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Study undergraduate certificate online with Curtin University through Open Universities Australia. Explore all degrees, subjects and short courses now.

The Undergraduate Certificate in Art History is designed for people who are interested in pursuing a career in Art History. The Undergraduate Certificate may give students entry (and credit for the four units completed) for the Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) among others at Curtin.

Gain a head start in fine arts studies with this introduction to art history’s key ideas and events. You’ll explore Australian art, modernism, and issues in contemporary art. Build your appreciation of art and design and work towards a fine arts degree.

Undergraduate Certificate in Art History

Art and Fashion

Introduction to History of Art and Design

Art and the Environment

Australian Aboriginal Art

Perspectives on Beauty in Art

Modernism in Art and Design

Australian Art

Issues in Contemporary Art

This subject was previously known as VIS18 Historical Issues in Art and Design.
This subject provides students with an introduction to some of the key ideas and events in the history of art and design. It is intended as a basic introduction to the history of ideas and the effects such ideas have had on the recent evolution of art and design. While this unit has a Euro-centric bias, ideas from other cultural histories are introduced. Students are taught the visual literacy and analysis needed to be able to understand historical and contemporary art and design.
Please Note: If it’s your first time studying a Curtin University subject you’ll need to complete their compulsory ‘Academic Integrity Program’. It only takes two hours to complete online, and provides you with vital information about studying with Curtin University. The Academic Integrity Program is compulsory, so if it’s not completed your subject grades will be withheld.
Find out more about the <a href="https://www.curtin.edu.au/students/essentials/rights/academic-integrity/aip/" target="_blank">Academic Integrity module</a>.

Travel back through centuries of art history. Traverse European and Eastern countries as you learn what inspired and influenced artistic movements. Identify hallmarks of artworks created under the banner of modernism, romanticism and expressionism.

This subject was previously known as VIS25 Australian Aboriginal Art.
In this subject you will explore the richness, complexity and diversity of Aboriginal art in Australia. Learn about the importance of art in Aboriginal culture, the impact of British colonisation and the strategies that Aboriginal artists use to maintain cultural knowledge, fight for political rights, and bear witness to the ongoing survival and resilience of Aboriginal Australians.
Please Note: If it’s your first time studying a Curtin University subject you’ll need to complete their compulsory ‘Academic Integrity Program’. It only takes two hours to complete online, and provides you with vital information about studying with Curtin University. The Academic Integrity Program is compulsory, so if it’s not completed your subject grades will be withheld.
Find out more about the <a href="https://www.curtin.edu.au/students/essentials/rights/academic-integrity/aip/" target="_blank">Academic Integrity module</a>.

Witness the impact history, aesthetics and politics has had on Indigenous Australian art practice. Visit the pre-colonial era. Examine artistic representations of The Dreaming. See how Indigenous Australians have wielded art to create commentary.

Learn about the relationship between art and fashion in historical and contemporary contexts. Influences on art and their reflection in fashion are considered both chronologically as well as thematically. Explore links between the development of industrialised societies, their customs, desires and the development of consumerism.
Please Note: If it’s your first time studying a Curtin University subject you’ll need to complete their compulsory ‘Academic Integrity Program’. It only takes two hours to complete online, and provides you with vital information about studying with Curtin University. The Academic Integrity Program is compulsory, so if it’s not completed your subject grades will be withheld.
Find out more about the <a href="https://www.curtin.edu.au/students/essentials/rights/academic-integrity/aip/" target="_blank">Academic Integrity module</a>.

Strut through the decades of the 20th century while examining the collision of art and fashion. Walk the catwalks of 1920’s Paris. Witness the birth of ‘cool’ fashion in the sixties. Analyse how fashion intersects with consumerism and visual culture.

This subject will examine the concept of beauty as it operates in visual culture from a range of historical and contemporary perspectives. The subject explores the idea of &#39;beauty&#39; in the everyday sense of the word and also in relation to philosophy and aesthetics. The subject will cover such topics as biological beauty, the beautiful landscape and the Sublime.
Please Note:  If it’s your first time studying a Curtin University subject you’ll need to complete their compulsory ‘Academic Integrity Program’. It only takes two hours to complete online, and provides you with vital information about studying with Curtin University. The Academic Integrity Program is compulsory, so if it’s not completed your subject grades will be withheld.
Find out more about the <a href="https://www.curtin.edu.au/students/essentials/rights/academic-integrity/aip/" target="_blank">Academic Integrity module</a>.

