Explore our History of Art and Visual Studies taught Master's degree.

P-V4PJ

MA

1 year full-time;
2 years part-time

19 September 2022

History of Art

University of Warwick and Venice (optional)

Develop your research skills on our History of Art and Visual Studies MA. Warwick's History of Art department, ranked in the top 10 in all major UK league tables (Complete University Guide 2021, The Guardian University Guide 2021, The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021), allows you to explore the broader issues in the discipline today, such as global art history, display and performance, aesthetics and perception, and architecture and urbanism.

Our MA is designed to prepare students for specialised postgraduate research in the fields of Art History and Visual Studies. You will have the option of spending the autumn term in Venice or can study for the full year on the Warwick campus.

The course enables you to develop your research skills by studying different periods and media in the history of art, and by taking an active part in research, exploring some of the broader issues in Art History today such as cross-cultural interaction and the arts, the spatial contexts of art, architecture and urbanism, and the arts within a global society.

Optional modules taught in small groups allow you to create your own pathway to the dissertation. The dissertation (15,000 words) enables you to work closely with your supervisor on a one-to-one basis to research and write on a topic of your choice.

Class sizes will naturally vary, however this course comprises between 8 to 14 students.

You will have between four and eight hours on average per week of classes, with some seminars taken out of the classroom and artworks studied on site.

Modules are assessed by a 5000-word essay.

Additional course costs

Students who elect to study in Venice in the autumn term will need to purchase their return travel to Venice. Students might expect to pay £50-100 pcm more on accommodation in Venice than they would do in Warwickshire.

Reading lists

Most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library. Explore our Warwick Library web pages.

Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you and you will be able to choose your optional modules when you join us.

2:i undergraduate degree (or equivalent) in History of Art or a related subject.

• Band B
• IELTS overall score of 7.0, minimum component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 or above.

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

Art History and its Methods

You will become acquainted with the major methodologies that have shaped the discipline of art history as an historical discipline. To this end, this module will examine several theories of the history of art that either construct art as something with its own (internal) history, or understand it as something determined by wider social and political contexts. The module may also engage with some of the more pertinent methodological and interdisciplinary issues on the boundaries of Art History, for example Material Culture Studies.

Dissertation

The Dissertation is an extended piece of writing of 15,000 words in length about a topic that you select, with the support of your supervisor. It allows you to demonstrate your research skills and formulate an independent perspective on your topic. You will be supported in your research and writing not only by your supervisor but through the Academic Preparation for History of Art module, and a series of planning workshops during the spring term.

Academic Preparation for History of Art

This module (which is not taken for credit) will help you to develop the academic skills you need for graduate study in History of Art. It will facilitate the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate study, as well as helping you to engage with History of Art as a new discipline.

• Research in Medieval and/or early Modern Art/Architectural History (taught in Venice)
• Research in Modern and/or Contemporary Art and Architecture (taught in Venice)
• Exhibiting the Contemporary (taught in Venice)
• East meets West: The Visual Arts in Colonial and Post-colonial India
• Leonardo: Art and Science
• Reality after Film
• Giotto and Assisi
• Colour and its Meaning

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