Masters Degrees in History of Art, Architecture & Design, United Kingdom

The Islamic Middle East has given rise to an impressive material culture that continues in the present. This programme covers an area stretching from Islamic Spain through the Arab countries, Turkey, Iran and Central Asia in diverse historical periods. It offers students an unmatched opportunity to study particular regions or categories of art, including Fatimid art; the architecture and urbanism of Morocco; Arab, Persian and Turkish painting; the calligraphy and illumination of the Qur'an; Mamluk art and architecture; the arts and architecture of the Ottomans in Turkey and the Balkans; and the material culture of western Iran. Archaeological issues of the Islamic Middle East are also considered.

In addition, the degree engages with trans-regional topics that extend beyond the Middle East, such as cultural and artistic relationships between the Islamic Middle East and Europe.

Students can decide to study complementary courses on non-Islamic traditions of the Middle East and/or the Islamic traditions of other regions.

The Department of the History of Art and Archaeology contains some of the world’s leading experts in the art history and archaeology of the Islamic Middle East, whose ground-breaking research informs and is informed by their teaching. Students benefit from the unparalleled knowledge and enthusiasm of staff. As members of the School of Arts, they profit from the insights of scholars and students working in other related fields, such as Music, Film and Media in the Middle East and the wider Islamic world. They can also select from courses in other departments, taking advantage of SOAS’s unrivalled expertise in the languages, history, religions and cultures of the Middle East.

A Masters from the Department of the History of Art and Archaeology provides students with expertise in the History of Art and/or Archaeology of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Our postgraduates progress to work in arts, culture and heritage roles, including in galleries, museums, archives, conservation, publishing and arts administration. The large portfolio of transferable skills they acquire enables them to forge careers in a range of other fields across the world. Our Masters programmes are also an excellent foundation for MPhil/PhD research.

Visit the website http://www.soas.ac.uk/art/programmes/maaaime/

Structure

Students must complete three units (or 0.5 unit equivalent) of taught MA modules in addition to the compulsory dissertation. A minimum of two units (or equivalent) must be selected from the MA modules in the History of Art and Archaeology department related to History of Art and Architecture of the Islamic Middle East. Up to one unit (or equivalent) may be selected from the other MA modules in the department or from MA options offered by other SOAS departments. Students must complete the Dissertation in History of Art and Architecture of the Islamic Middle East (15PARC997).

Students may be allowed to study for the MA on a part-time basis. The part-time MA may be taken over two years, in which case the student takes two taught modules in the first year, and one taught module and the dissertation in the second. Alternatively, it can be taken over three years, in which case the student takes one taught module in each year. The dissertation can be written in any year, but it is strongly recommended that this be undertaken in the final year of the programme. It must be submitted in September of the year in which the student registers for it.

Teaching

Teaching consists of a combination of lectures and seminars. Classes are normally between two and three hours per week for each course. Teaching methods include lectures with discussion, seminars (at which students present papers) and museum visits. Students at all levels are expected to take an active part in class presentations. A particularly important element is the training of the student's visual memory.

In addition to their studies on the MA programme, students at SOAS can participate in a wide range of research seminars, lectures and conferences that regularly take place in the School and in the University of London.

Assessment

For each of the three taught courses, the student will be expected to submit two or three pieces of written work usually around 3,000 to 4,500 words – for a total of 9,000 words per course. The emphasis is on developing essay skills during the session in preparation for the dissertation. In some courses the assessment is 100% on written work. On other courses, assessed course work forms 75% of the student’s final grade and an additional 25% is determined by slide quizzes, projects or other forms of assessment. The 10,000 word dissertation is submitted in September.

Learning Resources

SOAS Library is one of the world's most important academic libraries for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, attracting scholars from all over the world. The Library houses over 1.2 million volumes, together with significant archival holdings, special collections and a growing network of electronic resources.

Destinations

A Masters from the Department of the History of Art and Archaeology provides students with expertise in the History of Art and/or Archaeology of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Our postgraduates progress to work in arts, culture and heritage roles, including in galleries, museums, archives, conservation, publishing and arts administration. The large portfolio of transferable skills they acquire enables them to forge careers in a range of other fields across the world. Our Masters programmes are also an excellent foundation for MPhil/PhD research.

Graduates have gone on to work for a range of organisations including:

Asia House
Bonhams
British Museum
Christie's Hong Kong
Design Museum
Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
Hong Kong Museum Of Art
India Foundation For The Arts
Museum of East Asian Art
National Gallery National Museum of Singapore
People Projects Culture & Change
Schoeni Art Gallery
Sotheby's
Taiwan Embassy
The Alliance for Global Education
The British Embassy
The Chester Beatty Library
The National Museum Of Korea
The Royal Collection

Types of roles that graduates have gone on to do include:

Manager of Communications
Culture Programme Coordinator
Research Assistant
Social Anthropology Lecturer
Specialist - Indian Art
Architect
Art Historian
Development Specialist
Archivist
Gallery Director Innovation Programmes Learning Manager
Creative Director
Organisational Consultant
Travel writer
Art Collector
Chinese Painting Specialist
Professor of Silk Road History
Rights and Reproductions Officer
Public Education Coordinator
Senior Curator of Photographs

For more information about Graduate Destinations from this department, please visit the Careers Service website (http://www.soas.ac.uk/careers/graduate-destinations/).

Find out how to apply here - http://www.soas.ac.uk/admissions/pg/howtoapply/

Read less

The MSt in the History of Design is a taught Master's Degree offered part-time over two years.

A tea cup, be it hand-painted porcelain, studio pottery or mass produced ceramic, offers a glimpse of the rituals of everyday life and historical experience. A designed object or space reflects the individual, the society for which it was created, as well as its creator. It expresses aesthetic preoccupations and articulates historical and political conditions. Decoration challenges the hierarchies and contested inter-relationships between the disciplines and careers of artists, designers, crafts workers, gardeners, and architects. Such concerns reside at the heart of the study of the history of design.

This history of design course is taught on nine monthly Saturdays and one residential weekend per annum. The syllabus focuses particularly on the period from 1851 to 1951 in Europe (including Britain) and America. Combining close visual and material analysis with historical methodologies, the course explores decorative and applied art, the design of interiors and public spaces, and for performance and industry.

