A New York Exploration of Art History

July 21-31, 2025 Rose Hill

This course will offer an introduction to the study of art history, approached through the lens of New York’s museums and galleries. We will analyze art works from Asia, the Americas, Africa, and Europe, to understand how and why people made and treasured paintings, sculptures, and buildings everywhere from Ancient Egypt to modern New York.

Class sessions will take place in the Met and other New York museums. Students will study major monuments of world art in person, and gain an understanding of the decisions artists made, and the periods in which they worked. In addition, this course will focus on the fundamental tools of art history as a discipline: attentive looking, clear writing, and careful research. Students will spend significant time inside and outside of class practicing these skills. As a result, participants will develop their visual literacy, while becoming completely at home in the museum environment.

Skills/Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course you will have:

• The essential skills needed to flourish in college-level art history classes.
• The ability to look attentively at familiar and strange art works, and derive meaning from that examination.
• Developed as an art writer.
• An introduction to the research practices art historians use to understand art works.
• Become truly at home in a wide variety of museums and galleries.

Overall Takeaways

You will know:

• The outlines of how art has changed from the ancient world to the modern.
• How artists manipulate form and structure to convey meaning and make the viewer feel.
• Some of the dynamics that shape museums, their collections, and their role in society.
• The goals and functions of key works of art from around the globe from antiquity to today.
• That the art history canon is always in flux, and why.

Course Schedule

Participants should anticipate engaging in activities that require walking as part of the learning experience. If you have any concerns or require accommodations related to mobility, please contact us to ensure your full participation.

A typical schedule:
9:30 a.m.: Meet at the Rose Hill classroom for an introductory writing activity. 
10 a.m.: Board Ram Van to a museum
10:30 a.m.-11 a.m.: Arrive on site
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Lectures, discussions, and looking activities in museum.
12:30 p.m.-1.30 p.m.: Lunch break
1:30 p.m.-3 p.m.: Lectures, discussion, and looking activities in the museum 
3:30 p.m.: Ram Van back to campus