Content Areas
Content Areas
AP Art History course content is categorized by geographic and chronological designations. Ten content areas constitute the course, beginning with works of art from global prehistory and ending with global works from
the present time. Each content area is represented by a specified number of exemplary works of art within a prescribe image set of 250 works.
~ AP Art History Curriculum Framework, Content Outline College Board
Content Area 1 Global Prehistory30,000-500 B.C.E.
4% of Curriculum and Exam.
11 works
Human expression existed across the globe before the written record. While prehistoric art of Europe has been the focus of many introductions to the history of art, very early art is found worldwide and shares certain features, particularly concern with the natural world and human's place within it.
~ College Board
Content Area 2Ancient Mediterranean3,500 B.C.E.-300 C.E.
15% of Curriculum and Exam.
36 works
The study of artistic innovations and conventions developed in the ancients Near East and dynastic Egypt provides a foundation for comparative understanding of subsequent artistic traditions within the region and beyond. ~ College Board
Content Area 3Early Europe and Colonial Americas200-1750 C.E.
20 % of Curriculum and Exam
51 Works
This content area covers 1500 years of art history, from the Early European art of the Christian Roman empire to the art of Spanish Colonial America, including the Byzantine, Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque art.
~ College Board
Content Area 4Later Europe and Americas1750-1980 C.E.
22% of Curriculum and Exam 54 works
From the mid-1700s to 1980 CE., Europe and the Americas experienced rapid change and innovation. Art existed in the context of dramatic events such as industrialization, urbanization, economics upheaval, migrations and wars. ~College Board
Content Area 5Indigenous Americas1000 B.C.E. - 1980 C.E.
6% of Curriculum and Exam
14 works
Art of the Indigenous Americas is among the world's oldest artistic traditions. While its roots lie in northern Asia, it developed independentlty .
~College Board
Content Area 6Africa1100-1980 C.E.
6% of Curriculum and Exam
14 works
Human life, which is understood to have begun in Africa, developed over millions of years and radiated beyond the continent of Africa. The Earliest African art dates to 77,000 years ago.
~College Board
Content Area 7West and Central Asia500 B.C.E. - 1980 C.E.
4% of Curriculum and Exam
11 Works
The arts of West and Central Asia play a key role in the history of world art, giving form to the vast cultural interchanges that have occurred in these lands than link European and Asian peoples.
~College Board
Content Area 8South, East, and South East Asia300 B.C.E. - 1980 C.E.
8% of Curriculum and Exam
21 works
The arts of South, East and Southeast Asia represent some of the world's oldest, most diverse, and most sophisticated visual traditions.
~College Board
Content Area 9The Pacific700-1980 C.E.
4% of Curriculum and Exam
11 works
Created in a variety of media, Pacific arts are distinguished by the virtuosity with which the materials are used and presented.
~College Board
Content area 10Contemporary1980 C.E. to Present
11% of Curriculum and Exam
27 works
Global contemporary art is characterized by a transcendence of traditional conceptions of art is characterized by a transcendence of traditional conceptions of art and is supported by technological developments and global awareness.
~College Board