History of Art

Contemporary culture has become increasingly dependent on the visual, especially for its capacity to communicate instantly and universally. The fact that images are able to grab our attention quickly is increasingly used to enhance the experience of communicating online and on social media. Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image.

A Level History of Art provides students with the skills to understand and confidently evaluate important works of art from the ancient world to the present day and involves the  historical, theoretical and critical study of painting, sculpture and architecture. Although the focus of the course is on western art, students are exposed to artwork from a wider cultural framework in the first year of the course.