There will be two Open Mornings, on one Saturday in November 2016 11am - 12.30pm and on one Saturday in February 2017 11am - 12.30pm, where you can meet the Course Director, Dr Claire O'Mahony, and learn more about the course. Please contact usl if you would like to attend including which day you prefer: [email protected].

Visit the website https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/mst-in-the-history-of-design

Description

Core themes of the History of Design course will include the rivalries between historicism and modernity; internationalist and nationalist tendencies; handicraft and industrial processes, as well as the analysis of critical debates about the makers and audiences of decoration in advice literature and aesthetic writing.

The programme aims to provide students with a framework of interpretative skills useful to understanding design. It provides grounding in the analysis of the techniques and materials deployed in creating objects or sites. It enables students to develop a grasp of historical context, encompassing the impact of the hierarchies within, and audiences for, the critical reception of 'decoration'. It encourages the analysis of the historiography of political and aesthetic debates articulated by designers, critics and historians about design, its forms and purposes.

Teaching and learning takes a variety of forms in this programme. In keeping with the Oxford ethos, individual tutorials and supervisions will be an important of the course, particularly whilst researching the dissertation, whilst earlier stages of the programme principally take the form of seminar group discussion, lectures and independent study. First-hand visual analysis is an essential component of the discipline of the history of design. As such each course element of the programme includes site visits, both to Oxford University's unique museum and library collections, and to those nearby in London and the regions. Formal assessment is by means of analytical essay and dissertation writing, complemented by informal assessment methods including a portfolio of research skills tasks and an oral presentation about each candidate's dissertation topic.

The monthly format of the programme should enable applicants who are employed or have caring duties to undertake postgraduate study, given they have a determined commitment to study and to undertake independent research.

The University of Oxford offers a uniquely rich programme of lectures and research seminars relevant to the study of Design History. Research specialisms particularly well represented in the Department for Continuing Education are:

- Art Nouveau and Modern French Decoration
- Modernist Design and Architecture
- The Arts and Crafts Movement
- Garden History
- The Art of the Book
- Ecclesiastical Architecture and Design

As a discipline Design History is well represented in conferences organised and academic journals and books published by The Design History Society; the Association of Art Historians; AHRC Centre for the Historic Interior at the Victoria and Albert Museum; the Modern Interior Centre at Kingston University; The Twentieth Century Society; The Garden History Society; The Textile History Society; The Wallpaper Society, The Societe des Dix-Neuviemistes.

Graduate destinations

Future research and career paths might be a DPhil programme; creative industries; museum curatorship; the art market; teaching; arts publishing.

Programme details

- Course structure
The MSt is a part-time course over two years with one residential weekend per annum. Each year comprises nine Saturdays (monthly; three in each of the three terms in the academic year) students will also have fortnightly individual tutorials and undertake research in reference libraries in Oxford between these monthly meetings. The course is designed for the needs of students wishing to study part-time, including those who are in full-time employment but will require 15 to 20 hours of study per week.

- Course content and timetable
The course is based at Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA. Some classes may take place at other venues in Oxford. Class details, reading lists and information about any field trips will be supplied when you have taken up your place.

Core Courses

- Materials and Techniques of Design
- Historical Methods
- Research Project in the History of Modern Design
- Dissertation

Options Courses

- Decoration in Modern France
- The Arts and Crafts Tradition in Modern Britain
- Design in the Machine Age
- Design, Body, Environment
- Visual Cultures of the World Wars
- Academic Writing and Contemporary Practice

Course aims

The MSt was devised with the aim of providing effective postgraduate-level education in history of design on a part-time basis in which case it should be possible to participate fully in the programme while remaining in full-time employment.

The programme aims to provide students with skills:

- To develop further their critical understanding of the principles and practice of the history of design

- To enhance their subject knowledge, analytical and communication skills needed for professional involvement in the history of design

- To demonstrate a grasp of primary evidence to build on their critical understanding of the types of evidence used in the historical study of designed objects and sites and how they are selected and interpreted

- To build on the appropriate skills and concepts for analysing material objects and textural sources

- To enable the student to undertake their own research to be presented in essays, oral presentations and as a dissertation

- To demonstrate an understanding of primary evidence and secondary sources through the application of appropriate analytical skills and concepts within a research context resulting in a dissertation.

Find out how to apply here - http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/applying-to-oxford

Read less

If you do not have the appropriate undergraduate preparation to embark on one of our MA courses, you may apply for our nine-month Graduate Diploma in Art History and Theory, which can constitute a qualifying year for the relevant MA course.

Our Graduate Diploma consists of eight modules at 3rd-year undergraduate level (up to two of these can be at 2nd-year level). You must complete the appropriate coursework and examinations, and can also write a project on a topic of your choice if this is agreed with your course director.

At Essex, you have the freedom to study what most interests you. Some of the topics you may choose to explore include the history of photography; modern and contemporary art; curatorial practice and exhibition design; as well as more vernacular forms of visual culture, such as body art and activist placards.

Regardless of the topics you pursue, we are committed to research-based teaching, with a particular emphasis on bringing the approaches of art history into contact with other disciplines and discourses. In so doing, we seek to facilitate a critical engagement with artworks and forms of visual culture, both within and beyond the traditional canons of art history.

On campus, the Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA), Europe’s largest collection of contemporary art from Latin American, will provide an invaluable resource for studying art and curatorial practice first-hand.

One of the major reasons for choosing Essex is the quality of the education you will receive. We are 6th in the UK for research excellence, with 89% of our work rated “world-leading” or “internationally excellent” (REF 2014). We also achieved an exceptional 95% student satisfaction in the 2016 National Student Survey.

Our expert staff

Essex Art History features a dynamic group of art historians who investigate the production and reception of images and built environments, across cultures and media from the early modern period to the present. Our staff are experts on topics as diverse as activist art, 19th-century medical photography, the art of Latin America, urbanism, exhibition design and body art.

