BA Literature and Art History

University of Essex

Bachelor's degree

In Colchester

£ 9,250 + VAT

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Description

  • Type

    Bachelor's degree

  • Location

    Colchester

  • Duration

    3 Years

About the course
Our distinctive curriculum allows you to take advantage of the most up-to-date developments in the field, and to understand the interactions and differences between literature and the visual arts in history


You have the opportunity to:
Study the relationship between text and image and the relationships that exist between the two
Develop your interests and explore a variety of interpretative methods which are appropriate to both the text and to the visual artefact
Literature is introduced in your first year through a series of seminal works in drama, poetry and narrative which have helped to articulate the literature of England and Europe both past and present

By adopting and practising close reading skills you develop your abilities in analysis and interpretation, and grow in confidence from the beginning of your undergraduate study


Similarly in your art history modules you cover a broad history from your first year of study and can choose from a variety of specialist options to suit your own interests

Engage with art works that range from Old Master paintings, through the Pre-Raphaelites and Surrealists, to the most up-to-date contemporary art and visual culture


Your modules explore a wide variety of media, including architecture, urbanism, photography and video, as well as painting, drawing, printmaking, performance art and sculpture

This understanding of visual history allows you to complement and enhance your exploration of different textual sources, from the earliest modern works to the literature and theory of the present day, in a variety of contexts

Facilities

Location

Start date

Colchester (Essex)
See map
Wivenhoe Park, CO4 3SQ

Start date

On request

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Reviews

Subjects

  • Art
  • Works
  • Art History
  • Teaching
  • Media

Course programme

Example structure
Studying at Essex is about discovering yourself, so your course combines compulsory and optional modules to make sure you gain key knowledge in the discipline, while having as much freedom as possible to explore your own interests. Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field, therefore to ensure your course is as relevant and up-to-date as possible your core module structure may be subject to change.
For many of our courses you’ll have a wide range of optional modules to choose from – those listed in this example structure are just a selection of those available. The opportunity to take optional modules will depend on the number of core modules within any year of the course. In many instances, the flexibility to take optional modules increases as you progress through the course.
Our Programme Specification gives more detail about the structure available to our current first-year students, including details of all optional modules.
Year 1
Art and Ideas: I(A)
Art and Ideas: I(B)
Culture, Work and Society
Literature: Origins and Transformations
Art, Sex and Death (optional)
The Enlightenment (optional)
Year 2
Art and Ideas II: More Art, More Ideas - Critique and Historiography in the History of Art
Early Modern Literature
United States Literature Since 1850 (optional)
After Impressionism: European Art From Van Gogh to Klimt (optional)
Becoming Modern: European Art From Futurism to Surrealism (optional)
Picturing the City I (optional)
Final year
Picturing the City II (optional)
The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Film, New Media, Software and the Internet (optional)
Hollywood Directors (optional)
Arthurian Literature (optional)
Study Trip Abroad (Final Year) (optional)
Visualising Bodies (optional)
The Story and Myth of the West (optional)
Dreaming and Writing (optional)
Year abroad
On your year abroad, you have the opportunity to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised. The rest of your course remains identical to the three-year degree.
Teaching
Close examination of texts written by artists, critics, art historians and philosophers
Subsidised gallery visits to work ‘in situ’ for each course
Gain practical experience in curating, such as handling and installing artworks
Teaching takes the form of lectures and seminar sessions or discussion classes
Innovative ways of engaging with literary texts include editing 16th century sonnets and archival research
Assessment
Assessment methods include coursework, for example essays, analysis of source material, exhibition reviews and virtual portfolios, coursework reports, oral presentations
Written examinations are also taken for the majority of modules at the end of each academic year
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Additional information

One of the major reasons for choosing Essex is the quality of the education you will receive We are ranked 6th among art history departments in the UK for research excellence (REF 2014), and you will be taught by our expert staff in your very first year, a rarity in UK art history courses We are ranked Top 20 in the UK for literature (Guardian University Guide 2015) Study abroad We offer you a variety of study abroad options The four-year version of our course allows you to spend the third year studying abroad without paying a fee, while otherwise remaining identical to the three-year course Studying abroad can allow you to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable and organised We have established partnerships across Europe, the United States, Latin America and Asia, including with world-renowned institutions such as: École du Louvre in France University of Freiburg in Germany University of Bologna in Italy Our expert staff We are a dynamic group of art historians who investigate the production and reception of images and built environment, across cultures and media, from the early modern period to the present day Our art history staff’s research interests include activist art, modernist art and totalitarianism, the relationship of art and science, the artistic status of body modification, expressions of societal anxiety in art, as well as architecture and urbanism Our Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies is committed to unlocking creative personal responses to literature Our distinctive environment is possible because we are a community of award-winning novelists, poets and playwrights, as well as leading literature specialists Our academic staff specialise in a range of areas including modernism, comparative and world literature, Shakespeare, the Renaissance, travel writing, nature writing, translated...

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BA Literature and Art History

£ 9,250 + VAT

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