Becoming an Art Historian: Study Skills in Art History
At a Glance
- Classroom course (South Kensington)
- Wednesdays 10:30 - 12:30 (fortnightly)
- 10 weeks: October - March
- Starts 16 October 2024
- Fees from £144
- Tutor: Dr Michael Paraskos
This course is confirmed to run
- This course has reached its minimum numbers to run
For this course Dr Michael Paraskos is looking for a small group of people who are interested in developing their skills in the study of art history.
You do not need any previous experience in art history, but the purpose of the course is to help you reach a level of understanding in the subject that will allow you to apply for further study in art history with relevant experience and confidence.
Alternatively, you might want to take the class as a stand-alone course, to help you to enhance your enjoyment of visits to museums and galleries.
We will meet once every two weeks, and in the classes look at how to view, analyse and discuss works of art from different periods. I guarantee you will be surprised at how quickly you will move on from the basics to more sophisticated ways of thinking about art.
As this is intended as an active course, you will have tasks to complete, which will include taking part in classrooom discussions on texts you will be given and undertaking short writing assignments to complete at home.
By the end of the course you should be able to:
- apply a logical and systematic method of analysis to various art
- structure and write coherent short 'sample essays' and presentations
- identify and apply basic academic theoretical models to the understanding of culture.
As well as being intellectually stimulating the course will be a lot of fun, as we delve into how art can be understood and discussed in different ways.
Possible Course Combination
This course can be studied on its own, or it can be combined with the classes Collecting Photographs, taught on Tuesdays, looking at the market for photographic prints and how to build up a photographic collection, or it can be combined From Art Studio to Art Market, taught on Wednesdays, looking at the wider art world and the way it operates.
Class Recordings
These classes are not recorded
Attendance Certificate
Successful completion of this course leads to the award of an Imperial College attendance certificate
Terms and conditions apply to all enrolments to this course. Please read them before enrolment
Course Information
Course Programme
Most meetings are held once every two weeks at Imperial College London's South Kensington Campus
Session 1: Wednesday 16 October 2024
Introducing Art History: Using SCIF to ask the right questions
Session 2: Wednesday 30 October 2024
Ekfrastic and Formalist Analysis
Session 3: Evening Lecture Thursday 14 November 2024 at 6.30pm*
Speaker: Jo Lawson-Tancred on her new book "AI and the Art Market"
Session 4: Wednesday 20 November
Using Dialectics as a Critical Tool
Session 5: Wednesday 4 December 2024
Site Visit to Tate Britain (Meet at Tate Britain, Milbank)
***CHRISTMAS BREAK***
Session 6: Wednesday 8 January 2025
Using semiotics as a critical tool
Session 7: Wednesday 22 January 2025
The objective voice and academic conventions
Session 8: Wednesday 5 February 2025
Using Marxism and Feminism as critical tools
Session 9: Wednesday 19 February 2025
Literary parallels - how can poetry and prose help us understand art?
Session 10: Wednesday 5 March 2025
The non-objective voice and academic conventions
Session 11: Wednesday 19 March 2025
Your presentations and what next?
Meeting titles and dates are subject to confirmation.
You will also have access to 15 recorded lectures, which you can view in your own time, each looking at a different artist. You should use these to help build up your Personal Development Archive (or PDA), which is a record of your own studies in art history. More advice on this will be given in the first session.
Recorded lectures (may be subject to change)
- El Greco
- Frank Brangwyn
- Veronese
- Jacques-Louis David
- Franz Hals
- Marianne von Werefkin
- Rosa Bonheur
- John Everett Millais
- Evelyn de Morgan
- Paul Signac
- Marianne von Werefkin
- Laura Knight
- Helen Frankenthaler
- Augusta Savage
- Alice Neel
Progressing to Further Study
This class can be taken as a course in its own right, and is designed to help you get more out of visiting museums and galleries and enjoying art, even if you do not want to take further art history courses.
However, the course could be a first step in you becoming an art historian, with progress possible to further study on either non-credit bearing courses (such as further adult education classes at Imperial or elsewhere), or onto credit bearing courses that could lead to a degree-level qualification in art history.
We do not guarantee entry to further study courses (as that will be dependent on the admissions criteria for those institutions), but we have had success in the past in placing graduates from this course on degree courses at Birkbeck University of London.
Your Tutor
Dr Michael Paraskos is a very experienced adult education tutor, having taught for over twenty-five years. He holds a Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and also teaches art history to undergraduate students at the City and Guilds of London Art School.
