Introduction to Art History and Museum Studies

If art, as Gombrich suggests, be taken to mean such activities as building temples and houses, making pictures and sculptures, or weaving patterns, then we come to realize that there is no people in the entire world without art. Nor has there been a period in history which did not yield fascinating creations of artistic virtuosity and imagination. Human expression in a visual form can be traced back to its strange beginnings in caves and on rock faces, and it is safe to say that it has not lost a bit of its appeal since. Starting from the oldest images that have come down to us decorating the ceilings of Altamira and Lascaux, from then on to delve into the documented history of art covering the period from the ancient world till the 1960s, this course will introduce the students to the fascinating world of visual arts and its most important monuments in the domains of architecture, sculpture and painting, as rendered in Gombrich’s Story of Art.

Format
During the fifteen weeks of the course, meetings are held twice a week (lectures and/or seminars and/or museum visits). Apart from these meetings, individual meetings may be scheduled to discuss the progress of the paper or other matters. Students write a paper on a particular work of art for which the literature has been assembled in a reader. Written exams will also take place to test the knowledge and understanding of the topics and items that have been discussed. Students practice a number of fundamental techniques of painting and drawing themselves. Such practical work sharpens the student’s eyes for qualities that were compared and discussed during the long and diverse discourse on painting as an art.