About the course

Our BA Literature and History of Art promotes awareness of the interactions and differences between literature and the visual arts in history.

History of art is about engaging with the visual and about understanding its power, so our course enables you to understand the ways in which history, ideas and ideologies are manifested in images –skills which are vital in a society that is now dominated by the visual image. Although not as widely offered at A-level, History of Art is one of the most vocational of all humanities degrees, and requires no previous specialist knowledge of either art or art and design.

Here at Essex, your first year is designed specifically to offer you the key skills necessary for university level study and also demonstrates your achievements and potential to prospective employers and other academic institutions. Your second and third years offer a range of choices which feature more specialist areas of study from the art of the Renaissance to the present day.

Why study BA Literature and Art History at Essex?

Our School of Philosophy and Art History is widely regarded as one of the best in the UK, internationally renowned for our strengths in art history and theory. In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE, December 2008), our research placed us ninth in the UK for the subject.

Why study this subject?

History of art is an intellectually stimulating discipline which also embraces aspects of economic, social and political history, languages and literature, philosophy, psychology and many other subject areas. As well as enjoying the subject for itself, you gain numerous transferable skills, such as the ability to analyse the images around us and to prepare and deliver illustrated presentations.

Our facilities

By studying within our School of Philosophy and Art History, you will have access to our outstanding facilities to aid your learning and research. We offer a well-organised student support system which will direct you to the best source of advice and support in the case of personal or academic difficulties. You are taught by open-minded and enthusiastic staff, who are experts in their field, and are concerned with developing your full academic and personal potential.

Our students in history of art can access our excellent library, with our own photocopying facilities, film collection, IT facilities and a pleasant student common room which is a place for both lively social interactions as well as independent and group study. We have a highly flexible gallery space on campus, which hosts regular exhibitions as well as the shows of our postgraduate students.

Our students also have access to our unique Essex Collection of Latin American Art, the most important collection of Latin American art to be found outside Latin America. In addition, our library has one of the finest specialist collections of Latin American material in Europe, comprising over 85,000 books and pamphlets, 1,700 periodical titles (of which approximately 100 are current), as well as collections of Brazilian chap-books and Mexican codices in superb facsimile editions.

We encourage interdisciplinarity within the field of humanities subjects, and we offer regular staff and student research seminars and two members of our teaching staff have recently won Excellence in Teaching Awards.

Study abroad/placement opportunities

Here at Essex we recognise the importance of studying and living abroad, so offer many opportunities for you to spend a term or a full year studying in another country and have exchange partners in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, the Middle East, Hong Kong and Japan.

Hear what our students have to say

Introduction

As a new undergraduate, you may find university-level learning, assessment and studying differs to school or college. Here at Essex, we understand and recognise this by having support in place, particularly during your first year when you may notice the change more.

If you are studying a non-science subject, then your teaching mainly takes the form of lectures and classes, the latter involving about 20 students. A typical timetable includes a one-hour lecture and a one-hour class for each of your four modules every week. Any language classes involve language laboratory sessions.

First-year assessment is a combination of written coursework, end-of-term tests, practical and laboratory work (where appropriate) and end-of-year exams.

Teaching methods and styles

Within our School of Philosophy and Art History, teaching takes the form of lectures and seminar sessions or discussion classes.

For our courses in history of art, we believe that the most important thing in teaching this subject is looking at and talking about works of art with our students. We also spend a lot of time in class on the close examination of texts written by artists, critics, art historians and philosophers. We make the most of our close proximity to London and Europe by offering subsidised gallery visits and visits to works ‘in situ’ for each course that we teach. You are also given opportunities to develop research, presentation, networking and communication skills from the beginning of your undergraduate degree in group and individual project work.

Methods of assessment

Within our School of Philosophy and Art History, assessment takes a variety of forms, depending on the course you are studying.