We also have significant experience in curation and public engagement. Recent projects include:
-Dr Gavin Grindon curated a section of Banksy’s Dismaland show and co-curated the Disobedient Objects exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, which was one of the most well attended shows in the museum’s history.
-Dr Matt Lodder has acted as contributor for various television shows on body art and body modification, including the Today programme, the Jeremy Vine Show, Sky News, BBC Breakfast News, ‘Coast’, and National Geographic’s ‘Taboo’.
-Dr Natasha Ruiz Gómez co-organised a major conference on Collect, Exchange, Display: Artistic Practice and the Medical Museum at the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, London.

Specialist facilities

At Essex, you have the best of both worlds: on the one hand, you are part of a tight-knit, campus community with close ties to several small but excellent museums in the nearby town of Colchester; on the other hand, you can travel from campus to London in an hour, which puts the world’s best museums and galleries at your fingertips.

Our facilities enable you to gain curatorial experience and engage in object-based learning, a cornerstone of our approach when teaching the history of art and its modes of display:
-Our Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) is the most comprehensive Latin American art research resource in the UK and has a state-of-the-art teaching and research space. Many of our students gain work and research experience through our collection
-Our onsite gallery Art Exchange runs an on-going programme of contemporary art exhibitions, talks and workshops by curators and artists, as well as exhibitions organised by our postgraduate curatorial students
-Enjoy regular visits to London galleries, including Tate Modern, Tate Britain, the National Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts, as well as many independent and alternative spaces
-Colchester’s iconic Firstsite gallery features an exciting programme of contemporary art exhibitions, film screenings and talks, and exhibitions organised by our students

Your future

The visual arts and culture industries have become an increasingly significant part of the national and international economy, and art history graduates leave Essex with the skills to take advantage of this growing opportunity.

Graduates from our programmes are ideally prepared for roles in the media, in advertising, in museums and galleries, in education (in schools, universities, and cultural institutions), as conservators, as auctioneers, dealers and antiques specialists, in charities, in publishing, as specialist arts lawyers, as PR agents, in fashion, or to run their own galleries.

Our recent graduates have gone on to work in a wide range of roles including:
-A member of the valuation team at Sotheby’s (New York)
-Head of Learning at firstsite (a contemporary arts centre in Colchester)
-Visual Merchandising Manager at John Lewis (Oxford Street, London)

We also offer research supervision for students who wish to continue their studies with a PhD or an MPhil. We cover the major areas of European art, architecture and visual culture from 1300 to the present, as well as the art and architecture of Latin America.

We work with our university’s Employability and Careers Centre to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.

Example structure

Postgraduate study is the chance to take your education to the next level. The combination of compulsory and optional modules means our courses help you develop extensive knowledge in your chosen discipline, whilst providing plenty of freedom to pursue your own interests. Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field, therefore to ensure your course is as relevant and up-to-date as possible your core module structure may be subject to change.

Graduate Diploma - Art History and Theory
-Art & Ideas III (optional)
-Curatorial Project
-Art, the Law and the Market (optional)
-Contemporary Art: 1980 to the Present (optional)
-Dissertation - Final Year Art History and Theory (optional)
-Final Year Dissertation Project (optional)
-Inventing the Future: Early Contemporary 1945-1980 (optional)
-Photography in History (optional)
-Reworking the Past (optional)
-Study Trip Abroad (Final Year) (optional)
-Study Trip Abroad (Year 2) (optional)
-Art and Power (optional)
-The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Film, New Media, Software and the Internet (optional)
-Visualising Bodies (optional)
-Picturing the City I (optional)
-After Impressionism: European Art From Van Gogh to Klimt (optional)
-Becoming Modern: European Art From Futurism to Surrealism (optional)
-Art in Latin America (optional)
-Art and Ideas II: More Art, More Ideas - Critique and Historiography in the History of Art (optional)
-Collect, Curate, Display (optional)
-Picturing the City II (optional)

Read less

Our MA Art History and Theory is ideal if you are interested in working in academia, the art world or any other field in which visual, written and analytical skills are essential.

At Essex, you have the freedom to study what most interests you. Some of the topics you may choose to explore include Early Modern art and architecture; the history of photography; modern and contemporary art; curatorial practice and exhibition design; as well as more vernacular forms of visual culture, such as body art and activist placards.

Regardless of the topics you pursue, we are committed to research-based teaching, with a particular emphasis on bringing the approaches of art history into contact with other disciplines and discourses. In so doing, we seek to facilitate a critical engagement with artworks and forms of visual culture, both within and beyond the traditional canons of art history.

To supplement what you learn in the classroom, frequent staff-led visits to London museums and galleries will expose you to the some of the world’s best museums and galleries, and you will be strongly encouraged to apply for a placement in order to gain experience in the museum and gallery world. On campus, the Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA), Europe’s largest collection of contemporary art from Latin American, will provide an invaluable resource for studying art and curatorial practice first-hand.

One of the major reasons for choosing Essex is the quality of the education you will receive. Our Art History programme is 6th in the UK for research excellence, with 89% of our work rated “world-leading” or “internationally excellent” (REF 2014). We also achieved an exceptional 95% student satisfaction in the 2016 National Student Survey.

This course is available on either a full-time or part-time basis.

Our expert staff

Essex Art History features a dynamic group of art historians who investigate the production and reception of images and built environments, across cultures and media from the early modern period to the present. Our staff are experts on topics as diverse as activist art, 19th-century medical photography, the art of Latin America, urbanism, exhibition design and body art.

We also have significant experience in curation and public engagement. Recent projects include:
-Dr Gavin Grindon curated a section of Banksy’s Dismaland show and co-curated the Disobedient Objects exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, which was one of the most well attended shows in the museum’s history.
-Dr Matt Lodder has acted as contributor for various television shows on body art and body modification, including the Today programme, the Jeremy Vine Show, Sky News, BBC Breakfast News, ‘Coast’, and National Geographic’s ‘Taboo’.
-Dr Natasha Ruiz Gómez co-organised a major conference on Collect, Exchange, Display: Artistic Practice and the Medical Museum at the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, London.

Specialist facilities

At Essex, you have the best of both worlds: on the one hand, you are part of a tight-knit, campus community with close ties to several small but excellent museums in the nearby town of Colchester; on the other hand, you can travel from campus to London in an hour, which puts the world’s best museums and galleries at your fingertips.

