Public learning track
Thematic Study: Nature in Art and Architecture
11th Grade · Arts · UK A-Level
8 lessons
Goal
Analyse how artists and architects across diverse historical periods have observed, idealised, manipulated, and responded to the natural world.
8 lessons
0 of 8 done
- 1The Pastoral and the Arcadian Ideal in Landscape PaintingUp nextStart
- 2The Sublime: Burke's Aesthetic Theory in Turner and FriedrichPremiumNot started yet
- 3Organic Architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright and FallingwaterNot started yet
- 4Botanical Naturalism and Scientific Empiricism in the RenaissanceNot started yet
- 5Biomorphism in Modern Sculpture: Jean Arp and Barbara HepworthNot started yet
- 6Land Art and Site-Specificity: Robert Smithson and Richard LongNot started yet
- 7Biophilic and Sustainable Contemporary ArchitectureNot started yet
- 8Comparative Thematic Essay: Nature Across Three PeriodsNot started yet
Standards Covered
- ARTHIST-3.1General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11a minimum of three works each for at least two specified artists3 at AS and A level, including how the artists influenced, and/or was influenced by, the work of at least two other artists who contributed to the movement/period
- ARTHIST-3.2General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11how the work of specified artists typifies the movement/period
- ARTHIST-3.5General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11societal/cultural
- ARTHIST-4.3General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11analyse and evaluate factors that have influenced specific artists, movements/periods and types of art
- ARTHIST-3.4General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11at least one critical text relevant to the period(s)/movement(s), artists and/or work studied at A level
- ARTHIST-3.12General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11at least one critical text relevant to the theme, artists and/or works studied at A level
- ARTHIST-3.18General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11at least four critical texts
- ARTHIST-2.15General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11how originally intended, and subsequent environments and settings, contribute to the overall impression of works of art 2 Visual language in this document is defined as the formal characteristics and achieved effects (including form), the materials, techniques and processes used, as well as various methods of communication other than visual such as tactile, sensory and intellectual.
- ARTHIST-3.3General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11work representing at least two types of art at both AS and A level
- ARTHIST-3.7General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11technological
- ARTHIST-3.11General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11work representing at least three types of art at both AS and A level
- ARTHIST-3.9General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11work from at least three different periods/movements at AS and A level
- ARTHIST-3.14General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11work from at least three different periods/movements
- ARTHIST-3.10General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11a minimum of two works each for at least three specified artists4 and at least a further four works relevant to the same theme at AS and A level
- ARTHIST-3.13General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11at least three types of art
- ARTHIST-3.15General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11the work of at least six different artists, of which three specified artists in detail
- ARTHIST-3.16General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11at least eighteen works of art, of which twelve in detail 4 Works of art may be studied where the name of the artist is unknown (e.g. work from the roman period), however these works must be understood by art historians to have been produced by at least three different artists and a minimum of six works must still be studied overall. Where an artist is not specified, the individual work(s) of art must be specified. 5 As long as the total minimum requirements are met (paragraph 19), specifications at AS and A level may allow some of the same artists and/or periods/movements to be studied twice across areas of study and the same types of art to be studied across all areas of study. At A level students may not study the same period/movement for the two period/movement specific areas of study. At AS and A level students may not study the same work of art more than once across the areas of study. The specified artists, works and types of art and/or movements/periods at AS can be the same as those specified at A level as long as the minimum requirements are met.
- ARTHIST-3.17General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11at least three types of art
- ARTHIST-3.19General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11work from at least five different periods/movements
- ARTHIST-4.1General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (UK A-Level) · History-of-art · Year 13 (A2 Level) · Grade 11use appropriate art historical terminology to communicate, through extended written responses, in-depth knowledge and understanding of art
Curriculum Framework
11th Grade · Arts · UK A-Level
1
12 lessons
Formal Visual Analysis: Painting
Analyse two-dimensional artworks using precise art historical terminology, formal visual elements, and technical processes.
