MA in History of Art
University of Birmingham - College of Arts and Law
Key Information
Campus location
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
1 - 2 year
Pace
Full time, Part time
Tuition fees
GBP 10,530 / per year **
Application deadline
30 Aug 2024*
Earliest start date
Sep 2024
* for UK students | 7 May 2024 for international students
** for UK full-time Students. £23,310 for International full-time students
Introduction
Are you fascinated by visual culture and history relating to a specific artist, period, or movement? Do you want to learn about the methods of art history and how to apply them to particular historical problems? p>This program provides you with the opportunity to choose from a range of subject areas and historical periods in the History of Art. It is ideal for those who wish to develop a solid foundation in the History of Art, either as preparation for further research or for related careers. You will have the opportunity to develop both academic and professional contacts to support your personal and professional development.
Our students are taught within the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, an internationally renowned art gallery located at the University of Birmingham campus. Students are part of small seminar groups and benefit from furthering their studies. Classes are taught not only at the Barber Institute, our ‘ house gallery’, but also at the galleries on campus and in town.
The programme offers a range of topics all of which relate to our staff's research interests and expertise. Modules, which are all on a rotating schedule, range from ‘ Inside Out’ which looks at Parisian interiors in the nineteenth century, to modules covering art up to the present day, such as ‘ Postcolonial Readings of Contemporary Art’ Others deal with issues such as queer studies and sexuality, globalisation and migration. We also have strong expertise in exhibition cultures and curatorial studies. Unusual nowadays, we also offer modules on art in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
British Art Pathway
Students taking advantage of our British Art Pathway have the opportunity to investigate and query the narratives of British art. This focus offers exciting possibilities to study a field that is seemingly already well established in terms of institutions and journals which concentrate on British art, and movements (such as the Pre-Raphaelites, Vorticism or the years, the Young British Artists), but still constantly evolving (Black and Queer British art; and with Brexit and its potential impact on art and the art market). It also offers the opportunity to investigate how, when and why nation-state identities have been related to art.
The pathway also covers a number of issues arising from a global context of art. With a quarter of the world population belonging to the British Empire at its height, British Art allows you to explore postcolonial theories, mobility and processes of decolonisation.
Delivered in Birmingham, in the heart of England, the pathway will allow students to explore the impact of global influences locally, through an emphasis on the West Midlands and Birmingham as an arts centre and international supplier for art materials, particularly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Students of this pathway will benefit from the department's established network with a wide range of collections in the West Midlands, including close proximity to a world-famous Pre-Raphaelite collection at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, as well as links with institutions and journals concentrating on British Art.
Why Study this Course?
- Location – teaching takes place primarily in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts – one of the finest art galleries in the country – surrounded by works from world-renowned artists and sculptors, from Jan Steen to Auguste Rodin. The campus prides itself on sculptures by Barbara Hepworth and Eduardo Paolozzi. The University has also a non-Western art collection, particularly strong in African masks and artefacts. We are located at the heart of a thriving city, considered the second city of the UK in terms of population, with excellent public transport and a vibrant portfolio of established and emerging art galleries and art organisations including Ikon, a well-known, internationally acclaimed contemporary art venue and the BMAG, a gallery specialising in the Pre-Raphaelites and a forerunner in being a community-oriented site that collects and exhibits objects from all ethnic groups. Needless to say, we have established contacts with a large number of these art galleries and organisations, explaining also the high employability rate of our students. The uniqueness of our location is that we are situated in the middle of England, which allows easy access to the north and south, but also east and west.
- Join an active and vibrant student community – you will benefit from a lively, supportive and intellectually stimulating postgraduate community, providing an ideal environment in which to study. You will have the opportunity to become active members of both departmental and university-wide research communities and help plan, organise and participate in public lectures, research seminars and the History of Art annual symposia.
- Taught by experts renowned in their fields– our staff are active scholars with national and international reputations, regularly winning grants and publishing books and peer-reviewed articles on their specialist fields. They organise and contribute to conferences including the AAH and the CIA (both associations for art historians) and exhibitions at international venues, such as the Royal Academy, London, the Huntington Library in California, the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin and the Cleveland Museum of Art. The British Art Pathway in particular brings together the departmental expertise in British art from a variety of viewpoints.
- Facilities and resources– The Barber Institute of Fine Arts houses the Barber Institute Gallery, a valuable teaching collection. It is an excellent and representative collection of post-medieval European art, including paintings, engravings and drawings by artists such as Rembrandt, Turner, Van Dyck, Veronese and Vigée-LeBrun. It also has a major collection of works by modern artists such as Degas, Gauguin, Kä the Kollwitz, George Grosz, Manet, Miró, Picasso and Whistler. The libraries offer a rich collection of published books (with open access and partly borrowable), online resources (accessible off and on-campus) and some extraordinary unpublished archival material that provides seemingly endless scope for dissertations and further research. The two major study places are located closely together with a state-of-the-art main library (offering study spaces, bookable group study rooms, laptop loans and an onsite IT support service), and the charming two-room Barber Fine Art Library on the ground floor of the Barber Institute.
- Extracurricular activities - The Department is home to the online Journal of Art Historiography, and postgraduate students can apply to become editorial assistants. You also have the opportunity to volunteer at the Barber Institute. Read our official blog, The Golovinefor, for an insight into life within the Department. After a long day of study, you can stretch and relax at the university’s Munrow Sports Centre on campus (with smaller venues nearby), which has been praised for its outstanding facilities and high-quality equipment that includes a large gym and an Olympic-size swimming pool.
Gallery
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Scholarships and Studentships
Scholarships to cover fees and/or maintenance costs may be available. To discover whether you are eligible for any award across the University, and to start your funding application, please visit the University's Postgraduate Funding Database.
