1. Why study art? -- Why study the history of art? -- Make your art lessons fun -- 2. How important is art in my life? -- 3. Learning to look -- How to approach an artwork -- The formal elements of art: a useful set of tools -- Size -- Subject matter -- Format -- Composition, illusionism and perspective -- Texture -- Medium, support and technique -- Interpreting a painting -- Researching an artwork -- Looking at an artwork -- Investigating the background to the artwork -- Where to do art historical research -- 4. Southern Africa's early traditional artists -- The indigenous traditions -- Early rock art -- Early African art -- The later tradition -- 5. Western art comes to southern Africa -- The early days at the Cape -- Ideas from aboard -- Resistance from the old guard and the formation of the New Group -- New directions in South African art -- Landscapes -- Still life paintings -- Portraits -- History paintings -- Sculpture -- Western influences in South African sculpture -- Traditionalism and the German and Dutch schools -- Modernism and influences from England and France -- English influence -- French influence -- Rural sculpture -- Towards the melting pot -- Art and craft centres -- The Polly Street Centre -- Rorke's Drift -- 6. The melting pot -- Cross-pollination in art -- The southern African melting pot -- 7. Eastern art comes to southern Africa -- Islamic art -- Imagery and islamic art -- The early history of Islam in South Africa -- Early mosques at the Cape -- The structure of the mosque -- Islam's decorative art forms -- Illuminations -- The arabesque -- Geometric decoration -- Calligraphy -- Hindu art -- The beginnings of Hinduism in South Africa -- Early makeshift Hindu temples -- The puja room -- The roots of Hinduism -- The northern and southern style temples -- The elements of a traditional Hindu temple -- Shiva and Vishnu temples -- Temples dedicated to other gods -- Hindu sculpture -- Hindu painting.

8. South African architecture: a brief outline -- Vernacular architecture -- The Cape Dutch style -- Climate -- The availability of building materials -- Bricks -- Plaster and whitewash -- Thatch -- Windows -- Floors -- The gable -- The plan of the house -- Flat-roofed townhouses -- Vernacular architecture in the rest of South Africa -- The beehive hut -- Cone on cylinder constructions -- Flat-roofed constructions -- Religious architecture -- Christian churches and cathedrals -- The Catholic church in South Africa -- The Protestant Church in South Africa -- The Greek Orthodox Church in South Africa -- The Jewish synagogue -- The Colonial period -- The western Cape -- The eastern Cape -- The Karoo -- Natal -- The discovery of minerals: the effects on architecture -- The changing face of architecture: South Africa and the modern movement -- The meeting of Modernism and the vernacular.