Building on over 70 years of academic programmes in the study of art history, and with an international reputation for innovative, critically engaged and globally conscious approaches to the discipline, our MA Social History of Art will equip you with a deep subject knowledge in the history of artistic practices in the broadest sense, grounded in fundamental questions about why this study matters in the world we face today.

The emphasis of the course is on social and political approaches to art history, whether looking at the most recent and contemporary, or in the study of the deeper roots of the cultures we inhabit. From Medieval and Renaissance art to live practices now, from the study of our most local environments to the arts of Africa, Asia and beyond, we approach art as central to the production and reproduction of our shared and different social worlds.

The course has well-established strengths in areas including:

• feminist and gender studies
• the relations between art and capitalism
• the legacies and critiques of colonialism
• Jewish studies
• climate and environment.

We offer an exceptional range of choice in specialist study, founded upon in-depth understanding of the discipline of art history, and leading to a major independent research project.

Across the areas we teach, we attend critically to the institutions and spaces in which art is encountered, drawing on ongoing professional collaborations and long-standing expertise among many of our staff who have worked in major museums, galleries and related arts and cultural organisations, whether locally, nationally, or internationally.

The Social History of Art course has a quite distinct position in relation to comparable programmes. You'll be studying in a research-intensive Russell Group university, where art historians study alongside fine artists and others studying galleries, museums and heritage.

Career opportunities

This postgraduate degree will develop your visual, critical and cultural awareness and expand your subject knowledge in history of art. In addition, you will graduate equipped with sophisticated research, analytical, critical and communication skills that will support you to succeed in a variety of careers.

Our graduates have pursued careers as curators and education staff in museums and galleries and worked for national heritage organisations, as well as in journalism, publishing, arts marketing, public relations, university administration and teaching.

Others have transferred the skills they gained into industry, the charity sector, and the full range of professions where high-level analytical and communication skills are in demand.