Our facilities enable you to gain curatorial experience and engage in object-based learning, a cornerstone of our approach when teaching the history of art and its modes of display:
-Our Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) is the most comprehensive Latin American art research resource in the UK and has a state-of-the-art teaching and research space. Many of our students gain work and research experience through our collection
-Our onsite gallery Art Exchange runs an on-going programme of contemporary art exhibitions, talks and workshops by curators and artists, as well as exhibitions organised by our postgraduate curatorial students
-Colchester’s iconic Firstsite gallery features an exciting programme of contemporary art exhibitions, film screenings and talks, and exhibitions organised by our students

Your future

The visual arts and culture industries have become an increasingly significant part of the national and international economy, and art history graduates leave Essex with the skills to take advantage of this growing opportunity.

Graduates from our programmes are ideally prepared for roles in the media, in advertising, in museums and galleries, in education (in schools, universities, and cultural institutions), as conservators, as auctioneers, dealers and antiques specialists, in charities, in publishing, as specialist arts lawyers, as PR agents, in fashion, or to run their own galleries.

Our recent graduates have gone on to work in a wide range of roles including:
-A member of the valuation team at Sotheby’s (New York)
-Head of Learning at firstsite (a contemporary arts centre in Colchester)
-Visual Merchandising Manager at John Lewis (Oxford Street, London)

We also offer research supervision for students who wish to continue their studies with a PhD or an MPhil. We cover the major areas of European art, architecture and visual culture from 1300 to the present, as well as the art and architecture of Latin America.

We work with our university’s Employability and Careers Centre to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.

Example Structure

Postgraduate study is the chance to take your education to the next level. The combination of compulsory and optional modules means our courses help you develop extensive knowledge in your chosen discipline, whilst providing plenty of freedom to pursue your own interests. Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field, therefore to ensure your course is as relevant and up-to-date as possible your core module structure may be subject to change.

Art History and Theory - MA
-Dissertation - MA Schemes
-Researching Art History
-Art, Science, Knowledge (optional)
-Collecting Art From Latin America (optional)
-Critique and Curating (optional)
-Curating Inside Out (optional)
-Exhibition (Joint Project) (optional)
-Current Research in Art History (optional)
-Topics in Art History (optional)
-Art & Politics (optional)
-Art, Architecture and Urbanism (optional)

Read less

This is the only MA programme in History and Philosophy of Art offered by a British university in Paris and taught in English.

It provides a structured introduction to the postgraduate study of the history and philosophy of art and is intended for graduates in art history, philosophy and related subjects, such as fine art. It gives you the opportunity to pursue your interest in visual art at advanced level and within an interdisciplinary context, to develop a high level of expertise in topics in history and philosophy of art and to prepare for doctoral research in history of art or philosophy of art.

You spend the entire year in the French capital, which allows you to participate in excursions to prominent cultural locations and make use of research resources that are only available in Paris. You have the unique opportunity to study the arts at postgraduate level within the context of a city that has been at the very centre of many crucial artistic and art theoretical developments in the past few centuries.

Students interested in taking this MA as a part-time option would take two modules each year (one per term), plus the dissertation in the final year. The programme can also be studied in Canterbury only or with the year shared between Canterbury and Paris.

About the Department of History & Philosophy of Art

The History of Art Department within the School of Arts provides opportunities for graduate study with well-established researchers in the fields of art history, philosophy of art and aesthetics. Staff research covers contemporary art and aesthetics, modernism, the history and philosophy of portraiture, the historiography of art and the Cold War, biographical monographs, the photograph (in its historical, contemporary and critical contexts), and the historical interplay of image, theory and institutions from the Renaissance to the present (especially European and North American).

Studying art as a postgraduate at the University of Kent in Paris will give you the opportunity to experience our rich resources of academic expertise and participate in the activities of the multidisciplinary Aesthetics Research Centre and the Art History and Visual Cultures Research Centre. Our research and teaching will engage you in a dialogue with aesthetic, conceptual and historical perspectives.

Course Structure

The following modules are indicative of those offered on this programme. This list is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation.

The programme will require you to study a combination of compulsory and optional modules. The core compulsory modules are:

Key Concepts and Classic Texts in History and Philosophy of Art
Modern Art in Paris
Dissertation
In order to allow you to explore other subject areas that interest you will have the option to take one of the modules from other programmes that are on offer at the Paris campus:

From the Idea of a City to Philosophies of Urban Design
Architecture and Cities 1840s-1960s
Modernism and Paris
Film and Modernity
Paris and the European Enlightenment
Identity, Trauma and Sexuality in Modern French Literature
Paris: Reality and Representation
Best of Enemies: Images of Britain and France in the 19th and 20th Centuries
Religion and European Thought
Key Concepts and Classic Texts in History and Philosophy of Art
Modern Art in Paris
History & Philosophy of Art Dissertation

Careers

Arts postgraduates have gone on to work in a range of professions, from museum positions and teaching roles to marketing and gallery assistants. Our graduates have found work with Tate Britain, the V&A, Museum of Childhood and other arts, culture and heritage-related organisations.

Read less

The MA Museum Cultures offers you the opportunity to study this expanding and dynamic field at close proximity to the most world-distinguished museums and galleries. If you are contemplating a career in the museum and gallery sector and if you are interested in developing an in-depth understanding of contemporary debates about museums and their cultural significance, then this is the course for you. Our MA gives you the chance to develop a range of key skills, from critical thinking and writing to practical experience through a work placement in a museum, gallery or archive. Museums have been of enormous importance in shaping empires, nations and cities, and their collections are connected to wider histories of conflict and social change. To study museums is to study the development and fierce contestation of our collective cultural imagination and memory.

You begin with a core course that introduces interdisciplinary perspectives on the study of museums and a research skills module where you work collaboratively with your classmates. You then take 2 options in areas of specialist interest and either an independent research project or a work placement in a museum, gallery or archive. Finally, you will be individually counselled in your choice of dissertation topic.

