Art History

This Masters degree embraces a rich and diverse field of enquiry that explores the relationship between visual culture and wider social practices. The flexible structure of the programme will allow you to engage with a broad range of methodological and chronological perspectives in Art History, based on your completion of a bespoke portfolio of courses tailored to your individual interests. On completion of the degree you will be able to demonstrate your knowledge of a wide variety of visual cultures, past and present.

WHY THIS PROGRAMME

- This programme offers privileged access to world-leading expertise and hands-on engagement with original artefacts in world-class collections, including our own Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery.

- You will have the chance to participate in the latest critical and theoretical debates around historical and contemporary art practices with experts in the world of Medieval and Renaissance Art, the Enlightenment, Impressionism and European Modernism.

- Our work placement option gives you the opportunity to explore a possible future career in the cultural, heritage or visual arts sector, developing your skills and experience and meeting with professional practitioners.

- The city of Glasgow (and Scotland at large), is home to internationally-renowned art collections and archival and historical resources that will foster your research and analytical skills. Studying here, with access to a diverse variety of year-round cultural and artistic events, offers a unique opportunity to live and study in a city that values and encourages artistic and cultural endeavour.

PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

The programme’s flexible structure offers a mix of taught and research components, and enables you to either take a broad range of courses or to specialise with a particular chronological or theoretical focus.

You will take:
One core course
Five optional courses

You’ll also produce a 15,000 word dissertation

Semester 1: September to December
RESEARCH METHODS AND SKILLS (core course)
Two optional courses

Semester 2: January to March
Three optional courses

Summer
DISSERTATION

The two semesters of coursework are followed by supervised dissertation research and writing between April and August. The dissertation provides an opportunity for you to identify an area of interest and to create a research project that allows in-depth critical exploration of this.

Part-time Students

Part-time students take the RESEARCH METHODS AND SKILLS course and three optional courses in their first year of study, and two optional courses and the dissertation in their second year.

Optional Courses

You can choose from a range of optional courses which cover a wide variety of the subject areas research specialisms. These may include:
ART, EMBODIMENT, TRANSGRESSION
DADA IN SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY
DEATH AND THE ART OF DYING IN THE RENAISSANCE NORTH
DECONSTRUCTING THE ARTEFACT
FROM GOTHIC TO RENAISSANCE IN NORTHERN EUROPE

You may also choose the options of:
INDEPENDENT STUDY
WORK PLACEMENT

With permission from the programme convenor, you can take an optional course from a related subject area in the College of Arts.
Please note not all courses will be available every year.