12 Art History 1

Studying art history is a valuable means of understanding art and culture.  Art History is concerned with the analysis and interpretation of art works within their cultural and historical contexts. In order to understand any period in time, Art has always been a source of information and interpretation.

The objective of the art history course is to enable students to:

• Use and understand art historical terminology.
• Recognise technical and stylistic conventions and the formal and expressive qualities of an artwork.
• Distinguish between individual, regional and period styles.
• Understand the ways in which symbols and signs are used to create meaning in art.
• Understand the function of art within its social context and of the relationships between art, artists and society.
• Understand the ways in which values are attached to art.

This course will develop your literacy, critical thinking and analytical skills both visually and written, as well being able to communicate your own views and opinions. These transferable skills will be applied while examining artworks from the history of Western Art. We hold an annual trip to the University of Auckland and the Auckland Art Gallery. 

This course covers art from 19th century France focusing on the historical periods of: Neo-classicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism and Post-impressionism. We explore historical events such as the French Revolution, the Industrial Revolution and the Modernisation of  France through a social, political and economic lens in the medium of painting, sculpture and architecture.

You are not expected to be competent in art making, this is a visual analysis subject that is literacy based. You will learn to analyse and interpret art and communicated this understanding in written form. Students taking visual art subjects as well as considering Scholarship Art are recommended to take this course.

Skills learnt in Art History can lead to work in a wide range of roles including architects,  lawyers, writers, historians, visual communications, marketing coordinators, administrators, customers service advisers, website content developers, sales advisers, recruitment consultants, educators and project coordinators.

2025 is also the year we will be taking Art History students to Europe to see and experience artworks studied in real life. 

Term 1

Introduction to Art History

Become familiar with Art History terminology

Context: French Revolution and Enlightenment

Style: Neoclassicism 

Artists: Vigee le Brun, David, Ingres and Canova

Internal: 2.5 communicate understanding of an Art History topic 

Term 2

Context: French Revolutions; Socialism 

Style: Romanticism; Realism, Impressionism

Artists: Gericault, Delacroix, Daumier, Millet, Courbet, Manet, Monet, Degas

Term 3

Internal: 2.4 Examine how media are used to create effects

Context: Industrial Revolution and the modernisation of Paris

Styles: Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism 

Artists: Cassatt, Morisot, Van Gogh, Seurat, Gauguin, Cezanne 

Exam preparation. 

Term 4

Exam preparation