The Department of History of Art at Birkbeck has an international reputation for its innovative approaches to the history of art, visual culture and museum studies. Our expertise extends into areas such as postcolonial museums, museums in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, the senses and museums, architecture and museums, museums and art, museums and memory, museums and conflict, museums and gender, small museums, and museums, politics and heritage. As well as regular gallery and museum visits, we offer an exciting study trip abroad every spring. Students are encouraged to become involved in the lively research culture of the department through the History and Theory of Photography Research Centre, the Architecture, Space and Society Centre and the Vasari Research Centre, which has pioneered the field of digital art history. In addition to the core teaching and individual research support, students benefit from many events in the Department of History of Art at Birkbeck, including: the department’s postgraduate events; the annual Murray lecture where speakers have included Penelope Curtis, director of Tate Britain and Neil McGregor, director of the British Museum; and the programme of exhibitions and displays at the Peltz Gallery, the School of Arts' purpose-built exhibition space. Students are also welcome to attend other seminars and events across the School of Arts and at the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities.

Our flexible approach to full-time and part-time evening study is ideal if you are thinking about undertaking paid or voluntary work experience in London’s museums and galleries during the daytime, while studying for a postgraduate degree that can give you a head start in a competitive jobs market.

We offer taster events and information evenings for prospective students interested in our MA Museum Cultures programme throughout the year.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Arts and humanities courses at Birkbeck are ranked third best in London and 11th in the UK in the Times Higher Education 2015-16 World University Subject Rankings.
Taught by scholars across Birkbeck, including our Department of History of Art, Department of Film, Media and Cultural Studies and Department of History, Classics and Archaeology. This programme offers an interdisciplinary perspective on contemporary debates within museum studies and encompasses museums in Africa, Asia and the Americas as well as in Europe.
We provide students with supervised work placements in museums, galleries and archives including Tate, the British Museum, the Whitechapel Gallery and the Horniman Museum. Past students have helped design and run schools programmes, documented collections that were previously uncatalogued, conducted visitor research and assisted curators in producing exhibitions.
This course of study offers you access to cutting-edge research by some of Britain’s foremost scholars and all the flexibility of evening study at Birkbeck. Whether you have a busy job, have other commitments or want to maximise library time during the day, evening study makes MA study work better.
You can choose option modules from postgraduate courses including History of Art and Arts Policy and Management.
Students studying Museum Cultures are invited to attend postgraduate events in the Department of History of Art and across the School of Arts. Guest speakers include international curators, museum directors, art historians and artists.
The department attracts a rich programme of visiting scholars and practitioners. Our History and Theory of Photography Research Centre and the newly established Architecture, Space and Society Centre offer students the opportunity to develop their knowledge of those areas, as does the Centre for Film and Visual Media which is based in the Department of Film, Media and Cultural Studies.
The Department of History of Art has an outstanding reputation for offering critical and creative programmes designed and taught by leading academics and practitioners in the field, within a learning environment that is supportive of the needs of students from a wide range of educational backgrounds.
With our location in Bloomsbury in central London, you can explore some of the world's best architecture, galleries and museums, collections and arts spaces - many of which are on our doorstep or a short distance away. The British Library is within close proximity as is the British Museum, Sir John Soane's Museum, Foundling Museum, Wellcome Gallery, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Modern and V&A.
We have a state-of-the art cinema and exhibition spaces, all housed in a historic building that was a former home to key members of the Bloomsbury Group, including the author Virginia Woolf and the artist Vanessa Bell.
Birkbeck Library has an extensive collection of books and journals in art history and museum studies. You can also take advantage of the rich research collections nearby, including Senate House Library, the British Library and the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).

Read less

The History of Design and Material Culture MA focuses on both objects from everyday life and representations of them since the eighteenth century as a basis for research and analysis.

The course allies theory and practice in seminar-based discussions that embrace various methodological issues and perspectives, including Marxism, discourse theory, phenomenology, semiology, museology, gender, race, class, memory and oral testimony. Depending on the material you analyse in your essays and seminars, as well as the dissertation topic you choose, you can also emphasise your own intellectual and subject-specific interests.

Since its inception in the late 1990s, the MA has garnered a national and international reputation as one of the pioneering and most successful programmes of its kind. As a research-led course, it harnesses the academic expertise of staff with a recognised wealth of teaching and research excellence in subject areas such as fashion and dress history, the history and theory of advertising, photography and the mass-reproduced image, and heritage and museum studies.

Under guidance, you will be encouraged to explore the relationship between theory and practice and to develop your own skills as an independent researcher, thinker and writer.

Course structure

The History of Design and Material Culture MA draws on the wide-ranging academic expertise of staff in the fields of the history of decorative arts and design, dress history, material culture, museology and social history.

It stimulates innovative and interdisciplinary study in the history of design and material culture in both their western and non-western contexts, considering the relationship between local, national and international patterns of production, circulation, consumption and use.

The course is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars, study visits and tutorials. Considerable emphasis is placed on student involvement in the weekly seminar readings and discussions within the two thematic core modules, Exploring Objects and Mediating Objects.

Based at Pavilion Parade, a Regency building overlooking the famous Royal Pavilion, teaching takes place close to the seafront and city centre amenities.

Syllabus

• Exploring Objects

The Exploring Objects module introduces you to a series of different research methods and historiographical approaches, as you interrogate and make sense of designed objects in terms of how they are designed, produced, circulated, consumed and used in everyday life. It covers the period from the late eighteenth century to the present time and typically involves discussion and debate on the following themes, theories and methods: Marxist and post-Marxist historiography; production and consumption; gender and taste; phenomenology; object-based analysis; the use of archives; and 'good writing/bad writing'. It also introduces you to the academic rigour of postgraduate dissertation research.

• Mediating Objects

This module complements Exploring Objects by focusing on the mediation between 'this one' (the object itself) and 'that one' (the object as represented in word and image). On one level, it examines how objects are translated in various texts and contexts, from museum and private collections to photographs, advertisements, film and fiction. On another level, it examines how objects are transformed through the embodied processes of everyday rituals such as gift-giving and personal oral and collective memories. The module therefore deals with the idea of intertexualities and how the identities of things and people are phenomenologically bound up with each other. By extension, you examine objects in relation to ideas concerning sex, gender, class, generation, race and ethnicity.

• Dissertation

The centrepiece of your MA studies, the dissertation is a piece of original writing between 18,000 and 20,000 words on a research topic of your own choosing. It allows you to pursue a specific research topic related to your own academic and intellectual interests in a given area of the history of design and material culture, for example fashion and dress, textiles, ceramics and glass, product design, interior design and architecture, graphic communications, advertising and photography, film, museums, collecting and curating, and design pedagogy. The dissertation is largely based on primary research, often using specialist archives and surviving historical material.

