Explore History, Culture & Writing
Explore our extraordinary range of History, Culture and Writing courses and lectures. We offer both introductory and specialist in-depth courses to suit all levels of interest and experience, from ‘How to read a film’ and World literature, to Creative non-fiction writing courses and American history and Politics courses.
Our tutors are experts in their fields and experienced educators; many have published, teach in universities or share their expertise in the media. Tutors share their knowledge and passion through presentations, readings, interactive discussion and exercises, analysis, and other activities.
Many students return to take more courses, telling us they enjoy being part of our City Lit Learning community.
Our popular courses often sell out quickly, so we invite you to browse and book your place now.
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- Friday lates: 'the future is now', an introduction to video art
Course start date: Fri 9 Jun 2023Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Irina ChkhaidzeExplore the early history of video art, its rise as a medium and its significance as a contemporary art practice. We focus on the influential video works from the 1960s-1980s.
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: Agnes Martin - pioneer, painter, iconCourse start date: Fri 16 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Henry MartinThis course examines the unconventional life and artworks of Agnes Martin (1912–2004), regarded as one of the great artists of the Twentieth Century. Topics covered include Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, LGBTQ artists, and the role of the biography in Art History.
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 - 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 - 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 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Gold, gemstones and enamel: the fascinating story of Islamic jewelleryCourse start date: Mon 26 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Roberta MarinThis course will offer an overview on the most interesting pieces of jewellery produced by Islamic dynasties along the centuries.
This session accompanies the forthcoming Classics Day (RCD61) organised by City Lit in partnership with the British Museum and University College London. This year’s inspiration is the major British Museum exhibition “Luxury and power: Persia to Greece”.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £10.00 - Sex and the city: Jeanne Mammen & Otto Dix's 1920s BerlinCourse start date: Mon 26 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Sarah JaffrayExplore the roles that both art and science played in the liberation of sexual expression in 1920s Berlin. This lecture looks subjects of Jeanne Mammen, Otto Dix and Magnus Hirshfeld and how their work reflects the potential of freedom in the face of fascism.
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 £10.00 Concession £7.00 - Snapshot Queers: Nan Goldin and Wolfgang TillmansCourse start date: Wed 28 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Henry MartinThis course explores how photographers Nan Goldin (b. 1953) and Wolfgang Tillmans (b. 1968) employ the aesthetic of the snapshot to document queer communities, with a focus on their early careers and unique installation and photographic practices.
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 £10.00 Concession £7.00 - 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 - The enduring fascination of Medea: adapting Euripides for the modern stageCourse start date: Fri 30 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Jenny StevensEuripides’ Medea has fascinated audiences for centuries, its tragic action confronting spectators with scenarios almost too terrible to contemplate. Successive generations have adapted the play for their own times, ensuring its place in theatrical repertoires and the cultural consciousness. This course considers how 20th and 21st century adaptations of the tragedy have responded to its most compelling and disturbing act: Medea’s killing of her own children.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 - A day at the V&A: an introduction to the collectionsCourse start date: Mon 3 Jul 2023
Location on this date: Off Site
Tutors: Elizabeth EyresSpend a fascinating day at the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum exploring a range of galleries. We shall be looking at the decorative arts, paintings, sculpture and design from across the world and across the centuries in this remarkable museum.Full fee £49.00 Senior fee £39.00 Concession £32.00 - Art history taster
Course start date: Fri 7 Jul 2023 (and 1 other date)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
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 Senior fee £15.00 Concession £12.00 - Fra Filippo Lippi and Fra Angelico – the two monastic paintersCourse start date: Tue 11 Jul 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Emma Rose BarberJoin us for a close reading of the works of Fra Filippo Lippi and Fra Angelico, two of 15th century Italy's most influential artists. We study their techniques, their subject matter and how they communicated narratives in painting. Explore all the wonderful tactile visual details they added to the works.
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
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