History of Art MA

Our MA History of Art trains you at an advanced level in looking at, thinking about and researching art and its histories. It exposes you to key art historical approaches and allows you to focus in depth on areas and periods of particular interest to you, in early and modern (including contemporary) periods. It develops your visual acuity while stimulating critical debate and building your research skills.

Why choose this course?

* Birkbeck is one of the leading universities for the study of the history of art as a culturally and historically engaged discipline. Our teaching staff are internationally recognised experts conducting ground-breaking research in periods from medieval to contemporary.

* You will have the opportunity to take a ten-week supervised work placement in a museum, gallery or archive. Previous placements have been offered at Tate, the British Museum, the Science Museum, Whitechapel Gallery and the Horniman Museum and have included helping design and run school programmes, documenting collections previously uncatalogued, conducting visitor research, and assisting curators in producing exhibitions.

* Your studies will be enriched by museum, gallery and site visits, visiting speakers and screenings, as we make the most of the renowned and incredibly rich art collections, monuments and study facilities in London.

What will I learn?

You will master a wide range of methods and sources, including archives, collections, historical and contemporary texts, and a broad spectrum of artistic media from cathedrals to digital installations. This will give you advanced skills, much desired by many employers, in analysis, argument and communication.

You will also have the chance to follow your interests choosing from a wide range of option modules to explore various media in depth, such as painting, sculpture, print culture, architecture, digital art, photography and performance.

How will I learn?

You can study this course full- or part-time with classes taking place in the evening. Classes may be in the form of short lectures, seminar and small-group discussions, or group tasks such as the analysis of texts and visual material.

Option modules may include organised visits to museums and galleries, collections and heritage sites. In your final year, you will devise your own research project for the dissertation, supervised by one of our specialists.

Highlights

* Birkbeck was ranked as one of the top four universities in the UK for its Art and Design research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.

* We offer a number of bursaries for postgraduate students. Funds are also available to support MA coursework research expenses.

* You can attend a wide range of events and information evenings, held throughout the year.

* You will have the opportunity to apply for a work placement in one of London's museums, galleries or archives, and join our study trips, offered each spring. Cities visited in the last few years include Florence, Paris, Venice, Vienna, Rome, Berlin and Moscow.

Careers and employability

On successfully graduating from this course you will have gained an array of transferable skills, including:

* a sophisticated use of written and spoken English

* highly developed visual skills

* an advanced critical ability in understanding and applying complex theories

* facility and precision in the use of a range of analytical tools

* strong skills and initiative in collecting and organising complex materials and writing up clear, well-presented assignments and fluent critical arguments.

Graduates can pursue career paths in the museums and heritage sector, arts management, conservation and policy, education, marketing and publishing, and research and academia. Possible professions include:

* higher education lecturer

* museum/gallery curator

* museum registrar or collections manager

* arts administrator

* auctioneer

* researcher

* advertising account executive.