Facilities

This course makes use of the University of Brighton Design Archives, which include the archives of the Design Council, Alison Settle, FHK Henrion and the South of England Film and Video Archive.

Close professional contact with national institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as with local collections and centres of historical interest (such as Brighton’s unique Royal Pavilion and Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, with its internationally famous collection of decorative art from the 1890s onwards), present research opportunities for students registered on the course.

The course is closely linked to our arts and humanities research division through a joint research lecture series, and we have successfully encouraged high achievers to register for the MPhil/PhD programme.

The student environment also includes the thriving postgraduate Design History Society as well as opportunities for conference presentation, professional contact and career development in the field.

Careers and employability

The course has an extremely healthy track record in helping students to take up careers in related areas of employment and further study. Many of our postgraduates have succeeded in finding work as lecturers, curators, journalists, designers and design consultants, while many others have pursued doctoral research, most often also securing prestigious funding from the AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council).

Read less

This intensive 1-year programme offers you the opportunity to develop your understanding of the history of art and architecture. You will learn to critically analyse and interpret art objects and buildings, and will engage with the concepts, values and debates that inform the study and practice of the history of art.

If you want to study history of art, or a similar course, at Master's level (either at Birkbeck or elsewhere) but have a first degree in another subject, then this programme can be used as a conversion course. You will acquire and develop skills and knowledge of the discipline up to final-year undergraduate level.

If you are not intending to progress to an MA, the programme will allow you to continue your exploration of the history of art and architecture at a higher level.

We offer taster events and information evenings for prospective students interested in our history of art programmes throughout the year.

As well as regular museum and gallery visits, the department offers an exciting study trip every spring.

Staff teaching on this programme

Charlotte Ashby
Prasannajit de Silva
Nick Lambrianou.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Arts and humanities courses at Birkbeck are ranked third best in London and 11th in the UK in the Times Higher Education 2015-16 World University Subject Rankings.
Prepares you for entry to Birkbeck's MA History of Art, MA Museum Cultures and other Master's programmes offered by the School of Arts.
Museum and site visits form a regular feature of the course.
Tutors have a first-class reputation for teaching and learning, and their teaching is informed by their research.
You will have access to the Birkbeck Library. Our location in Bloomsbury gives you easy access to specialist libraries of the University of London, including the Senate House Library, but also to a wide range of art institutions in central London, and to their collections and temporary exhibitions - from the British Museum and the National Gallery, to the Courtauld Institute of Art and the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Keep up-to-date with our research on the Birkbeck History of Art blog.

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Art and Design at Birkbeck achieved 100% for a research environment supporting world-leading and internationally excellent research.

Read less

This MA is unique in architectural history, theory and criticism postgraduate study, providing a coherent and intensive forum in which students develop independent approaches to the subject. Graduates progress to academic, journalistic, curatorial and architectural professions with diverse skills in established and emerging subjects, theories and methodologies.

Degree information

The programme examines architecture and cities from early-modern 16th-century to contemporary 21st-century contexts. Rather than focusing on the work of individuals, stylistic classification or normative categories, the programme locates architecture within social, ideological, creative, political and urban processes, exploring the boundaries of what constitute legitimate architectural objects and sites of study.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.

The programme consists of two core modules (60 credits), four optional modules (60 credits) and a report (60 credits). A Postgraduate Diploma, two core modules (60 credits), four optional modules (60 credits), full-time nine months is offered.

Core modules:
-Critical Methodologies of Architectural History
-Research and Dissemination of Architectural History

Optional modules - students choose four of the following:
-Architecture in 19th- and 20th-Century Britain
-The Representation of Cities
-Theorising Practices: Architecture, Art and Urbanism
-History and Theory of Digital Design
-Materialist Ecological Architectures
-Multiple Modernities Architecture
-Practices of Criticism

Dissertation/report
All MA students undertake an independent research project which culminates in a 10,000-word dissertation and an oral examination.

Teaching and learning
The programme is delivered through a combination of seminars, lectures, building and gallery visits, film screenings, group working and one-to-one tutorials, and a field trip (optional). Assessment is through coursework, consisting of short exercises, classroom presentations, and longer essays for individual modules, a 10,000-word report and oral examination, and verbal presentations.

Careers

Graduates from the UCL Bartlett are very successful in gaining subsequent employment in the UK and internationally. At present there is a growing demand for our Master's graduates from a wide range of both public and private employers. Many graduates from the programme have gone on to research, teach and publish at universities and other institutions worldwide, including national media, publishing and heritage organisations, art galleries and museums.

Top career destinations for this degree:
-PhD in Architectural Visual Arts, University of East London
-Master in Design Studies, Harvard University
-Sub-Editor, Architects Journal
-Architect, Design Group

Employability
Postgraduate study at the UCL Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment is situated within a vibrant graduate and research environment, including a large cohort of PhD students and an extensive range of faculty members with interests in architectural history and theory. Students on the Architectural History MA are immersed in one of the world's largest and most innovative centres for architectural history and theory, and are able to engage in innumerable seminars, research representations and other events. Our graduates are highly sought after. Some choose to continue with academic research or teaching, others go on to roles in the visual arts, education, publishing, heritage, design and architecture.

Why study this degree at UCL?

The UCL Bartlett is the UK's largest multidisciplinary built environment faculty, bringing together scientific and professional specialisms required to research, understand, design, construct and operate the buildings and urban environments of the future.

Located in London, it is at the heart of a large cluster of creative architects and engineering firms and has all the resources of a world city at hand.

This MA is the UK's longest established programme in its field, and prioritises the exploration of new and existing methodologies and critical theories as they might be applied to the study of architecture and cities.

Read less

Course outline

This course is to be an interdisciplinary programme enabling students to examine, by way of a thesis of the usual length allowed for Buckingham Master’s degree dissertations, aspects of Western Architectural History from the medieval period to the mid-twentieth century. Students will be encouraged to consider the interrelation of architectural history, art history and social history.