He is a writer of both fiction and non-fiction and has published very widely on art of this period, as well as reviewing exhibitions and novels for BBC Radio 4’s Front Row and The Spectator magazine. His first novel In Search of Sixpence was published in 2016 and his second, called Barfrestone was published in 2024.
Course Fees and Rate Categories
| Weeks | Standard Rate | Internal Rate | Associate Rate | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Early Bird: £241 Full price: £268 |
Early Bird: £144 Full price: £160 |
Early Bird: £190 Full price: £211 |
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| All fee rates quoted are for the whole course. Early Bird rates are available until the end of 30 September only. Part-payments are not possible. | |||||
Rate Categories and Discounts
Standard Rate
- Available to all except those who fall under the Internal Rate or Associate Rate category.
Internal Rate
- Current Imperial College students and staff (incl. Imperial NHS Trust, Imperial Innovations, ancillary & service staff employed on long-term contracts at Imperial College by third-party contractors)
- People enrolling under our Friends & Family scheme
- Alumni of Imperial College and predecessor colleges and institutes, including City & Guilds College Association members
- Students, staff and alumni of the Royal College of Art, Royal College of Music and City, UAL and the City and Guilds of London Art School
- Students, staff and Governors of Woodhouse College and the IC Mathematics School
Associate Rate
- Austrian Cultural Forum staff
- Co-operative College members
- Francis Crick Institute staff, researchers and students
- Friends and Patrons of the English Chamber Orchestra
- Friends of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens
- Friends of Leighton House/ Sambourne House
- Friends of the Royal College of Music
- Harrods staff
- Historic Royal Palaces staff
- Lycee Charles de Gaulle staff
- Members of the Friends of Imperial College
- Members of the Kennel Club
- Members of the London Zoological Society
- Members of the South London Botanical Institute (SLBI)
- Members of the UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP)
- National Health Service (NHS) employees
- Natural History Museum staff
- Residents of postcodes SW3, SW5, SW7, SW10 and W8
- Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council staff
- Royal Geographical Society staff
- Science Museum staff
- Staff of Exhibition Road Cultural Group (Discover South Kensington) organisations
- Students (non-Imperial College)
- Teachers and other staff of UK schools
- The American Institute for Foreign Study
- Tutors and other staff of institution members of the Association of Colleges
- Tutors and other staff of other universities and higher education institutions
- Victoria and Albert Museum staff
Late enrolment
It is possible to enrol on many of our adult education courses after the course has already started. For non-language courses this is subject entirely to agreement by the tutor. For language courses it is subject to agreement by the language coordinator conducting level assessment. If you want to join a course late do bear in mind there might be work you will need to catch up on, particularly in language courses.
Friends and Family Scheme
This course is eligible for allowing Imperial College students and staff to share their discount with their friends and family.
Term Dates 2024-2025
| Weeks | Autumn term | Spring term | Summer term | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Week starting 28 October - week ending 14 December 2024 (4 sessions)* | Week starting 13 January - week ending 29 March 2025 (6 sessions)* | n/a | ||
| *This is a 2-term course - Autumn term PLUS Spring term - with one session every fortnight. The Christmas break separates both terms. | |||||
Enrolment Process
Enrolment via the blue booking link is open. Early-bird discounts are available until the end of 30 September 2024
Enrolment and payment run through the Imperial College eStore. When enrolling:
- Do check on the drop down menu above called "Course Fees and Rate Categories" to see if you are eligible for a discounted rate and also do make sure you select that rate when enrolling on the eStore
- If you are a first-time eStore user you will need to create an account before enrolling. You can do this by entering an email address and password. This account can then be used for any future enrolments via the eStore.
When you have enrolled you will be sent the following email notifications:
| What is sent | When is it sent | What does it contain | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Payment confirmation | Is sent straight away following submission of your online application |
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| 2. Enrolment confirmation | Is usually sent within 10 working days. Please treat your payment confirmation as confirmation that your applicant details and payment have been received |
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| 3. Programme information | Is usually sent on Friday late afternoon the week before term starts |
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Any Questions?
Questions regarding the content and teaching of this course should be sent to the tutor, Dr Michael Paraskos, m.paraskos@imperial.ac.uk
If you have any questions about your enrolment or payment processes please contact the Programme Administrator, Christian Jacobi, eveningclass@imperial.ac.uk