Dave's Art History Classes Courses

Prehistoric Art

3 ratings

A survey of prehistoric art, from Paleolithic cave paintings and sculptures to Neolithic megaliths, examining early human creativity.

• YouTube
• 34 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

French Art - Rococo & Neo Classicism

2 ratings

Explore French Rococo and Neoclassical art through the Royal Academy, Salon exhibitions, genre hierarchy, and works by Watteau, Fragonard, and Jacques-Louis David.

• YouTube
• 22 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Art of Ancient Egypt

1 rating

A visual tour of ancient Egyptian art, from Narmer’s palette and the pyramids to Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, mummification, and encaustic portraits.

• YouTube
• 36 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Late Antiquity and Byzantium

1 rating

Explore how Christian art and architecture transformed Roman visual traditions through mosaics, sarcophagi, mausoleums, and domed churches in Late Antiquity and Byzantium.

• YouTube
• 28 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Space and the Illusion of Space in Art History

1 rating

Explore the concept of space in art, including techniques for creating depth and illusion. Learn about perspective, scale, and visual tricks artists use to manipulate spatial perception.

• YouTube
• 42 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Ancient Architecture

1 rating

Trace how ancient builders moved from corbelled stone and post-and-lintel construction to Greek orders, Roman arches, and Byzantine domes.

• YouTube
• 31 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An introduction to art and architecture of the ancient Near East, from Jericho and Mesopotamian ziggurats to Persian reliefs at Persepolis.

• YouTube
• 31 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Italy in the Sixteenth Century

A visual tour of the High Renaissance follows Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo from classical ideals to experimentation and Mannerism in sixteenth-century Italy.

• YouTube
• 55 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Printmaking

An introduction to five printmaking processes, showing how relief, intaglio, lithography, silkscreen, and monotype prints are made.

• YouTube
• 26 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Craft Versus Fine Art

An art history lecture distinguishes functional crafts from fine art through ceramics, glass, textiles, mosaics, collage, and mixed-media works.

• YouTube
• 29 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Pattern & Texture

Explore how artists use pattern and tactile, visual, and subversive textures to shape artworks, from illuminated manuscripts and marble sculpture to trompe-l'œil.

• YouTube
• 23 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Scale, Repetition, and Unity

Examines how scale, repetition, and unity shape visual meaning, from proportion and focal point to the serial imagery of Pop Art.

• YouTube
• 32 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Balance

Explore how symmetrical, asymmetrical, radial, and crystallographic balance distribute visual weight in paintings, sculpture, architecture, photography, and film.

• YouTube
• 21 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Art Between the Wars

How artists and designers reshaped modernism between the world wars through Art Deco, De Stijl, streamlining, and the Bauhaus.

• YouTube
• 33 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video

Color

A visual-art lecture on how color and value create mood, space, symbolism, and visual emphasis.

• YouTube
• 31 minutes
• Self-Paced
• Free Video