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Course summary

The study of the history of art at Leeds has an international reputation for its innovative, rigorous, diverse and critically engaged approaches, and the emphasis of this course is on social and political approaches to art history. The MA Social History of Art builds on a legacy of dynamic and challenging scholarship, and continues to test the parameters of the discipline and shape wider debates in the field. Around a shared commitment to understanding art as central to the production and reproduction of the social worlds we inhabit, our key research strengths lie in feminist, gender and Jewish studies, on questions of materialism and materiality, the postcolonial and the ‘non-Western’, as well as in provocations of those fields of art history considered more ‘established’, from Medieval and Renaissance up to the contemporary. Drawing on the School’s community of researchers, and with our links to internationally important research institutions such as the Henry Moore Institute, as well as with an abundant and growing array of arts institutions in Leeds and nearby, this postgraduate course will equip you to develop your own critically informed research. Specialist facilities Housed within a single central campus location, the School offers a modern and well-equipped learning environment with several studio and exhibition spaces. Project Space is the School’s multi-purpose space designed for the development of curatorial practice and visiting exhibitions. The Brotherton Library holds a wide variety of manuscript, archive and early printed material in its Special Collections - valuable assets for your independent research. In addition to the wide range of museums and galleries in the city and beyond, the University campus features:

  • The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery
  • Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery
  • Museum of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine
  • Marks & Spencer Company Archive
  • International Textile Collection
  • Public art trail


Entry requirements

You’ll need a bachelor degree with a 2:1 (hons) or equivalent qualification, for example (though not exclusively) in a humanities or social science subject, such as History, Literature, Languages, Art History, Philosophy or Sociology, or in a practice-based Arts subject where your degree included a significant proportion of historical and theoretical studies. IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component.


Fees and funding

Tuition fees

No fee information has been provided for this course

Additional fee information

Fees are listed on our website: https://courses.leeds.ac.uk/
Social History of Art at University of Leeds - UCAS