History of Art

AS Level - a two-year course

AS History of Art is offered at Cranleigh as a two-year course. It is a gentle introduction to the discipline and you are given plenty of time to study paintings, sculpture and architecture in a relaxed manner.

The course not only helps you with your general Art studies but can be seen as an excellent supplement to those of you who are studying other disciplines and wish to show prospective universities that your interests are more diverse.

In the first year, you will study Unit 1 of the course, which is concerned with Visual Analysis andInterpretation. This will help you to attain understanding of formal terminology and general knowledge of historical, social and cultural contexts of the three branches of art; studying the colour, balance and atmosphere of paintings, the reductive and additive forms of sculpture and the basic orders and meanings behind architecture.
In the second year, you will expand on your knowledge with the study of Themes in the History of Art, where you will look into patronage, form and style, historical and social contexts and the general reasoning behind the artist's choice of materials, techniques and processes.

By the end of the two years, your knowledge and experience of the disciplines will leave you with a sound appreciation and understanding of some of the most significant art historical themes from Classical Greece to the Art of the Twentieth Century.