MA History of Art & Architecture

Our MA course in History of Art and Architecture is built on many years' experience of graduate teaching.

Course structure

Full-time one year, or part-time two years.

The MA combines research and a taught part. It is organised to give you the skills you need to develop and pursue your own independent research project in a period or topic of your choice. The taught elements include a core course that introduces contemporary and established theoretical approaches and prominent themes in art history as a whole with relevance to all periods. Other modules give special emphasis to developing art historical research and writing skills through a variety of smaller research projects that prepare for and lead up to the MA dissertation. The dissertation is 18,000 to 20,000 words long and counts for 50% of the final mark.

Periods

• modern and contemporary art in Europe, America and a global context
• sculpture from the late Renaissance to the present day
• Renaissance and Baroque painting and drawing
• Italian Renaissance architectural history

Topics

• the body, theory and meaning
• institutional frameworks, patronage, power and visual display
• memory, pilgrimage and commemoration
• feminism, sexual politics and gender
• the transmission of traditions and canons, cultural exchange

Modules

• Debates and Approaches in the History of Art and Architecture (HAMCM)
• Research Methods (HAMRM)
• Forms of Art-Historical Writing (HAMAH)
• Independent Research (HAMIR)
• Dissertation (HAMDI)
• Research Seminar

Our Research Seminar, with four to five papers per term by international scholars, is an integral part of the course, with follow up seminars in which students and members of staff together analyse the approaches and methodologies presented.