The course is delivered through one lecture a week in four 5-week sections based on themes that span World Art and make links between the past and very recent work.
The module is initiated by a lecture introducing the problem of periods and style categorisation in art history. These issues will be followed up in the four main themes: the Artist, the Body, Landscape and Environment and the Art of the `Other'. Each lecture will focus on a specific issue and each of the four sections will cover a range of historical periods coming up to contemporary art. Each block will be tested at the end of the 5-lecture section by a Computer test.

• Provide the foundation for all art history modules in the degree scheme and offer a framework of theoretical and historical context for course in studio studies.
• Introduce the basic principles of art history and visual culture through a syllabus that deals with the general issues through case study and specific subjects.
• Consider how the notion of art and artist has been constructed through specific practices, through institutions such as academies of art, and through writing about art.
• Develop an awareness of other models of visual culture outside that of western art traditions.
• Develop a critical understanding of the way periodisation and classification are used in the study of art
• Develop an awareness of different styles of writing on art including popular art history, academic writing and art criticism in newspapers and journals of contemporary art.