2
10 lessons
Formal Visual Analysis: Sculpture
Evaluate three-dimensional sculptural forms through materials, spatial interaction, volume, mass, and surface treatment.
3
6 lessons
Architectural Structure, Systems, and Materials
Interpret architectural drawings and evaluate how classical orders, load-bearing structural systems, and construction materials shape architectural form.
4
6 lessons
Architectural Space, Context, and Visual Analysis
Analyse spatial experience, lighting, ornament, programmatic function, and site context to craft formal architectural visual analysis essays.
5
10 lessons
Themes in Art: Nature in Art and Architecture
Examine how natural landscapes, botanical forms, pastoral ideals, and sublime environments have been represented and interpreted.
6
11 lessons
Themes in Art: Identities in Art and Architecture
Critically evaluate how gender, social class, religious affiliation, ethnicity, and national identity are constructed and contested.
7
10 lessons
Themes in Art: War in Art and Architecture
Analyse how armed conflict, commemoration, protest, and state propaganda have shaped visual art and public monuments.
8
7 lessons
The Early Renaissance: Humanism, Innovation, and Naturalism (1420–1490)
Examine the foundational ideas, civic patronage, and stylistic innovations of the 15th-century Florentine and Northern European Renaissance.
9
5 lessons
The High Renaissance and Art Historiography (1490–1520)
Master the monumental achievements of High Renaissance painting and architecture in Rome and evaluate the historiographical legacy established by Vasari.
10
10 lessons
Period Study: Power and Persuasion: The Baroque in Catholic Europe (1597–1685)
Analyse how Catholic Counter-Reformation doctrine, absolutist monarchies, and dramatic visual rhetoric shaped 17th-century Baroque art.
11
12 lessons
Period Study: Rebellion and Revival: The Avant-Garde in Britain and France (1848–1899)
Critically assess how industrialisation, political revolutions, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Realism, and Impressionism overturned academic conventions.
12
6 lessons
Early Modernist Revolutions: Colour, Form, and Abstraction (1900–1914)
Investigate the radical pre-WWI avant-garde movements that dismantled classical representation, from Fauvism and Cubism to Futurism and German Expressionism.
13
6 lessons
Interwar Avant-Gardes: Dada, the Bauhaus, and Totalitarian Reaction (1914–1939)
Evaluate how the First World War and interwar politics transformed European art, functional design, Surrealist psychology, and state-controlled aesthetics.
14
10 lessons
Period Study: Pop Life: Contemporary Art and Architecture in Britain and the USA (1960–2015)
Analyse the rise of Pop Art, Conceptual Art, Postmodern Architecture, the YBAs, and global contemporary installations.
15
10 lessons
Critical Texts, Curatorship, and Art Historical Methodologies
Apply art historical methodologies (formalism, iconography, Marxism, feminism, post-colonialism) and evaluate curatorial practices.
16
8 lessons
Thematic Study: Nature in Art and Architecture
Analyse how artists and architects across diverse historical periods have observed, idealised, manipulated, and responded to the natural world.
17
8 lessons
Thematic Study: Identities in Art and Architecture
Examine how visual art and architecture express, construct, reinforce, and subvert individual, gender, social class, national, and ethnic identities.
18
8 lessons
Thematic Study: War in Art and Architecture
Evaluate how armed conflict, state propaganda, trauma, destruction, and commemoration are negotiated in visual art and civic architecture.
19
8 lessons
Formal Visual Analysis and Unseen Works
Master precise art historical visual analysis across unseen paintings, sculptures, and architectural structures under timed examination conditions.
20
8 lessons
Critical Texts, Historiography, and Advanced Art Historical Argumentation
Evaluate seminal art historical texts and theoretical frameworks to construct sophisticated, evidenced critical judgements and arguments.
21
8 lessons
Comparative Synthesis, Artistic Influences, and Unseen Cross-Media Evaluation
Analyse cross-movement influences, stylistic evolution, and interdependencies across painting, sculpture, and architecture using unseen works.