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Our courses will enrich your understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts. They enable those with prior knowledge to take a fresh look at the arts while offering the beginner something more substantial and informative than a standard history of styles. It is important to us that learning is an enjoyable and exciting experience as well as the chance to socialise and exchange ideas with like minded fellow students. We attract participants from a wide range of countries and backgrounds; some have degrees in the History of Art, some have taken courses elsewhere and some are "absolute beginners".
Each programme takes a fresh and innovative approach to the thought and arts of various periods and cultures and is carefully constructed to be logical and coherent with room for debate and discussion. We ensure that you are getting up to date information and high quality visual materials. Courses can be booked by the year, the term, a block or just a day at a time. Read more...
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Three Ways Of Looking At The World
Wednesdays 10.45 - 12.45 23 September 2009 - 9 June 2010 |
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How humankind has searched for ways to explain and understand the world, its inhabitants and its place in universal order. Gods and Men: How the highly evolved myth systems of the ancient world explained the creation of all things and the relationships between the gods and those whose destiny they controlled. The Philosophers: The ideas of those natural, speculative and moral philosophers who have offered alternative ways of understanding the world and the responsibilities of humanity. The Theologians: Theological views and how they have (or have not) changed in the modern world.
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Exploring London
Wednesdays 10.45 - 12.45 30 September 2009 - 23 June 2010 |
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The London of Charles Dickens: Dickens was one of the great observers of life in the capital. This series of lectures and visits presents new themes drawn from the inexhaustible information to be found in his books and works of journalism. The Archaeology of London 600-1, 600 AD: As London is reinvented in the modern world, it reveals new evidence of its past. This series looks at the latest discoveries of sites and objects. 'The Silvery Thames': A celebration of the many faces of London's great river.
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Town and Country - The Life of an Italian Prince
Tuesdays 10.45 - 12.45 21 September 2010 - 8 February 2011 |
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Peace, money and aspiration transformed the daily life of the Renaissance Prince from the misery of a dank castle to a civilised environment full of light, culture and the arts. This series of lectures unravels the life of ten families, whose histories vary from the later 15th century to the mid 17th century either in great cities or in the country. For some, the arts was a personal pleasure, for others culture was a deliberate attempt to remind us today of their illustrious family name. Rich and varied, these lectures will take in Italian Gardens, Art, Architecture and Sculpture as well as Gem Collecting, Music and Poetry.
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Picturing Dante
Tuesdays 10.45 - 12.45 26 October 2010 - 23 November 2010 |
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What Botticelli, Flaxman, Blake, Gustav Doré, Salvador Dalì and others drew and painted when they read Dante, in The Divine Comedy, speaking of what he saw, on a journey no man had ever made before, through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise.
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Ecstasies of the Mind and Senses
Tuesdays 10.45 - 12.45 15 February 2011 - 15 March 2011 |
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Why do we so seldom put paintings and the written word side by side and marvel at the common quest of artists and poets? This course will explore Symbolism's gift to us in images and poems (and in music) which reveal the shared creative agendas of some of the most exciting painters and writers of the late 18th and 19th centuries.
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From Utility to Luxury: Decorative Arts of The Renaissance
Tuesdays 10.45 - 12.45 26 April 2011 - 24 May 2011 |
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Whereas traditional art history has centred on painting, sculpture and architecture, the so-called 'decorative' or 'applied' arts are the focus of renewed interest. This course will explore the techniques, varied contexts and meanings of Renaissance Decorative Arts. Contracts indicate that arts such as furniture and metalwork were incredibly expensive commissions and functioned as potent status symbols. For religious communities, items such as metal reliquaries were imbued with sacred importance, while in the domestic context, richly decorated possessions were indicators of wealth and standing.
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The History of Modernity from Bars to Stars and Stripes
Tuesdays 10.45 - 12.45 31 May 2011 - 28 June 2011 |
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The whole series is a journey from early modernism to the present day. The aim is to make modern art understandable and accessible and to de-mystify contemporary art. Students will learn the language of modern art and learn how to de-construct work from the late 19th century to the 1950s. The journey will be provocative and illuminating.
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Revelations
Wednesdays 10.45 - 12.45 22 September 2010 - 29 June 2011 |
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The Latin word revelation means 'unveiling' and specifically the unveiling of truths concerning destiny and the intentions of the gods. Humankind has sought revelation since the earliest times and has used an infinite number of ways to achieve it from augury and astrology to starvation and the use of drugs. This course is about the nature of revelation in the ancient and modern worlds and the arts it has inspired.
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The London Course: The Model and the Muse
London in the Eye of Painters for 500 Years
Wednesdays 10.45 - 12.45 29 September 2010 - 22 June 2011 |
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As with writers and musicians London has acted as a magnet over the centuries to great artists both from Europe and at home: each has left an extraordinary record for the archive of the London as they saw it. This course will combine the historic significance of the artist's subject matter with the unique style of the painter, and will illustrate the grandeur and miniscule intimacy of life in a great world city, which established its own special inspired relationships. Each walk and visit focuses on themes which artists have depicted, and further takes in the wider historic environment.
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Archaeology at The British Museum
Thursdays 10.45 - 12.45 27 January 2011 - 10 March 2011 |
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It would take a year to know all the galleries of the British Museum. How well do you know them? With emphasis on its often outstanding archaeological material, Geoffrey Toms will lead tours in understanding the significance and evidence of its lesser known treasures. These three visits are designed as the start of a series.
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