About Faces: A History of the Art of Portraiture

About the Class

Have you ever experienced an uncanny feeling while looking at a portrait of someone from the past? Maybe you noticed something in the sitter’s expression that seemed familiar, or moving, or even eerie, and wondered what they were thinking about.

In this course exploring portraiture from across cultures and periods, we will study key paintings in the Barnes collection to investigate themes of likeness, familiarity, status, identity, and the agency of the sitter, asking, How do we make sense of all the faces staring back at us? We will also consider how portraits convey meaning across time, paying attention to the ways Dr. Barnes’s display methods might influence our understanding of these works.

Paintings and objects we’ll discuss:
Renoir’s The Artist’s Family
Matisse’s Red Madras Headdress
De Chirico’s Dr. Albert C. Barnes
Dogon peoples, Seated Couple
Hals’s Portrait of a Man Holding a Watch
Head of a Bodhisattva
Van Gogh’s The Postman

The class is online-only. More about online classes.

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Barnes classes will:

• Sharpen your observational and critical thinking skills.
• Improve your ability to communicate about art.
• Deepen your appreciation for cultures and histories outside your own.

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Recent Barnes Class Testimonials

“Naina Saligram is the professor everyone hopes to have. She is knowledgeable and open to listening to her students.” The Classical Tradition in Modern Art with Naina Saligram

“Joe Tokumasu Field was a wonderful instructor—very patient, caring, and skilled at interacting with students’ questions and comments.” The Japanese American Century with Joseph Tokumasu Field

“Kaelin got us involved in the conversation in a way that made it engaging and fun. I learned so much and didn’t feel like I was just being lectured at the whole time. The class was well paced and covered the basics without oversimplification.” The Language of Painting with Kaelin Jewell

“I love these close-looking classes; [it’s great] to see the details of each painting and to have an instructor lead our eyes in how best to look at a work of art.” Close-Looking Immersion: Glackens’s The Raft with William Perthes

“The instructor was amazing! She was extremely knowledgeable, friendly, funny, and open to questions. She brought in outside resources and made herself available via email for questions between classes. I would take anything she teaches.” The Impressionists: Friends and Family with Caterina Pierre