Course summary

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2024). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas. This nine-month programme offers a unique combination of methodological depth and access to excellent primary sources for students who wish to develop and extend their understanding of how visual styles at different times and in different places can be understood in relation to the aesthetic, intellectual and social facets of various cultures. This course draws on the established strengths of the discipline of art history in formal, iconographic and contextual analysis in the Faculty of History's History of Art Department and links them to a rigorous approach to questions of theory and method. The course will expose you to the ways in which the subjects of visual history are being redefined on a broad base to include a much wider range of artefacts and visual media, including images and objects produced in contexts ranging from the scientific to the popular. Teaching comprises: a compulsory methodology paper, Issues in Art History, which is taught in a seminar series during Michaelmas and Hilary terms. There is also an associated lecture series, workshops on professional practice and object-handling sessions in Oxford collections. one option paper, normally taught in small classes during Michaelmas and Hilary terms. You will also write a dissertation of up to 15,000 words, which will be submitted in Trinity term (see the Assessment section below for further details). It is expected that about 25% of your time will be spent on self-directed research and study. Option papers For the Optional Courses available in the next academic year, please visit the course webpage on the department's website, which will be updated in October 2024 (see the Further information and enquiries section for further details). As an example, the options papers for students enrolled in the 2024-25 academic year were: American Art in a Global Context The Politics of Modernism: Art in France 1880-1912 Mapping East and West: Art, Culture, Identity Attendance The course is full-time and requires attendance in Oxford. Full-time students are subject to the University's Residence requirements.