In the right hands, art history isn't boring at all. In college, "art history" meant a frenzied cramming session of memorizing dates and quadrisyllabic Italian names in time for the test. As a child, "art history" meant an enthusiastic walkthrough of the greatest of human endeavors from the most eager, down-to-earth and sweet lady to ever hit the cloisters.
Let's go back to those kindergarten days, then. BBC and PBS devotees will remember Sister Wendy. Nun, art historian, presenter, and ideal grandmother.
Watch Sister Wendy explain the fantastic imagery of Pompei and the Lascaux cave, and what they mean to human expression as a whole. Here's a favorite quote of mine from the caves section, around 5:40
"Science advances. It's like a ladder, one step leads to another. But art isnt like that. Art is about being human. Children make art instinctively. Archaeologists know that when they've found evidence of art, they've found evidence of human beings. It expresses all that is best in us, our desires, our hopes, our truth. And so, art changes, but it doesn't get better."
