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Accessibility statement
Qualification dates
StartEnd
03 Oct 2026Jun 2027
This is a foundational module for studying art history, exploring the many and dynamic roles that art, architecture and other artefacts played in human life from prehistory up to 1800 CE, from cave paintings through Byzantine icons to artists’ etchings. In the period before 1800, artworks were not unchanging objects of appreciation destined for museum walls. Instead, they were closely connected to people’s social, economic, political and spiritual lives. In this module, you'll study key examples of this dynamic relationship and learn how to analyse artworks methodically and thoughtfully in their historical contexts.
How was art part of people’s lives before 1800? Why does this matter when studying artworks from this period? To answer these questions, this module surveys an exciting range of artworks drawn from across the world and across history to help you deepen and broaden your art-historical knowledge.
The module is structured into four parts. Together, these trace the lifecycle of an artwork, beginning with the environment where it emerged, then focusing on how it was made, how it was used and, finally, on how it was experienced. As a whole, these four parts will give you a sound understanding of key artworks and related historical and cultural issues. At the core of your learning lies four specially written books covering a range of case studies chosen to illuminate a facet of the relationships between art and life.
The first book, Art and its Environments, shows that artworks both structure and reveal how humans related to their natural environments before 1800. The first chapter is about landscapes, followed by chapters on forests, mountains, snowscapes and islands. You’ll learn about Dutch and Chinese landscape paintings, monumental constructions at Stonehenge and Versailles, and devotional paintings from Venice and Japan. You’ll also study Machu Picchu (Wayna Pikchu), imagery showing Frost Fairs on the Thames in London, illuminated manuscripts from medieval England and map-making in the South Pacific.
The second book, Art in the Making, is about the materials, work, and technologies of art, as well as the distinct social values placed on art-makers. The five chapters cover sculpture, ceramics, paintings, prints, and architecture. You’ll investigate the sixteenth-century Roman sculptor Michelangelo, works in granite by Mexican stone carvers, cave paintings and Byzantine icons, prints on paper from ancient China and eighteenth-century England, ceramic artistry in Italy and China, and the making of vast domed buildings in early modern London and Constantinople (present-day İstanbul).
The third book, Art in Action, explores the many roles played by art once it has left the makers’ hands. Here, the five chapters are devoted to ritual, mobility, collecting, worship and honouring the dead. You’ll study how these activities both generated and deployed artworks, including whole Viking ships and great cathedrals as well as small jewels enmeshed in the trans-Saharan trade routes. You’ll also work on aristocratic art collecting in England and the Ottoman Empire, sculptures made for West African divination rituals and the precious objects used in Inuit and European burial practices.
The final book, Encountering Art, is about what happens when somebody engages with an artwork in person. It shows that all of the bodily senses are vital in this, not just vision. Accordingly, the five chapters explore touch, taste, smell, hearing and sight. You’ll explore ancient Greek ceramics, works by the seventeenth-century Roman painter Caravaggio, the art of Persian gardens and European natural history, urban design in early modern London, sacred spaces in Byzantium and northern Europe, and the various ways that vision was understood prior to the invention of photography.
This is an OU level 2 module in art history but it is nevertheless available for standalone study. OU level 2 modules build on study skills and subject knowledge acquired from studies at OU level 1. They are intended only for students who have recent experience of higher education in a related subject, preferably at the OU.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the module, please speak to an adviser.
Once you have registered on this module, you’ll have access to a dedicated art history forum and a variety of art-historical bridging activities that you can complete prior to the module starting. They are, however, not mandatory.
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
Online tutorials run throughout the module, and there may be dedicated gallery or site visits. Where possible, recordings of online tutorials will be made available. While these tutorials and gallery or site visits won’t be compulsory for you to complete the module, you’re strongly encouraged to take part.
Course work includes:
You’ll be provided with four printed module books and have access to a module website, which includes:
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone, and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying A237 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our Disability support website.
Art and life before 1800 starts once a year – in October.
This page describes the module that will start in October 2026.
We expect it to start for the last time in October 2035.
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