Postgraduate Prospectus

www.essex.ac.uk/arthistory | Art History
Why study art history
at Essex?
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Internationally renowned for our
strengths in art history and theory
Strong postgraduate community,
attracting students from both
home and abroad
Long established and excellent
record of winning external
research funding
Well established and highly
regarded courses offered within
our Centre for Curatorial Studies
World-class research undertaken
in the field of Latin American art
Career prospects
Former students go on to work in
museums and galleries in London
and throughout the world; other
employment sectors include
publishing and advertising, or
senior management positions
in a wide range of businesses.
Many of our students have also
progressed successfully to further
research and an academic career.
About our School
We provide an excellent environment for
the pursuit of both teaching and research,
and have repeatedly been awarded top
grades in national assessments of
teaching quality and research standing.
We have an unequalled track record
in attracting external research funding.
Over the past decade we have been
home to no fewer than five major Arts
and Humanities Research Council
(AHRC)-funded research projects including
the Centre for Studies of Surrealism’s
Legacies and a project on The Moral
Nature of the Image in the Renaissance
(a three-year examination of the modes
of reception of religious and secular art
in the Renaissance); UECLAA online,
a three-year project to create a digital
catalogue of our exceptional collection
of Latin American art; Meeting Margins:
Transnational Art in Latin America
and Europe 1950-78, a three-year
AHRC-funded study in collaboration
with the University of the Arts, London;
and Aesthetics after Photography, a
three-year research project in collaboration
with the University of Warwick.
Current research interests of individual
members of staff include: modern art in
France, especially Cubism and interwar
Surrealism (Professor Neil Cox); the
cultural significance of the museum,
museum architecture, and photography
and the Paris commune (Dr Michaela
Giebelhausen); the art, architecture and
urbanism of the Italian Renaissance
(Dr Caspar Pearson); and Rodin and
contemporary science (Dr Natasha
Ruiz-Gómez). Our research culture is
frequently enriched by research visitors;
during 2010-11, for example, we
welcomed the University’s first ever
Fulbright Scholar, Jann Marson, working on
Belgian Surrealism, as well as postdoctoral
researcher, Julia Pine, working on late Dalí.
We are also home to the Centre for
Curatorial Studies (led by director, Matthew
Poole), which brings together research in
the field of museology, exhibition studies
and curatorial practice, and also delivers
our postgraduate courses in each of
these areas.
We provide good facilities for study,
with access to a range of resources and
support mechanisms to foster progression.
Our students in our Centre for Curatorial
Studies have a dedicated office on our
Colchester Campus, which is used as
a study area, a production office for
exhibitions, a meeting room and a
workshop. It has its own telephone line,
fully networked computing facilities,
printers, a range of materials and a library
of our graduates’ portfolios, which
document their exhibitions.
We also have a large well-equipped
room for our research students. There are
desks and computers, a state-of-the-art
printer/fax machine and comfortable
seating, so you can use this room for
meetings and reading groups, as well as
private study.
Taught courses
Teaching, particularly at postgraduate
level, is bound up with all our activities
and research interests, creating a sense
of urgency and dynamism that focuses
our students' minds.
MA Art History and Theory•
This flexible course is suitable if you are
seeking employment in the art world or
elsewhere, or are interested in further
research and an academic career. With
options covering European and Latin
American art, architecture from the
Renaissance to the present day, museology,
contemporary art, and photography, you
can pursue your own interests in choosing
modules that appeal to you.
MA Art History and Theory contains
a strong research element, normally
culminating in a 20,000 word dissertation
on a topic of your choice.
MA Critical Management and Curating•
This course will equip you for a career in
visual arts management, critical curating,
Postgraduate Prospectus 2012 | 61