The Art Appreciation course explores the world’s visual arts, focusing on the development of visual awareness, assessment, and appreciation by examining a variety of styles from various periods and cultures while emphasizing the development of a common visual language. The materials are meant to foster a broader understanding of the role of visual art in human culture and experience from the prehistoric through the contemporary.
This is an Open Educational Resource (OER), an openly licensed educational material designed to replace a traditional textbook. The course materials consist lessons each with a presentation, reading list, and/or sample assignment. For ease of adapting, materials are available as PDFs and Microsoft PowerPoint or Word documents.
This OER was adapted from existing resources by Marie Porterfield Barry for the Fall 2019 semester as part of East Tennessee State University’s Open Educational Resources (OERs) Awards Program.
This lesson covers the elements and principles of art. Elements of art are the physical parts of the work, including line, shape, form, space, texture, value, color, and time. Principles of art are the ways in which those parts are arranged, including unity/variety, balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, rhythm, and pattern.
This lesson covers the elements and principles of art. Elements of art are the physical parts of the work, including line, shape, form, space, texture, value, color, and time. Principles of art are the ways in which those parts are arranged, including unity/variety, balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, rhythm, and pattern.
This lesson covers prehistoric art from the Paleolithic and Neolithic Ages. It focuses on cave art (Pech-Merle, Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc, Lascaux) and carved figures (Woman of Willendorf) from the Paleolithic period and megalithic architecture (Stonehenge) from the Neolithic period.
This lesson covers death and mourning in the prehistoric and ancient world by discussing related art and architecture including, but not limited to, Varna Necropolis, The Flood Tablet / The Gilgamesh Tablet, Ziggurat in Uruk, Royal Tombs of Ur, Great Pyramids of Giza, Tomb of King Tutankhamun, and Book of the Dead of Hunefer.
This lesson covers ideal beauty in the ancient world by discussing related art and architecture from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
This lesson covers divine architecture including the Ancient Greek Parthenon, Ancient Roman Pantheon, Byzantine Hagia Sophia, and Gothic Chartres Cathedral.
This lesson covers the history of Lapis Lazuli and Tyrian Purple in art and architecture.
This lesson covers artworks created during the Renaissance in Europe. It begins with a preface on artworks created prior to the Renaissance that focused on Christian ideology and iconography. Artists discussed include Botticelli, Donatello, Michelangelo, Bernini, and Leonardo da Vinci.
This lesson covers artworks created between the High Renaissance and Mannerism with a focus on Michelangelo.
This lesson covers artworks created during the Northern Renaissance with a focus on Jan van Eyck’s Arnolfini Double Portrait.
This lesson covers artworks of scenes from the apocalypse with a focus on Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights.
