Overview

Based in the world-famous Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, you will study the history of art and museums across the world while exploring the central issues facing the gallery and museum sector today. As well as learning about how art is made, the artists who make it, and its meanings and cultural context, you will develop knowledge and a range of practical skills relating to various aspects of museum and gallery work. Alongside key themes in art history, you’ll study topics central to a career in museums, galleries and the heritage sector. You’ll examine the politics and practicalities of different kinds of display across diverse collections and exhibitions, from contemporary art galleries to natural history collections, from historic houses to heritage sites, examining the varied practices of the curators, conservators and educators tasked with engaging broad audiences with art and material culture. You’ll explore contemporary debates in art history and consider the role and relevance of galleries and museums in culture and society in the past, present and into the future.

About This Course

This degree programme combines art history with the study of the history, theory and practice of museums and galleries. You’ll engage with artworks from pre-history right through to the present day from across the world, exploring a wide variety of art forms. You will also examine key issues facing galleries and museums today, developing a range of professional skills relevant to the art and heritage sector. You’ll have the opportunity to study the world-famous collection of art held in the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, encountering objects and artworks first-hand while learning about the processes and politics of collecting, reflecting on cultures of display and thinking about engaging diverse audiences. You’ll be taught by experts in a range of disciplines, who will encourage you to approach art, material culture and display from different perspectives. In your first year, you’ll establish firm foundations for the study of art and museums. In your second and third years, you’ll select from a range of optional modules that cut across the history of art and the history, theory and practice of gallery and museum studies. On History of Art with Gallery and Museum Studies with a Placement Year, you will normally spend 9-12 months of your third year in a placement, gaining invaluable working experience and employability skills in a relevant area of your choice. All this results in a degree with incredible breadth and depth where you can cultivate key intellectual and professional skills relating to art history and gallery and museum studies. This course is delivered by UEA’s world-leading department of Art History and World Art Studies. Staff specialisms include the art and archaeology of the climate crisis, postcolonial discourse, medieval visual cultures, artists’ photography and film, museum studies, curatorial studies, heritage studies, visual art and poetry, and contemporary art and exhibition making. We are part of a close network of internationally-renowned centres for the study and display of art: the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, the Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, and the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. Students benefit from these networks as well as our links with local and national museums and galleries in Norwich, London and further afield.