Fine Art with History of Art

You’ll have the chance to work across all fine art media and you’ll be encouraged to find your own direction as an artist. Half of the degree is devoted to studio work, giving you the time and space to develop your ideas. You’ll take field trips to exhibitions, galleries and fine art fairs and combine lectures with group seminar sessions to discuss contemporary art practice, which you can use to inform your own creative work.

To support these studies you’ll take core modules that introduce you to contested ideas about the artist, art and the history of art as well as the relationship between art and society. You’ll gain research and analytical skills that provide a foundation for your degree.

In year 1, you will gain the fundamental skills and knowledge for the study of art and culture and explore your own direction as an artist by developing a creative portfolio across a range of media. Compulsory and optional modules will introduce key themes and interpretive methods, examine different cultures and materials, and consider the intentions and identities of artists.

In year 2, you will build upon and critically apply the knowledge and skills learned in year 1 and further pursue your own individual interests. Compulsory modules will examine contested ideas about art and the artist and how the theory and history of art relate to practice. You will also continue to develop your portfolio.

In your final year, you will apply your research and critical skills to an independent piece of research on a topic of your choice, which can either complement your studio practice or focus on a topic of your choice within art history. You will complement and support these projects with a choice of optional modules.

Towards the end of the year you’ll display your studio work in a final exhibition, applying your artistic and professional skills to interact with external agencies, the media and sponsors.

Course structure

These are typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our Terms and conditions.

Modules Year 1

Compulsory modules

• A Story of Art? 1 20 credits
• A Story of Art? 2 20 credits
• Introduction to Studio Work 30 credits
• Studio Work 2 30 credits

Optional modules

• Introduction to Cultural Analysis 1 20 credits
• Elements of Visual Culture I 20 credits
• Cultural History 20 credits
• The English Country House: Making and Meaning 20 credits
• Introduction to Museum and Art Gallery Studies 20 credits

Year 2

Compulsory modules

• Studio Work 60 credits
• Keywords 20 credits

Optional modules

• Seeing in Asia 20 credits
• The Art Market: Moments, Methodologies, Meanings 20 credits
• African Art I: Context Representation Signification 20 credits
• Art, Power and Portraiture 20 credits
• The Avant Gardes 20 credits

Year 3

Compulsory modules

• Dissertation 40 credits
• Studio Work 60 credits

Optional modules

• Soviet Socialist Realism 20 credits
• Sins, Sinisters and Sciapods: The Margins of Medieval Art 20 credits
• Anthropology, Art and Representation 20 credits