat 22 Mar 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersStudy Hopper’s key works, including 'Automat' and 'Nighthawks', within the context of biography, social and political events, and movements such as Regionalism, Social Realism and American Scene painting. - 19th century fashion: colour, design and revolution Course start date: Sat 29 Mar 2025
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 £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - 20th century fashion: from Chanel to McQueen Course start date: Sat 5 Apr 2025
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 £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Study day: Turner & Romanticism Course start date: Sat 26 Apr 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore Romanticism as an international movement, focusing on Turner as its key example, considering issues such as social change, biography, material experimentation and artistic and theoretic interests. Includes visit to the National Gallery.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00 - Modern art in America, 1900-1930: the Ashcan School to Precisionism Course start date: Sat 10 May 2025
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersStudy American art, including paintings, illustrations and cartoons from late-nineteenth century Impressionism and Realism to Precisionism, analysing movements and styles, social and political context, materials, and art theory.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £55.00 Concession £45.00
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