The seminar programme, which serves to complement the student’s individual research, will explore these themes in a series of twelve meetings, which will be addressed by some of the United Kingdom’s most distinguished architectural historians. These will be prefaced by a general introductory class led by the Course Director, offering an introduction to research techniques, relevant library resources available in London and through the University of Buckingham’s online subscriptions, to relevant museum collections and to the most recent academic approaches to the subject.

Each seminar will take place in central London in the early evening, followed by a 40-minute question-and-answer session with the seminar speakers, all recognised experts in their fields, and a dinner at which there will be further discussion with the speaker and a general conversation about the topic in hand. Six seminars will be scheduled for the period between October and December, and a further six in the period between the New Year and March.

After the course leader’s general introduction, there will be a series of twelve seminar papers which explore the architecture of the Western world: the medieval castle, the Gothic cathedral, Italian renaissance architecture, French and English baroque palace and country house architecture, European baroque church architecture, the inspiration of the Classical world, the Gothic Revival and historicism, Ruskin and Morris and the birth of conservation philosophy, industrialisation and the transformation of urban architecture, colonial architecture, Beaux-Arts architecture in America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and the meaning of Modern architecture. Reading lists will be made available before each lecture to allow for background reading and discussion with the expert speakers.

Location for seminars: The Reform Club (104 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5EW) and the University of Buckingham’s London premises at 51 Gower Street (Bloomsbury, London, WC1E 6HJ)

Course director

Jeremy Musson has a distinguished reputation as an architectural and social historian. A former National Trust assistant curator, he was Architectural Editor of Country Life magazine in 1998-2007, and presented the BBC 2 series The Curious House Guest, 2006-2007. He is an author and historic buildings consultant, working with a range of clients including the National Trust and St Paul’s Cathedral.

He is a regular lecturer and supervisor on the Master’s in Building History course at the University of Cambridge, a second supervisor to the Buckingham Master’s in the English Country House, regular speaker and tutor on the Attingham Summer School and has been a course director for the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. He has also lectured The Royal Oak in the USA and at various US museums.

His books include The Country Houses of Sir John Vanbrugh, English Ruins, Up and Down Stairs: The History of the Country House Servant, English Country House Interiors and Robert Adam: Country House Design, Decoration and the Art of Elegance (2017). He recently contributed a chapter to the new monograph King’s College Chapel 1515-2015: Art, Music and Religion in Cambridge, 2014, and another to Fin de siècle Rediscovered. A Mosaic of the Turn of the Century, proceedings of a conference at the National Museum in Warsaw. He is co-editor with Sir David Cannadine of the forthcoming collection of essays The British Country House Revisited.

Associate students

For those wishing to attend the evening research seminar programme, but unable to devote the time to the coursework or to register for the MA degree, there is the option of becoming an Associate Student. This status will enable the student to attend the twelve research seminars and to meet the guest lecturers, in the first six months of the programme, but does not require the submission of written work. Associate Students are not registered for, and do not receive, the MA degree.

Read less

Students will learn how to acquire knowledge from a range of sources including history, horticulture, architecture, garden archaeology and other subjects, to develop an appreciation of the study of garden history as a cultural discipline.

Students will be able to appreciate the differences in garden-making over time and in different countries, from the 16th century to the present day in Britain, Europe and America. Emphasis will be on design and management, ownership, and the culture from which these examples have evolved.

This degree will provide an academically rigorous environment in which students will learn a range of academic research and writing skills. Teaching will be undertaken at the Institute of Historical Research (http://www.history.ac.uk/), with a strong emphasis on tutor/student interaction in class. There will be practical sessions at museums and libraries, as well as visits to gardens in London. There will also be an optional field trip to Italy in the spring.

Structure

The course will be run on a full-time basis over one year. Teaching will take place on Thursdays from 10:00 to 17:00 and will be divided between two terms. The third term will be dedicated to dissertation preparation and writing. Please get in touch if you would like to see the full timetable.

Students must complete core module 1, core module 2 (selecting three options from the six provided), and core module 3 - a 15,000 word dissertation in order to be awarded the full MA.

However, there are a range of options available for flexible study:

Those wishing to pursue this course on a part-time basis can complete Modules 1 and 2 (the taught elements of the course) in their first year and Module 3, the dissertation, in their second year
Module 1 can be undertaken as a standalone unit leading to a PGCert, the credit for which can be banked should the student wish to complete the MA at a later date (within a prescribed time frame) Please enquire for further details.
Module 1: Researching Garden History (60 credits)

The first term will showcase the huge variety of resources available to study garden and landscape history from archaeology, architecture, cartography, horticulture, manuscripts, paintings and other works of art, from the sixteenth century to the present day.

Sessions include:

Early maps of gardens (British library)
Garden Archaeology (Hampton Court)
Gardens and Architecture referencing Drawings Collection at the RIBA and V&A
The Italian Renaissance and English Gardens
The eighteenth century garden + visit to Chiswick House
Gardening and Photographic images
Assessment

A 5,000 word report on the history of a garden chosen by the student and an accompanying presentation.

Module 2: Culture and Politics of Gardens (60 credits)

This module consists of six optional units of which students must choose three.

These sessions aim to:

Develop students’ knowledge and understanding of gardens and landscapes in different countries
Develop students’ critical analysis and judgement
Demonstrate the importance of context and the relationship of garden and landscape history to other disciplines such as literature, social history, film and visual media and the history of ideas
The module will look at Historiography, theory, the connection between culture and politics in landscape making and the expansion of the skills of term one across regional boundaries.

For instance, the influence in Britain of the Italian Renaissance’s new ideas on garden making, including architecture, sculpture and hydraulic engineering; iconography in gardens and landscapes; formality in garden-making as an indicator of the power of the owner, from the sixteenth century onwards, as in France; different aspects of the ‘natural’ garden from the eighteenth century onwards; conflict between the ‘natural’ and the formal in the nineteenth century between William Robinson and Reginald Blomfield in Britain; gender and garden making; and shifting boundaries between architect, landscape architect and plantsman relating to the status of those designing gardens and landscapes in the 21st century.

Students will choose one unit from each group:

Students will choose one unit from each group:

Group A
French gardens of the seventeenth century
The evolution of the English garden in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries

Group B
The eighteenth-century garden
The American garden

Group C
The Suburban Garden in England between the wars
Twentieth- and twenty-first-century gardens

Please note: Optional units are subject to change. Please consider this a guide only.

