AP® Art History
Course Summary
Learn about the nature of art, art making, and responses to art. By analyzing works of art depicting diverse artistic traditions (from prehistoric to the present times), students develop an in-depth, holistic understanding of art history from a global perspective. In this course, students experience, research, discuss, read, and become active participants in the global art world, engaging with its forms and content.
This course prepares students for the AP® Art History exam.
Course Prerequisite(s):
None. However, students should be able to read a college-level textbook, write grammatically correct sentences, analyze images, think critically, and write essays using evidence.
Curriculum
This is a 2-semester course. We do not recommend taking both semesters simultaneously.
Unit 1: Introduction to AP® Art History
- Elements of Art
- Principles of Design
Unit 2: Art Before Written Record
- Prehistoric Painting
- Prehistoric Sculpture
- Prehistoric Architecture
Unit 3: Ancient Lands
- Sumerian Art
- Babylonian and Assyrian Art
- Persian Empire
- Egyptian Art
- Egyptian Architecture
Unit 4: Greece and Rome
- Archaic Greek Art
- Classical Greek Art
- Hellenistic Greek Art
- Greek Architecture
- Etruscan Art
- Roman Architecture
- Roman Art
Unit 5: Early Christian, Byzantine, and Islamic Arts
- Early Christian Art and Architecture
- Byzantine Architecture
- Byzantine Art
- Islamic Arts
- Islamic Architecture
Unit 6: Early Medieval to Gothic
- Early Medieval Art and Architecture
- Romanesque Architecture
- Romanesque Art
- Gothic Architecture
- Gothic Arts
- Italian Gothic
Unit 7: The Rebirth
- Early Italian Renaissance
- High Renaissance
- North European Renaissance
- Mannerism
Unit 8: Baroque
- Baroque Architecture
- Italian and Spanish Baroque
- Flemish and Dutch Baroque
Unit 9: Colonial Americas
- New Spain - Spanish Colonies in the Americas
Unit 10: Early Modernism
- Rococo
- Enlightenment
- Neoclassical
- Romanticism
- Birth of Photography
- Realism
- Impressionism
- Post-Impressionism
- Symbolism and Art Nouveau
- Late 19th Century Art and Architecture
Unit 11: Early to Mid-20th Century Art
- Expressionism
- Cubism
- Dada and Surrealism
- Constructivism and DeStijl
- Social Realism
- Abstract Expressionism
- Pop Art and Superrealism
- Modern and Post-Modern Architecture
Unit 12: Global Art
- West and Central Asia
- India
- Early Chinese Artworks
- Chinese Artworks After 1000CE
- Japan
- Korea and Southeast Asia
- Chavin Art and Architecture
- Mayan Art and Architecture
- Aztec Art and Architecture
- Inka Art and Architecture
- Native American Art and Architecture
- African Sculpture
- African Masks
- African Architecture
- Micronesian Art
- Polynesian Art
- New Zealand and Papua New Guinea
- Rapa Nui and Fiji
Unit 13: Global Contemporary
- Contemporary Architecture
- Contemporary Paintings
- Contemporary Sculpture
- Photo and New Media
- Installation and Site Specific