Renaissance and Reformation : British Art and Hans Holbein
Artists: Hans Holbein and John Bettes
You will be introduced to the course and methods of analysis. The prime focus will be on the work of Hans Holbein in the 16th Century. You will explore the Renaissance in art and its effect in Britain, especially the impact of the Reformation on portraiture.
People, Pictures and Propaganda: Portraiture in the 16th and 17th Century
Artists: Nicholas Hilliard and Anthony Van Dyck
This session will look at British art after the Renaissance. You will focus primarily on the persistence of portraiture as a distinctly British genre, and look analytically and critically at painters such as Hilliard and Van Dyck and their relationship to politics and their patrons.
Academies & Canons: British Art in the 18th Century
Artists: Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough and Angelica Kauffman
Key developments during the 18th Century will be discussed including the trend for neo-classicism and the founding of the Royal Academy. You will reflect on Reynolds' portraits and lectures at the Academy, and explore how 18th Century British artists began to expand their art and explore new subjects through their work.
Beautiful Imaginations and Genius: British Romanticism and The Sublime
Artists: William Hogarth, William Blake and John Martin
This session continues your exploration of art in the 18th Century in response to the Enlightenment. You will explore how artists addressed issues of commercialism surrounding their work, as well as their embracing of new, exciting and personal subject matter.
All that is solid melts into air: British Art & Modern Painting
Visit to Tate Britain
Artists: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Edward Millais & Whistler
This visit will explore art produced around the time of the Industrial Revolution (1800s) and will determine how artists responded to such huge social and cultural developments. The Pre-Raphaelites will be compared to British painters inspired by the French Impressionists.
The Broken Touch: Modern British Art
Artists: The Bloomsbury Group, Jacob Epstein and David Bomberg
Here you will explore developments in painting after the Industrial Revolution and how British artists responded to European avant-garde movements. You will also examine the First World War and how it affected the themes and forms of British painting.
Truth to Materials: Modern British Sculpture and The St. Ives School
Artists: Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore
This session will explore Modern British art produced between the two World Wars, particularly paintings and sculptures by artists in St. Ives who made significant contributions to abstract art.
This is Tomorrow: Post-War British Art & Popular Culture
Artists: Edward Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton and Peter Blake
You will look at developments in British art after the Second World War and the relationship between popular culture, consumerism, advertising and Pop Art.
Disturbing Comforts: The Body and BritArt
Artists: Francis Bacon, Mark Wallinger, Sarah Lucas, Jenny Saville & Damien Hirst
This session explores the boom in popularity of British artists during the 80s and 90s, exploring art’s relationship to political climates, contemporary patrons, and public sensibility. Did the BritArtists deliberately intend to shock? How important was Charles Saatchi for British art in the 1990s?
Building Ruins: Contemporary British Art
This concluding session aims to give an overview of what is happening in contemporary British art: who are the new leading lights and what are their concerns? What is the future of British Art?
