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History of Art BA (V350)

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Find out more about our History of Art degree at Warwick

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V350

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Bachelor of Arts (BA)

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3 years full-time

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26 September 2022

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History of Art

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University of Warwick

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Art history is the study of creative activities in the visual arts and built environment. It involves perspectives from archaeology, faith and gender studies, cultural anthropology and visual perception. Warwick's History of Art degree will develop critical skills and in-depth understanding, preparing you to thrive in careers across the art world and beyond.

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By studying art in the context of history, we gain new insight into the perceptions and intentions of the maker, as well as the times in which it was produced. We place a strong emphasis on organising field trips to a variety of museums and galleries, giving you the opportunity to appreciate and understand by experiencing artistic work directly. This is why you will spend a term in your second year, you will normally spend the autumn term in Venice.

Our carefully designed degree allows you to select the modules that suit your own interests. You will study a rich and varied range of art history, from the present day to the Middle Ages, supported by a range of site visits. You will also be taught in small class sizes to ensure close supervision by dedicated, research-active academic staff.

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You can choose your own route throughout the degree, supported by core modules that establish the essential framework of the course. There is an increasing amount of choice from the first year onwards, and you choose the subject of your dissertation, under expert guidance. Your first year includes introductory core modules, which provide an overview of Western Art and the ways in which it is studied today. You can also choose optional modules on topics such as contemporary art, portraiture, sacred art, sculpture, print media, or architecture and photography.

You will normally spend the first term of your second year in Venice, before returning to Warwick to focus on specialised subjects including an optional practical art module. In your third year you will study research-based special subject modules, a core module on the issues in art history and complete a dissertation on a topic of your choice.

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Modules are taught either through weekly lectures combined with seminars, or through small-group seminars alone. The fundamental importance of the direct experience of works of art is emphasised at every stage of your degree.

Seminars in galleries and museums, or site visits to key monuments and buildings, are integrated into modules. You can also study a studio-based Practical Art module in your second year.

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Class sizes are normally 10-12 people.

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In Year One you will have on average 10 hours of contact time (including lectures, seminars, field trips and tutorials) and around 27 hours of independent study per week. We provide written feedback on essays with the option of tutorials to discuss them further, and one-to-one tutorials during the preparation of your dissertation.

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We use a variety of assessment methods throughout your degree programme, including assessed essays, reports, work books, examinations, a research-based dissertation and (for the Practical Art and the exhibition-based modules) a portfolio of work responding to a specific practical task.

Your second and final year contribute 50% each towards your final mark.

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Study abroad

In your second year, you will spend the autumn term in Venice, where you will study the city's art and culture at first hand with our team of Renaissance and Contemporary specialists. You will be based at a study centre close to the Grand Canal, which provides a focus for our teaching and research activities in the city.

As part of all of our courses you have the opportunity to study abroad for a year with one of our partner institutions, or with the University of Monash in Australia.

The Study Abroad Team offers support for these activities, and the Department's dedicated Study Abroad Co-ordinator can provide more specific information and assistance.

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A level typical offer

ABB.

A level contextual offer

We welcome applications from candidates who meet the contextual eligibility criteria and whose predicted grades are close to, or slightly below, the contextual offer level. The typical contextual offer is BBB. See if you're eligible.

General GCSE requirements

Unless specified differently above, you will also need a minimum of GCSE grade 4 or C (or an equivalent qualification) in English Language and either Mathematics or a Science subject. Find out more about our entry requirements and the qualifications we accept. We advise that you also check the English Language requirements for your course which may specify a higher GCSE English requirement. Please find the information about this below.

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IB typical offer

34.

IB contextual offer

We welcome applications from candidates who meet the contextual eligibility criteria and whose predicted grades are close to, or slightly below, the contextual offer level. The typical contextual offer is 32. See if you're eligible.

General GCSE requirements

Unless specified differently above, you will also need a minimum of GCSE grade 4 or C (or an equivalent qualification) in English Language and either Mathematics or a Science subject. Find out more about our entry requirements and the qualifications we accept. We advise that you also check the English Language requirements for your course which may specify a higher GCSE English requirement. Please find the information about this below.

4c

We welcome applications from students taking BTEC qualifications, either alone or in combination with A levels. Our typical BTEC offers are as follows:

• BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate plus 2 A levels: D plus AB
• BTEC Level 3 National Diploma plus 1 A level: DD plus A
• BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma: D*DD

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Year One

Introduction to Art History: Classicism and the Arts of Christianity

You will have the opportunity to carry out a historical survey of Western art, concentrating on Late Antique, Medieval and Renaissance art. You will learn skills and techniques that will allow you to describe accurately what you see, in terms of how an object is made, as well as its form and iconography. These core skills will form your foundation for later modules.

Introduction to Art History: The Natural World and the Arts of Modernity

You will study a thematic approach to the history of Western art, stimulating comparisons across time and space and exploring a wide spectrum of images and ideas, including those related to architecture and the applied arts. You will acquire introductory analytical and communication skills required for a good understanding of the field, including areas which will be useful for the study of later modules.

Study Skills for Art-Historians (non-credit bearing)

This is included in the two Survey modules and equips you with skills in understanding Christian iconography and the depiction of mythology, as well as in academic writing.

History of Art and Interpretation

In this module, you will enhance your awareness of the relationship between art and its historical and physical contexts, and of approaches to the work of art which can help you understand them. You will consider works of art in context at Waddesdon Manor and at other collections. You will learn the techniques and practices of interpretation which will be useful for later modules.

Year Two

Exhibiting the Contemporary (taught in Venice)

You will consider the importance of exhibitions for the interpretation of contemporary art and architecture. Based in Venice, you will study current exhibitions both within and outside the frame of the Biennale, in conjunction with texts on contemporary exhibition-making, curating, and museum and exhibition history.

Venice: Rise and Myth (taught in Venice)

You will examine the art and architecture of Venice in the light of its unique physical, political and cultural location. You will study key examples of architecture, painting and sculpture in the light of their commissioning, manufacture, consumption and subsequent critical fortune.

Year Three

Practices of Art History

You will examine a range of theoretical approaches from the discipline’s beginning in the early 19th century to contemporary debates. By exploring questions of theory and method, you will develop the skills of critical reading and the evaluation of evidence. You will be encouraged to reflect on your own theoretical allegiances, and to consider how these will shape your dissertation.

Dissertation

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Year One

• Architecture
• Prints
• Sacred Art
• Sculpture
• Fakes and Forgeries
• Painting Techniques
• Landscape

Year Two

• Art since the 60s
• Italian City States in the Age of Dante and Petrarch
• A Fine Tomorrow: British Art and Culture in the 1950s
• Practical Art
• Art of the Baroque
• The Renaissance: North and South
• Art and Disruption, 1900 to Present Day
• The Spaces of 17th-century Dutch Painting
• The Aesthetic Movement

Year Three

• Deconstructing Medieval and Early Modern Buildings
• Colour and its Meaning
• The Thirties: Art and Society in inter-war Britain
• Reality after Film
• Visual Art and Poetry
• Latin-American Modernism: 20th-century Objects, 21st-century Exhibitions
• East Meets West: Visual Arts in Colonial and Post-Colonial India
• Leonardo: Art and Science