Introduction to Art History for High School Part I (Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance)

**ATTENTION PARENTS** Due to parent requests, a handful of sections of this class run twice a week over five weeks, instead of once a week for ten weeks. These sections run on Mondays and Wednesdays exclusively. The following start dates are for these twice per week sections:   7/15

In this class, students will explore the development of artistic production throughout world history over the course of ten weeks, starting with paleolithic art and ending with the Italian and German Renaissances of the 15th and 16th centuries. This class is designed for students aged 13-18 as a way of exploring world history through the arts. Each week, students will attend a 50 minute lecture and participate in a class discussion in the classroom message boards on the given topic for the week. Students will participate in two writing assignments over the course of the semester to invite students to think critically about artworks that interest them. 

The class schedule can be found under the syllabus section below! Please feel free to reach out with schedule requests.


Week 9: The Italian Renaissance
This week, students will be exposed to a number of famous artists through our discussion of the Italian Renaissance. Students will learn about how the Renaissance happened and the importance of humanism at this time. They will primarily discuss painting and discuss the shift to more realism within images, starting with the works of Raphael. Then, we will discuss representations of the human body during this time, comparing Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man and Michelangelo's images on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Students will discuss the differences in art production in different parts of Italy and the importance of the church in commissioning some of the most famous works of this time.

Week 10: The Northern/German Renaissance
Week 4 covers the lesser known Northern or German Renaissance. Students will learn about the differences in artistic development between Italy and Northern Europe at this time, focusing on paintings by artists like Jan Van Eyck and Albrecht Durer--through which students will learn about the shifting role of the artist in society. Further, students will be introduced to the idea of genre painting, or painting of everyday scenes and discuss why this might be important. Students will learn about art for the masses this week and discuss the importance of the invention of the printing press. This class, we will wrap up our discussion on the Renaissance and how it will impact art moving forward, which is where part two of this class picks up.