Engage with what beauty can mean in relation to philosophy and aesthetics. Look back on historical conceptions of beauty. Examine landscapes, religion and the body. Tie these thoughts back to how the art world has represented beauty across the ages.

This subject provides an introduction to the major theoretical issues of contemporary art with a strong emphasis given to contemporary practice. Theories of seeing and of cultural production are examined and illustrated through examples of contemporary art practices.
Please Note: If it’s your first time studying a Curtin University subject you’ll need to complete their compulsory ‘Academic Integrity Program’. It only takes two hours to complete online, and provides you with vital information about studying with Curtin University. The Academic Integrity Program is compulsory, so if it’s not completed your subject grades will be withheld.
Find out more about the <a href="https://www.curtin.edu.au/students/essentials/rights/academic-integrity/aip/" target="_blank">Academic Integrity module</a>.

Question the last fifty years of arts practice from social, political and cultural points of view. Put recurring themes in contemporary art up for discussion. Dig into modernism and post-modernism. Focus your art history study on theory and context.

Explore the theoretical perspectives that underpin developments in modernism in art and design in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Gain an understanding of the shifts in the production of visual culture that led to the emergence of Modernism. Examine the notion of the Avant-garde, technological change, the ideals of utopia, the Modernist myths of Primitivism, Surrealism, Futurism and feminist re-appraisals of Modernism.
Please Note:  If it’s your first time studying a Curtin University subject you’ll need to complete their compulsory ‘Academic Integrity Program’. It only takes two hours to complete online, and provides you with vital information about studying with Curtin University. The Academic Integrity Program is compulsory, so if it’s not completed your subject grades will be withheld.
Find out more about the <a href="https://www.curtin.edu.au/students/essentials/rights/academic-integrity/aip/" target="_blank">Academic Integrity module</a>.

Visualise the changing world of the 19th and early 20th centuries and discover its impact on artistic expression. Be there for the birth and death of the avant-garde movement. Measure the effects that rapid technological change had on the art world.

This subject explores a range of concepts and contexts in which ideas about nature operate, both historically and in contemporary culture. You will gain a broad introduction to many ideas relating to the natural environment and culture, from the western ideal of the &#39;Garden of Eden&#39; to contemporary gardens as cultural projects. You will explore links between nature and religion, an international history of gardens, the use of nature in political contexts and the role of the natural environment in an age of climate change.
Please Note:  If it’s your first time studying a Curtin University subject you’ll need to complete their compulsory ‘Academic Integrity Program’. It only takes two hours to complete online, and provides you with vital information about studying with Curtin University. The Academic Integrity Program is compulsory, so if it’s not completed your subject grades will be withheld.
Find out more about the <a href="https://www.curtin.edu.au/students/essentials/rights/academic-integrity/aip/" target="_blank">Academic Integrity module</a>.

Grow an understanding of humanity’s attitude towards landscape and beauty. Explore Japanese ideas of beauty and the natural world. Unpack the western ideal of the Garden of Eden and how it impacts historical and contemporary gardening practices.

From the pre-colonial period to the present day, Australian art explores issues of place, identity, narrative and ideas. In this unit you’ll learn about the complex social, cultural and political histories that have shaped the development of Australian art and its place on the international stage, including the Heidelberg movement, Aboriginal Australian art and contemporary art.
Please Note:  If it’s your first time studying a Curtin University subject you’ll need to complete their compulsory ‘Academic Integrity Program’. It only takes two hours to complete online, and provides you with vital information about studying with Curtin University. The Academic Integrity Program is compulsory, so if it’s not completed your subject grades will be withheld.
Find out more about the <a href="https://www.curtin.edu.au/students/essentials/rights/academic-integrity/aip/" target="_blank">Academic Integrity module</a>.

Take a closer look at Australian art through the years. Jump from pre-colonial times to the dawn of modernism and through to today. Explore the successes of Aboriginal art on the global stage. Analyse it all from philosophical and historical viewpoints.

Course results for Curtin University Undergraduate Art history Degrees

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