International students can often gain funding through overseas research scholarships, Commonwealth scholarships, or their home government.
Postgraduate Loans
Government-backed master loans are available to help UK and EU students to finance their studies. For those starting courses after 1 August 2020, loans are available of up to £11,836 for Masters students in all subject areas. Criteria, eligibility, repayment, and application information are available on the UK government website.
Curriculum
Core Modules
All students will study two core modules:
- Criticism and Methods in the History of Art and Visual Culture
- Postgraduate Research Training and Methods A & B
British Art Pathway Modules
Students wishing to follow the British Art Pathway will study both of these modules.
What is British Art?
What exactly is British art, and how does it relate to national identity? This module provides a broad overview of developments in British art from c.1760 to the present. It questions and unpacks this art historical category, by examining the key debates and writings that have shaped our understanding and definition of British art. It engages with the ways in which the boundaries of British art have been increasingly redrawn in recent years, as art historians integrate Britain's imperial past and postcolonial present into the study of British art.
The module will consider the ways in which British art has been made, exhibited, experienced, conceptualized, and contested. It will examine the breadth of British art, notably painting and sculpture, but also photography, the decorative arts, and more recent conceptual approaches. Students will engage directly with artworks through visits to relevant collections.
The module's broad chronological sweep encompasses a diverse set of ideas related to British art. Topics might include: What is British Art? Art and empire; British ‘isms’ and movements; ‘English’ or ‘British’? Four Nations art history; collecting and exhibiting British art; writing British art; the Royal Academy and the creation of the ‘ British school’ researching British Art, judging British art, and queering British art.
Made in Birmingham
Birmingham provides a center of gravity for exploring and applying key issues and debates in British art through particular case studies. Birmingham played a pivotal role in the Industrial Revolution and the British Empire, and the module will consider those industrial and imperial histories and their continuing legacy in Britain’s second city.
Birmingham, and the Midlands more broadly, hold internationally significant collections of British art, notably the Pre-Raphaelite collection at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; 20th-century collections at Wolverhampton Museum and Art Gallery and The Herbert Museum and Art Gallery, Coventry; photographic collections at Birmingham Library and the University of Birmingham.
Using these collections, the module will consider the ways in which the arts were made, exhibited, experienced, conceptualized, and contested in Birmingham. Topics might include art and industry; artist's societies (RBSA); Pre-Raphaelites; Arts and Crafts; Pop Art; Black British art; photography; center/periphery; local/global; art and empire; art and religion; architecture; and art and urban regeneration.
Assessment: one research portfolio focused on an object produced in the Midlands, comprising a 2,000-word essay, an annotated bibliography, and a selection of annotated visual and contextual sources.
Optional Modules
Students taking the general route through the program will then choose three Special Subjects and one optional module. Those taking the British Art pathway will take two optional modules/specialist subjects.
Optional modules typically include:
- Exhibition Cultures
- Paris Moderne
- Berlin 1890-1939: Symphony of a (great) city
- Women and Artistic Culture in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Period
- Sound and Vision: Word, Music, Image, 1860 - now
Dissertation
In addition to your taught modules, you will conduct a piece of independent research on a topic of your choice within History of Art with the support of a supervisor, culminating in a 15,000-word dissertation.
Please note that the optional module information listed on the website for this program is intended to be indicative, and the availability of optional modules may vary from year to year. Where a module is no longer available we will let you know as soon as we can and help you to make other choices.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Your degree will provide excellent preparation for your future career, but this can also be enhanced by a range of employability support services offered by the University and the College of Arts and Law.
The University's Careers Network provides expert guidance and activities, especially for postgraduates, which will help you achieve your career goals. The College of Arts and Law also has a dedicated careers and employability team that offers tailored advice and a program of College-specific career events.
You will be encouraged to make the most of your postgraduate experience and will have the opportunity to:
- Receive one-to-one career advice, including guidance on your job applications, writing your CV, and improving your interview technique, whether you are looking for a career inside or outside of academia
- Meet employers face-to-face at on-campus recruitment fairs and employer presentations
- Attend an annual program of careers fairs, skills workshops, and conferences, including bespoke events for postgraduates in the College of Arts and Law
- Take part in a range of activities to demonstrate your knowledge and skills to potential employers and enhance your CV
What’s more, you will be able to access our full range of career support for up to 2 years after graduation.
Postgraduate Employability: History of Art
Birmingham's History of Art graduates develop a broad range of transferable skills, including familiarity with research methods; the ability to manage large quantities of information from diverse sources; the ability to organize information in a logical and coherent manner; the expertise to write clearly and concisely and to tight deadlines; critical and analytical ability; the capacity for argument, debate and speculation; and the ability to base conclusions on detailed research.
Our History of Art postgraduates also have the advantage of gaining hands-on experience at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts: the university's on-campus art gallery which is home to the Department of Art History, Curating, and Visual Studies.
Over the past five years, over 98% of History of Art postgraduates were in work and/or further study six months after graduation. Many graduates enter occupations relating to gallery and museum management and curatorship; others pursue careers in academia. Employers that our graduates have gone on to work for include Barber Institute of Fine Arts; Birmingham Museums Trust; National Trust; National Portrait Gallery; Royal Birmingham Society of Artists; University of Birmingham; and the Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust.
Program delivery
Teaching Year
We have three teaching terms per year, the autumn, spring, and summer terms. Term dates can be found on our website.
As a full-time student, you will typically take three modules in each of the first two terms, followed by your dissertation. If you are a part-time student, you will typically take three modules across each year, followed by your dissertation.
Each module represents a total of 200 hours of study time, including preparatory reading, homework, and assignment preparation.