Short course
How to Look at Art: Key Skills in Visual and Contextual Analysis
Course status:
Applications being accepted
Dates and time:
14/04/2027 - 16/06/202716:30 - 18:30
Study format:
In-person weekly
Fees:
£315.00
Do you enjoy museums and galleries? Are you looking to expand your vocabulary for engaging with works of art, and your knowledge of the historical contexts in which they were made? Are you interested in studying the history of art with us?
This course offers an introduction to art history as an academic discipline. You will develop the vocabulary for translating visual experience into words, both oral and written. We will examine the social circumstances in which artworks are made and experienced, and ask how these impact our understanding of them as well as provide insight into the cultures from which they emerge. We will consider how the context in which we engage with artworks, from museums to print rooms, auction houses to city streets, informs our experience and interpretation.
We will develop our skills together through slow, in-depth examination of art—including paintings, sculptures, buildings, and works on paper—as well as close reading of key texts. Each week we will concentrate on a selection of works that can be examined firsthand in Oxford, giving you the opportunity to practice close looking locally and at your convenience outside of class time.
Book this course
Book your place online using the button below.
Contact the team
Phone: +44 (0)1865 280900
Course starts Wednesday 14 April 2027
This is an in-person course which requires your attendance at the weekly meetings in Oxford on Wednesdays, 4.30-6.30pm.
Week 1: An Introduction to the Skill of Visual Analysis
Week 2: From Description to Interpretation: Looking at Paintings
Week 3: Understanding Different Media
Week 4: Ways of Writing About Art: Academic and Other Approaches
Week 5: Tracing the Artist’s Process
Week 6: Sculpture and Space
Week 7: Mapping Form and Function in Architecture
Week 8: Photography, Modernity, and the Problem of Truth
Week 9: How are Canons Made?
Week 10: Display Contexts and Interpretation
Please note: students will have to arrange their own transport for the field trip, and cover the cost of any entry fees.
Course aims
This course aims to enable participants to develop a foundation in art history practice, including key skills in visual and contextual analysis.
Course objectives
By the end of the course, participants will have been given the opportunity to:
- develop an understanding of art history as an academic discipline
- develop skills in analysing diverse forms of art, including painting, works on paper, sculpture, and architecture
- develop skills in context analysis of works of art
Learning outcomes
- To provide skills in close looking and the translation of visual experience into language.
- To provide a foundation for future study.
Level and demands
The Department’s Weekly Classes are taught at FHEQ Level 4, ie first year undergraduate level, and you will be expected to engage in a significant amount of private study in preparation for the classes. This may take the form, for instance, of reading and analysing set texts, responding to questions or tasks, or preparing work to present in class.
Teaching methods
Short lectures followed by discussion and conversation.
Assessment methods
Only those students who have registered for assessment and accreditation, in advance of the course start date, can submit coursework/assignments for assessment.
Assessment
You will be set two pieces of work for the course. The first of 500 words is due halfway through your course. This does not count towards your final outcome but preparing for it, and the feedback you are given, will help you prepare for your assessed piece of work of 1,500 words due at the end of the course. The assessed work is marked pass or fail.
Dr Allison Deutsch
Allison Deutsch is a specialist in nineteenth-century French painting and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She joined Oxford Lifelong Learning in 2023, and has directed the undergraduate Certificate and Diploma programmes in the History of Art. Dr Deutsch has also taught and held Fellowships at Birkbeck, University of London, and University College London [UCL]. Her work has been funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the Institute of Advanced Studies at UCL. In 2021 her first book, Consuming Painting: Food and the Feminine in Impressionist Paris, was published by Penn State University Press, and she has authored chapters in volumes published by Routledge and Yale University Press. Deutsch’s articles have appeared in Nineteenth-Century French Studies, Dix-Neuf, and Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, among others. If you are interested in France, food, or feminism, Dr Deutsch looks forward to learning with you!
Academic credit
Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme (CATS Points)
Please note, students who do not register for assessment and accreditation during the enrolment process will not be able to do so after the course has begun. If you wish to gain credit from completing this course you must register to do so before the course starts.
Only those who have registered for assessment and accreditation will be awarded CATS points for completing work to the required standard. Please note that assignments are not graded but are marked either pass or fail.
Learn more about the Credit Accumulation Transfer Scheme.
If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education at the Department you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee for assessment and accreditation.
Digital certificate of completion
Students who are registered for assessment and accreditation and pass their final assignment will also be eligible for a digital Certificate of Completion. Information on how to access the digital certificate will be emailed to you after the end of the course. The certificate will show your name, the course title and the dates of the course attended. You will be able to download the certificate and share it on social media if you choose to do so.
Fees
| Description | Costs |
|---|---|
| Course fee (with no assessment) | £315.00 |
| Assessment and Accreditation fee | £60.00 |
Funding
If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, or are a care-leaver in the UK, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:
Concessionary fees for short courses
Recommended reading
Recommended reading is optional and you are not required to purchase these books to study this course.
Library facilities
All short course students (online and in-person) may register to borrow from the Oxford Lifelong Learning Library, for the duration of their course.
Further information about the Oxford Lifelong Learning Library can be found on the library website.
Preparatory reading
- Ways of Seeing / Berger, John.
- Methods and Theories of Art History / D’Alleva, Anne.
- Writing About Art / Munsterberg, Marjorie
Module code: O26P469ARW
How to enrol
Please use the ‘Book now’ button on this page.
How to register for accreditation and assessment
To be able to submit coursework and to earn credit (CATS points) for this course, if you wish to do so, you will need to register and pay an additional £60 fee. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.
Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process will not be able to do so after the course has begun.
If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education at the Department you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.