Assessment

Two 5,000 word assessed essays on two of the three options taken, and an assessed student presentation on the outline of the intended dissertation.

Module 3: Dissertation (60 credits), 15,000 words

Mode of study

12 months full-time or 24 months part-time.

Read less

The Department of History of Art has an international reputation for teaching and research in medieval, Renaissance and modern art history. Our range of interests extends into new areas of study, such as nineteenth- and twentieth-century design history, museology, issues relating to gender and representation, and interdisciplinary topics, particularly relationships between art and film; and art and anthropology.

Current research areas include: medieval architecture; Italian late medieval and Renaissance art and patronage; eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British art; the colonial encounter and cultural history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; museology; nationalism and ethnicity in contemporary visual culture; visual culture in South Africa; nineteenth- and twentieth-century architecture and design in France and England; aspects of gender and visual culture; art and design in fin-de-siècle Vienna; computer applications for art history; and digital media and critical theory.

Why study this course at Birkbeck?

Arts and humanities courses at Birkbeck are ranked third best in London and 11th in the UK in the Times Higher Education 2015-16 World University Subject Rankings.

Our research

Birkbeck is one of the world’s leading research-intensive institutions. Our cutting-edge scholarship informs public policy, achieves scientific advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts, and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), Art and Design at Birkbeck achieved 100% for a research environment supporting world-leading or internationally excellent research.

Read less

MA in Art History

The MA in Art History draws upon the exciting research and outstanding teaching expertise of the department. Studying art history at postgraduate level will deepen your understanding of art, architecture and visual culture, build your analytical and critical skills, and develop the skills needed for independent study and research. You will start by exploring the core concepts and recent developments that have shaped art history from Renaissance Italy to the contemporary Caribbean, before building on these foundations to expand your understanding of visual and material objects – incorporating architecture, art and design. You will complete the degree by researching and writing a dissertation on an agreed topic of your own devising.

Key features of the course

• Engages critically with key theories and approaches developed to interpret and explain works of art and architecture
• Examines critical debates both within the academic discipline of art history and in the 'real world' contexts of heritage, curating and museums
• Prepares and inspires you to confidently develop and articulate your own standpoint within the discipline
• Concludes with a substantial piece of independent research and a dissertation on a topic of your choice

This qualification is eligible for a Postgraduate Loan available from Student Finance England.

Modules

To gain this qualification, you need 180 credits from the following compulsory modules:

• MA Art History part 1 (A843)
• MA Art History part 2 (A844)

The modules quoted in this description are currently available for study. However, as we review the curriculum on a regular basis, the exact selection may change over time.

Credit Transfer

If you’ve successfully completed some relevant postgraduate study elsewhere, you might be able to count it towards this qualification, reducing the number of modules you need to study. You should apply for credit transfer as soon as possible, before you register for your first module. For more details and an application form, visit our Credit Transfer website.

Read less

York's taught MA in the History of Art provides a stimulating transition from undergraduate study to postgraduate work. It will train you in advanced methods of art-historical research, raise your level of intellectual engagement, instill an awareness of your own scholarly procedures, and improve your writing skills. The MA exposes you to the latest scholarship in your areas of interest and equips you to pursue independent research at the highest level.

Degree structure

Full-time
Taken full-time, the one-year taught MA consists of:
-Autumn and Spring Terms: A core module focusing on Research Skills and Methods in History of Art.
-Autumn Term: Two taught modules of your choice; an option is always offered on historiographical and theoretical approaches to art history.
-Spring Term: Two further modules of your choice.
-Summer Term and vacation: A dissertation of 15,000-20,000 words.

Part-time
-Taken part-time over two years, you would do one option in each of the Autumn and Spring terms, and work on your dissertation during the Summer terms and summer vacation.

Teaching and assessment
Each option is taught by weekly two-hour seminars and assessement is in the form of a 4,000 word essay. Field-trips to view art and architecture are included in the programme, as appropriate.

The Research Skills and Methods in History of Art module, which is taught on a fortnightly basis across the Autumn and Spring Term, culminates in the production of a dissertation synopsis, on which the module is assessed.

The programme culminates in the production of a 15,000-20,000 dissertation, produced under the supervision of a member of staff. The work accounts for 50% of the final degree mark.

Read less

The taught masters (MA) programme in art history considers works of art and visual material in the broadest sense. We encourage the examination of the social and material histories of objects and images; explorations of the processes of cultural production, circulation, and consumption; and the development of original theoretical approaches to understanding works of art and associated cultural phenomena.

The Department of Art History offers two pathways for the MA in Art History: 'Renaissance to the Present Day' and 'Modern Art, Criticism' and Display'. Students of both pathways study the core module 'Critical Approaches to Art History and Visual Culture'.

Your choice of pathway will almost certainly relate to your present interests in art history or visual culture. All MA pathways are modular and the choice of pathway affects the modules available to you. With the help of a knowledgeable and supportive teaching staff, the pathway programme is designed to offer necessary flexibility to help you make important decisions about modules and dissertation topics.

Students on the 'Modern Art, Criticism and Display' pathway use a virtual 3D gallery software system to produce their own projects in which they are able to virtually 'curate' art exhibitions in virtual three-dimensional gallery spaces.

Studying art history gives students valuable transferable skills, an advanced qualification in the discipline and a rigorous foundation for further research and progression to PhD research, all of which are ideal for a range of careers.

Our MA programmes are particularly suited for those wishing to work in the contemporary art world. Our students have an excellent record of obtaining internships in major UK-based international galleries while they study, which is ideal preparation for future employment.

The Department of Art History incorporates the Nottingham Institute for Research in Visual Culture (NIRVC), which is a forum for research in art-historical and visual culture studies, drawing on a range of disciplines, within and beyond the University.

The University’s custombuilt Lakeside Arts Centre provides an excellent environment to support postgraduate studies in visual culture, with contemporary and historic art exhibitions at the Djanogly Art Gallery, and the DH Lawrence Pavilion – a newlybuilt drama, film, and performance space.

Visit http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/art-history for information about the Department, programmes, and funding opportunities.

Read less