Pearl Fincher Museum to hold Learning About Art Class

"Arnolfini Portrait" by Jan van Eyck

The Pearl Fincher Museum will hold a free class, Learning About Art, led by the museum's director, Tim Novak, from Monday, Jan. 28 to Monday, March 4, 2013.

The class will take place Monday evenings from 6:30-8 p.m In the museum's Northgate Forest Conference Room.

Over the course of six sessions, the class will explore art and art history from the Renaissance to the modern area. Each class will include a focus on a different artist and art style. In addition to art history, students will learn basic concepts used in making art, and techniques art historians use to analyze art.

The first session is scheduled Monday, Jan. 28 and will focus on La Danse by Henri Mattise, as well as the basic concepts used in creating and analyzing art.

The second session is set for Monday, Feb. 4 and will explore the culture, art and architecture from the Italian Renaissance, as well as Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Virgin" and "Child with Saint Anne," and other artists from that time period, including Michelangelo and Raphael.

The third session will take place Monday, Feb. 11 and will focus on the Baroque period. Highlights include a study of "Saint Theresa" by Bernini, and other Baroque period artists, such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Anthony van Dyck.

Session four is set for Monday, Feb. 25. Novak will discuss American art from the Colonial Period to the Civil War. Subject highlights include a study of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, and John Singleton, who painted a portrait of Paul Revere.

The follow-up session will focus on American art from the Civil War to the Gilded Age, and will take place Monday, Feb. 25. The class will explore artists such as Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassatt and John Singer Sargent.

The final class will explore impressionism and modern art from the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Novak will discuss the works of Pablo Picasso, Matisse, Jackson Pollock and the factors that influenced modern art.

Novak hold two degrees in art history. Before joining the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, he served as an art museum director and curator at Texas A&M University for 18 years.

All of the classes are free and open to the public. Each class is a stand alone session. Reading materials will be available online.

For more information, visit www.pearlmfa.org.

The Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts is at 6815 Cypresswood Drive, Spring.