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Art History Renaissance to 20th Century (Udemy.com)

A complete survey of art history, Renaissance to the 20th century—perfect for AP Art History prep or college-level study

Created by: Kenney Mencher

Last updated December 2025

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What you will learn

  • Master the key works and themes needed to pass AP Art History or any college-level survey.
  • Confidently analyze art using formal, iconographic, and contextual approaches.
  • Connect historical, cultural, and political events to artworks across the Renaissance to the 20th century.
  • Develop the skills to write stronger art history essays and exam responses.

How it compares

Against the other 503 rated Udemy courses in Teaching & Academics on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.7 out of 5higher than 74% of them
  • Reviews3,657#43 of 504 by number of reviews
  • Length29.9 hourslonger than 94% of them
  • Last updatedDecember 2025more recently than 79% of them

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Course Description

This course is designed for both AP Art History students and anyone taking an introductory art history class. It provides a clear, engaging overview of major works, movements, and cultural shifts from the Renaissance through the 20th century. Along the way, you’ll gain the tools to analyze, write about, and discuss art confidently—skills that will help with AP essays, exams, and college coursework.

The history of art from 1300 to the 20th Century

This is part two of a year-long college-level survey course in art history. This course covers art history from the European Renaissance around 1300 A.D. until the Mid 20th Century

This course is designed as a basic college-level survey of art history. I provide an online textbook as well as study guides and worksheets.  This course covers the language used to discuss art.  A complete overview of art, culture, and architecture from the Renaissance to the 1950s. 

Each work is covered in depth, the works physical or formal properties are discussed such as technology used to create the work, color, medium, materials, composition, and shading.

The symbolism of each work is discussed and how to interpret the interrelationship of symbols in a work of art. 

This course is the actual content of a course I teach at an accredited college in California called Ohlone college.

I designed this course as a series of clear, non-jargon laden video lectures and texts designed to help any student who wants to pass AP art history and or any beginning level art history survey course.

This course now has professionally created captions in English on 98% of all the videos.



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Instructor Details

Kenney Mencher

I’m a professional artist and retired college professor with over 25 years of teaching experience in art history and studio art. My courses are designed to give students the same clear, structured learning I brought to accredited colleges in California, with a focus on making art history approachable and engaging.

I’ve taught thousands of students at institutions including Ohlone College and College of Lake County, and my work as an artist has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States. I bring that same passion for art and teaching into every Udemy course I create.

Whether you’re preparing for AP Art History, a college-level survey, or you simply want to deepen your love of art, my courses are designed to help you succeed.

My lecture style is casual and clear.  I don't believe in using a lot of jargon or overly complicated language.  Here's the rest of the stuff you might like to know about me:

Resume:  KENNEY MENCHER 

EDUCATION     

1993-1995  University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH  MFA Painting 

1991-1994 University  of California, Davis, CA  MA Art History -Thesis  Title:  "Vampires, the Audiences  they Consume." 

1988-1991 City University  of New York, Bronx, NY  Magna Cum Laude; BA  Art History 

1985-1986 University  of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH  & Spring 1988 

1981-1985 Art Students'  League, Manhattan, NY 

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Reviews

4.7

3,657 ratings on Udemy

Select a bar to show only those reviews.Select the bar again to show every rating.

By Mayann Stroup on 8/27/2026

This course was an excellent sequel to Art History Prehistory to the Renaissance! The instructor, Kenney Mencher, continued to trace developments in art through the 20th century. The course has given me a better understanding and appreciation of famous works of art. It has also given me a vocabulary to use to think about art and explain to myself what I admire about a particular work. Not least, it has given me more thoughtful ways to approach art I don't like. I recommend this very interesting course!

By Marek Wawrzyniak on 2/4/2026

It is a major course that I was looking for and I found it, I am glad that I enrolled into it as it contains countless insights on so many important aspects of the history. I am very much pleased with the way how it is presented and how inspiring it is to me. I love learning about the history and it presents a lot of interesting facts that I am very much excited to learn about as all of them are something that also created our present civilisation. I never met any better course than this, it is indeed a spectacular one! I thank the creator for making it and I am truly appreciating with gratitude the existence of this course that contains so many lessons about the topics so much important to us all. A real tasty dish full of best quality facts and presented in the way I like it to be. Thank You! Highly recommendable!

By Bogdan Uzum on 11/3/2024

My sincere gratitude goes to Kenney Mencher for the work put into this course and for making it available online for the world to benefit from! I strongly recommend it to anyone that can afford it and is interested in learning about the art history periods that are covered in this course. For me, it was a more complete art history course than what my local art university managed to offer, making Kenney's lectures be more valuable (in quality, quantity, and teaching methods) than what my institutional degree is supposed to represent.

By Tang Ruo Qing on 9/15/2024

I really loved this art history lesson,it opened me up to a whole new world of knowledge, even for a layman like me, and linked with literature,culture and a lot of new things. Every lesson is enjoyable and thumbs up to Prof.Kenny Mencher thank you so much for the articulate explanation. I am reminded of the quote in the dead poets society, “But poetry,romance,love,beauty? These are what we stay alive for!”

By Fadly Wychowvski Hussin on 8/26/2022

I’ve just completed this course and took my time with it. What an anthropological journey, not just an art journey! It’s a lecture meant to educate not so much to entertain so it might be a drag sometimes bt tt happens when learning. His Lecture has allowed me to understand deeply how art has become what it is today and to a certain extent appreciate it. A course well worth it! This course teaches you the concepts and techniques evolved in art history into the modern times

By Carlos Alborta on 3/2/2021

Yes, it was a good match for me. I took this course because I am a musician, and I went through many textbooks of music history. I soon realized that I needed to have more background in art, in general. I took this a and the previous Art History course (Ancient all the way to the Renaissance). They are both very illustrative, entertaining and well covered. Good stuff.

By El Tea on 11/22/2020

Lots of interesting stuff, although the U.I. feels a little disorganized

By Ishani on 11/15/2020

Very clear

By Cesare Cardone on 11/15/2020

very clear overview of how renaissance started

By Ross on 10/22/2020

Has been very entertaining educational & good value

By Catalina Martinez on 10/9/2020

si

By Steven P Masters on 10/9/2020

Very well done. Easy to understand and fairly detailed in covering the material.

Showing 12 of 204 reviews

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Overall Score : 94 / 100