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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- Focus on: Giotto
Course start date: Sun 29 Jan 2023Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Leslie PrimoDiscover the life and work of Giotto, was one of the earliest artists to be written about within his lifetime, his genius held up as the ideal by Italian painting critics for the next five centuries.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Velázquez, painter to the KingCourse start date: Sat 25 Feb 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Mark Stuart-SmithInvestigate the work of the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez, including enigmatic paintings such as Las Meninas (1656), and learn about how his art relates to his political role as court painter to Philip IV.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Looking at architectureCourse start date: Sat 25 Feb 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersStudy significant examples of Western architecture from the ancient to post-modern era, including works by contributors such as Wren, Pugin, Gaudi and Le Corbusier, considering style, materials and techniques, function, as well as social, political and cultural contexts that shaped the buildings.Full fee £109.00 Senior fee £87.00 Concession £71.00 - Focus on: British printmaking in the late 19th and early 20th centuryCourse start date: Sun 26 Feb 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Julia MusgraveDiscover the work of the significant artist-printmakers who worked in Britain from the late 19th century through to the Interwar period: the printmaking processes they used, and the ways they variously responded to tradition and modernity.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Focus on: David HockneyCourse start date: Sun 5 Mar 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Julie BarlowIn 2011 David Hockney was voted most influential British artist of all time in a poll of over 1000 artists. Explore how Hockney’s career as painter, photographer and writer has evolved over six decades.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Cutting it fine: collage in modern & contemporary artCourse start date: Sun 5 Mar 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Chantal CondronImmerse yourself in an exploration of the history of collage going as far back as ancient China to international contemporary art today. This engaging study day will enhance your knowledge of the roots of this fascinating media, and illustrate how collage techniques have been pivotal to major modern and contemporary art movements, from Cubism, Dada and Surrealism to photomontage and digital art.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Purchasing power: patronage and art buying in the Italian RenaissanceCourse start date: Sun 12 Mar 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Lydia GoodsonDiscover the back-story of 'how art works come to be' by learning about the patronage and production of artworks in Renaissance Italy.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Focus on: iconographyCourse start date: Sun 26 Mar 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Leslie PrimoEver wondered whether there’s a hidden meaning behind paintings? Discover why there are signs and symbols in paintings and how to find and interpret their meanings in medieval and Renaissance art.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Focus on: HopperCourse start date: Sat 29 Apr 2023
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.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Introduction to the art of art history - part 2Course start date: Sat 6 May 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersExplore a variety of art movements, from Neo-Classicism to Abstract Expressionism through an introductory study of the writing of art theorists and commentators who have made a significant contribution to Art History as a discipline.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £135.00 Concession £110.00 - Looking at design: Arts and Crafts to Art DecoCourse start date: Sat 6 May 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersStudy the design reform movements – Arts and Crafts, Aesthetic Movement, Art Nouveau and Art Deco – and analyse a wide range of products, including fashion and textiles, graphics, furniture and architecture within their social, historic and artistic context. Includes a museum visit.Full fee £139.00 Senior fee £111.00 Concession £90.00 - Study day: Degas, drawing the modernCourse start date: Sun 21 May 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayExplore Degas’s extraordinary legacy as ‘one of the founders of Impressionism’. His dynamic paintings and sketches of everyday life and activities, and his bold colour experiments will be examined throughout this informative weekend art history course.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Focus on: 19th-century fashionCourse 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 - Focus on: 20th-century fashionCourse 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 - Introduction to the art of art history - part 1Course start date: Sat 14 Jan 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Rachel SandersThis course is an introduction to Art History as an academic discipline. Students will study artworks from a variety of approaches, considering such aspects as formal analysis, material studies, and social, cultural and artistic contexts.Full fee £269.00 Senior fee £215.00 Concession £175.00
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