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How to Look at and Understand Great Art

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Overview

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Featuring masterpieces from 250+ of the world's greatest artists, this in-depth guide to the practical skill of viewing art will help you reach new levels of appreciation.

Syllabus

  • 01: The Importance of First Impressions
  • 02: Where Am I? Point of View and Focal Point
  • 03: Color—Description, Symbol, and More
  • 04: Line—Description and Expression
  • 05: Space, Shape, Shade, and Shadow
  • 06: Seeing the Big Picture—Composition
  • 07: The Illusion—Getting the Right Perspective
  • 08: Art That Moves Us—Time and Motion
  • 09: Feeling with Our Eyes—Texture and Light
  • 10: Drawing—Dry, Liquid, and Modern Media
  • 11: Printmaking—Relief and Intaglio
  • 12: Modern Printmaking—Planographic
  • 13: Sculpture—Salt Cellars to Monuments
  • 14: Development of Painting—Tempera and Oils
  • 15: Modern Painting—Acrylics and Assemblages
  • 16: Subject Matters
  • 17: Signs—Symbols, Icons, and Indexes in Art
  • 18: Portraits—How Artists See Others
  • 19: Self-Portraits—How Artists See Themselves
  • 20: Landscapes—Art of the Great Outdoors
  • 21: Putting It All Together
  • 22: Early Renaissance—Humanism Emergent
  • 23: Northern Renaissance—Devil in the Details
  • 24: High Renaissance—Humanism Perfected
  • 25: Mannerism and Baroque—Distortion and Drama
  • 26: Going Baroque—North versus South
  • 27: 18th-Century Reality and Decorative Rococo
  • 28: Revolutions—Neoclassicism and Romanticism
  • 29: From Realism to Impressionism
  • 30: Postimpressionism—Form and Content Re-Viewed
  • 31: Expressionism—Empathy and Emotion
  • 32: Cubism—An Experiment in Form
  • 33: Abstraction/Modernism—New Visual Language
  • 34: Dada Found Objects/Surreal Doodles and Dreams
  • 35: Postmodernism—Focus on the Viewer
  • 36: Your Next Museum Visit—Do It Yourself!
  • By This Professor

Taught by

Sharon Latchaw Hirsh

Reviews

4.7 rating at The Great Courses Plus based on 254 ratings

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