MA in Art History

The Department 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. More information about the core and special subject modules.

Pathway: Renaissance to the Present Day

This MA pathway, which is available as a one year full-time and a two year part-time programme, allows students to explore a variety of art historical periods through different critical approaches to the subject. The structure of this flexible pathway allows students to supplement the core module, Critical Approaches to Art History and Visual Culture, with any of the MA modules offered by the Department. The principal advantage of this course is that it enables students either to concentrate on one broad period of history or to study across different periods.

Pathway: Modern Art, Criticism and Display

This exciting MA pathway, which is available as a one year full-time and a two year part-time programme, draws on the Department’s practical and theoretical expertise in the fields of modern and contemporary art. The members of staff leading this course have curated exhibitions at major national museums and worked alongside some of the world’s most prestigious public and commercial galleries. Studies engage directly with this wealth of experience and provide a historical context for a deep critical engagement with contemporary practice.

Students explore the central issue of the relationship between artistic practices, curatorial strategies and criticism, raising critical questions in relation not only to works by modern and contemporary artists but the most important recent accounts of the politics of representation.