The World in Twenty Art Works

In examining a range of exceptional artworks of many different types and drawn from many cultures and periods, this subject explores how art can be a window into different times, peoples and places across the world, as well as into our own beliefs and the contemporary world. Each lecture will focus on one artwork from a watershed moment in the history of art. Artworks examined will include a wide range of media: from altarpieces to photography, painting to sculpture, and architecture to decorative arts. As well as introducing students to current issues in art history and visual studies, and to a wide variety of art practices, mediums and traditions seen through multiple perspectives, it will equip students with a toolkit for examining, understanding and writing about artworks.