The Courtauld shares its scholarly expertise with everyone interested in art and art history through the Short Courses. Our courses present up-to-date art-historical thinking, often including our lecturers’ current research, and are led by experts in their field who are chosen for their academic excellence, enthusiasm, and the ability to communicate with diverse audiences.
Covering a global range of historical periods and art-historical themes, the Short Courses programme has much to offer to both newcomers to the subject and to participants with existing knowledge and interests.
Our on campus courses combine teaching in the classroom with visits to galleries and museums across London. If you are stretched for time or too far away from The Courtauld, you can also study with us online! You will receive expert lectures and reading material between 2-4 weeks before the start of an online programme so that you can immerse yourself in the content at your own time, in preparation for the lively online seminars during the course delivery week.
You can find our courses and their full descriptions on this website. Our frequently asked questions may answer any queries, but if not, please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.
Download our Short Courses calendar for 2024, listing all our courses and tours per month, here:
Short Courses Calendar 2024Coming soon: Looking at ourselves
A historical and practical exploration of portrait photography
Alistair Morrison and Dr Timothy Satterthwaite
Monday 8 – Thursday 11 April 2024
£495
This course explores the paradoxical nature of portrait photography, as both a public and private art form, an expression of social identity and of psychological vulnerability. Through discussion of photographic portraiture from different periods and contexts, and practical experiments in photography and curation, we shall search for insights into the history and contemporary meanings of this vital cultural practice.
Book nowComing Soon: Saturday Study
Frank Auerbach. The Charcoal Heads – In Context
Saturday 23 March 2024
Dr Barnaby Wright and Jane Alison
On campus at Vernon Square
14:00 – 16:15
or
Online as a recording
Our next Saturday Study event accompanies The Courtauld Gallery’s spring exhibition Frank Auerbach. The Charcoal Heads. Join exhibition curator Dr Barnaby Wright and independent curator and writer Jane Alison to explore these poignant images, and to set these works of the 1950s and early 1960s into the context of post-war British portraiture.
Find out more