Art History

This course will explore the major artists, movements, cultures, and ideas that have shaped the history of art. Through a combination of lectures and tours of New York City’s museums, students will engage in an intensive study of famous works of art, art history movements, and global cultures. This unique course will guide students on a journey through some of the most compelling examples of human creativity worldwide. Site visits and behind-the-scenes access will provide unique opportunities to explore art and art history in a way that only New York City can offer. While this course covers some of the key artworks and movements discussed in the AP Art History curriculum, all students will benefit from the opportunity to see masterpieces in person in New York and to have their studies augmented by global perspectives.

Students will begin in the ancient world, using The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s vast collection to learn about the dynamic visual traditions of ancient cultures such as the Egyptians, Pre-Columbian societies, and early Chinese dynasties. Students will then explore Islamic art from the Met’s glittering collection of manuscripts, ceramics, jewelry, and textiles. Students will investigate the art of the Renaissance, Baroque, and Enlightenment through an exploration of the newly renovated Frick Collection, while also considering some of the great monuments concurrently created by people across the Atlantic in Central and South America. Students will also engage with art spanning the great continent of Asia concurrently with these movements, including Japanese woodblock prints from the Edo period and Chinese ceramics. The course will move through Impressionism and Modernism by looking at art in the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Culminating in a study of contemporary art, students will make their final stop at the Whitney Museum of American Art, discovering how artists today tackle crucial topics such as race, geopolitics, gender, sexuality, disability, and class. Throughout the course, guest scholars will provide unique global insights into how art history has been shaped into the discipline it is today. Over this dynamic global journey, students will gain a new framework for understanding different styles and concepts that have shaped the history of art.