Doing Art History

Course Overview

Our Doing Art History short course revolves around eight art historical case studies, using well-known and less familiar objects in a variety of media, from the Middle Ages to now. Seminar discussions focus on visual appearances, materials and techniques and how they contribute to our understanding of a work, to learn how to visually analyse works and the difference between description and analysis.

These skills will be developed during workshops, in which we also read a range of art historical texts to begin to learn the conventions of art historical writing and how to use them in our own writing.

Case studies typically include celebrated works from national collections available in London, such as the National Gallery and Tate Modern, and elsewhere. Examples include:

• Jan van Eyck Arnolfini, Double Portrait of a young man and woman, 1434, National Gallery, London
• Bernini, Apollo and Daphne, 1622-1625, Galleria Borghese, Rome
• St Pancras station, George Gilbert Scott and William Henry Barlow, 1865-1876
• Liz Arthur Johnson, Time Don’t Run Here, at Tate Modern, made during the Black Lives Matter protests throughout summer 2020 in London

Assessment of this course is via two visual analyses of 500 and 1000 words (10% and 50%) and a 1000-word article/chapter summary (40%).

As a student on this course, you will study alongside Birkbeck students enrolled on one of our undergraduate or postgraduate courses, giving you the opportunity to network with a range of Birkbeck current students whilst you learn.

This can be taken as a standalone short course or as part of:

• Art History (Certificate of Higher Education)

Credits: 30 credits at level 4