This class is a lecture course that examines  specific aspects of Western History as seen through the visual arts. In this class we will look at the arts (artifacts, painting, sculpture and architecture) of various periods in Western history in order to learn about the culture at that specific time period.

The purpose of the lectures is not to look at art for art’s sake but to use visual art as a means of learning and discovering about another’s culture.

Studying the Humanities, which is defined as history, literature, philosophy, religion, and the arts, reveals values and beliefs about cultures, past and present.

It allows us to consider our own personal, social and cultural values in relation to those of others.

As we look at western art including Prehistory, Renaissance, Modernism and through to present day, we seek to answer these questions:

o        Why was the artwork made?

o        What is its function

o        What is the context of the work?

o        What social, cultural and moral values does the work express, reflect, reject or embody?