Art History 101

Come travel through time with our lecture series surveying western art. Beginning with prehistoric art and focusing on a new period each week, this class will give you a broad look at western art. Great for all knowledge levels of art history, either start completely new or brush up on a beloved discipline.

Members receive a free drink ticket upon entry.

About the professor
William C. McKeown

Dr. William C. McKeown is an Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Memphis, Tennessee. He received his Master of Arts in Art History and Criticism from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and his PhD in the History and Criticism of Art from Florida State University. He has published articles on topics in nineteenth-century art and culture for The Burlington Magazine, The Ruskin Review and Bulletin, and the Tennessee Historical Quarterly.

His book, The Role of Venetian Renaissance Painting in John Ruskin’s Utopian Theories, was published by the Edwin Mellen Press in 2011. He is the editor of a new edition of John Ruskin’s Stones of Venice (forthcoming from the University of Toronto Press) and is currently working on a study of the visual culture of utopianism at the Ruskin Cooperative Association commune in late 19th-century Tennessee.

Lecture Dates

Sept 4: Introduction: the Forms and Materials of Visual Art; Prehistoric and Ancient Art

Sept. 11: Arts of Antiquity: Ancient Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Art

Sept. 18: Art of the Middle Ages: from the 4th to the 14th Century

Sept. 25: Early Renaissance: 15th-century Art

Oct. 2: The High Renaissance and Mannerist Periods: 16th-Century Art

Oct. 9: The Baroque Era: 17th-Century Art

Oct. 16: The Rococo Period and the Neo-Classical Movement: 18th-Century Art

Oct. 30: Romanticism and Realism: Early to Mid-19th-Century Art

Nov. 6: Impressionism and Post-Impressionism: Late 19th-Century Art

Nov. 13: Art in the United States, c. 1770-1913: from the Revolution to the Armory Show

Nov. 20: Modernism in Europe and America: Early to Mid-20th-Century Art

Dec. 4: Art Since 1950

The museum and all its programs are made possible by the generous support of museum members. Members enjoy free daily admission to Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and receive discounts of up to 50% on ticketed events. Join today at thebrooks.org/join