Recommended Art History and Artistic Practice Text Books for Homeschoolers... and Everyone Else Too!

I want to recommend the Catholic Heritage Currricula texts books to all who are looking for materials for courses in art history, art theory and artistic practice at the middle-school or high-school level. These books present a curriculum that combines art history, art theory, and a theory of culture in a Catholic way. Furthermore, they provide the basis for artistic practice, offering simple exercises for students that reflect the design and compositional features of the great works described in the course. The result is that it deepens the understanding and appreciation of what they are looking at, while also laying the foundations for artistic practice. This is done in a way that is open to all, regardless of their artistic ability. For more information, follow this link and scroll to the bottom.

I discovered them during a recent visit to the Stabat Mater Atelier in Tyler, Texas. This art school offers a full four-year training in classical naturalism within a Catholic environment. One of the contributors to these books is a senior tutor at the Atelier, and a master in the academic method of drawing and painting. This means that, in addition to art history, there is an explanation of how and why the artists used the materials they did, which is clearly and simply explained in the textbooks.

They are presented in two volumes, or levels: the first covers prehistoric art up to the Renaissance, and the second spans from the Renaissance to the present day. For each level, there is an accompanying “Art Pad” which contains the artistic exercises.

These books are so good that I encourage teachers to make them the basis for art history and art theory courses at any level. They can consider supplementing the text with additional reading and setting essays and examinations that reflect the level of instruction they are providing.

It is challenging, at any level of education, from primary to university, to find educational materials that do not present a Marxist or atheistically materialist-influenced version of art history, which considers only socio-economic factors as influences on the content and style of art. While it is undoubtedly true that these factors should not be ignored, they are not the most important ones; it is essential to acknowledge that the most significant factors are matters of faith and worldview. Our understanding of the nature of the world around us, which cannot be separated from metaphysics and theology, profoundly affects how we visually represent it. To illustrate this point with a simple example, one should always be open to the possibility, at least, that one of the motives for painting a picture of Christ on the cross is that the patron and artist are Christian. Many textbooks, however, will not even acknowledge an authentic faith as a possibility. 

John Paul II spoke of the central importance of faith in the forms of culture in his encyclical Centesimus Annus, written in 1991 (parag. 24):

“Man is understood in a more complete way when he is situated within the sphere of culture through his language, history, and the position he takes towards the fundamental events of life, such as birth, love, work and death. At the heart of every culture lies the attitude man takes to the greatest mystery: the mystery of God. Different cultures are basically different ways of facing the question of the meaning of personal existence. When this question is eliminated, the culture and moral life of nations are corrupted.”