For our courses in history of art, our first-year modules are ‘examination free’ – that is, assessment is based on 100 per cent coursework. For Art, Sex and Death in the Eighteenth Century, an independently researched group presentation will count for a major part of your assessment. We bring in outside experts to help you develop your skills as a public presenter, and also to help us in assessing your group presentations from an employability perspective. For Vision and Reality: Case Studies in the History of Art, assessment is by coursework, essays and a portfolio detailing an imaginary exhibition project of your own choosing. This is your first opportunity to begin reflecting on the role of the gallery, museum and exhibition in shaping our approach to art.

Assessment of second- and final-year modules on our courses in history of art is evenly split between coursework and examinations. Coursework usually takes the form of three 2,000-3,000 word essays. Your marks for coursework and exams are averaged for each module, and the resulting eight overall module marks form the basis of your degree result.

Career destinations

Art history is perhaps the most directly vocational subject you can study in the humanities. As well as acquiring skills in research, analysis and developing your own voice in both written work and in public presentations, you will also develop high levels of competency in visual analysis.

Our first-year modules include training in presentational skills and a group project assessed by representatives from regional employers, helping you to focus on developing your employability. These skills open the door to careers in art galleries, museums, art dealing and auctioneering, conservation and heritage organisations like the National Trust, as well as in art journalism.

Among our former undergraduates, for example, are a member of the valuation team at Sotheby’s New York, the Head of Learning at firstsite (a £26 million visual arts centre in Colchester), the current director of ESCALA, and the Visual Merchandising Manager at John Lewis flagship store in Oxford Street, London.

Your employability and Essex

At Essex we take your employability seriously, helping you become a rounded individual with the ability to succeed, whatever your plans. You’ll find your department works with our Employability and Careers Centre to inform you about options to study or work overseas, your Faculty Employability Coordinator finds degree-related work placements, and our Students’ Unions ensures that, annually, over 700 students volunteer and more than 4,000 get involved in sports, clubs and societies.

At Essex you can gain new skills that look good on your CV, like paid placements through our frontrunners scheme, graduate-level paid internships, and opportunities to develop discipline-specific skills as part of your studies.

We help you understand your skills, and how to demonstrate these to an employer. You can get our extra-curricular employability award – the Big Essex Award – recorded on your transcript, receive one-to-one advice on careers, use our Essex CV guides on applying for work, learn from famous entrepreneurs and take part in workshops, and meet employers through on-campus events.

We develop your employability through fantastic opportunities, and give you the tools to explore the meaning of your unique experiences, so you are ready for your future.

Global employability

Here at Essex, our students can undertake period of study or work abroad specifically tailored to his/her academic interests and future career plans. You are taught and assessed by your host university, so assessment may be in the form of written papers, oral or written exams, lab or project work, research, or work-based learning. All successfully completed pre-approved modules will be credited towards your Essex degree.

Study abroad is an excellent opportunity for personal development. It affords you the chance to become immersed in another culture over a sustained period, coming to know a country and its people in a way that you could not hope to as a tourist. It is also an opportunity to experience a different educational system and develop different skills. You learn to view the world (and your academic discipline) from another perspective, becoming more independent and confident.

Study abroad also enhances your employability. It helps your CV stand out from other candidates and signals to an employer that you have maturity, adaptability and organisational skills. As the world of business is becoming increasingly international, the experience of living abroad is, in itself, attractive to many employers. Depending upon your study abroad destination, you may also gain fluency in another language, which is a highly attractive skill to have as you enter the employment market.

If you are interested in learning another language then our Languages for All programme enables you to study a language, alongside your course, at no extra cost. You can take one of 50 taught language modules on a part-time day-time basis, or undertake flexible web-based learning, or opt for a language module taught in the evening. As employers can struggle to find graduates able to speak more than one language, Languages for All places Essex graduates in a very advantageous position.

Postgraduate opportunities

Within our School of Philosophy and Art History, we offer taught Masters courses and research supervision for PhD and MPhil. We welcome students whose intellectual outlook and interests cut across conventional academic boundaries. Our aim is to provide a supportive and stimulating intellectual environment for our postgraduates, which helps you to meet the various challenges involved in further studies.

We have an established international reputation and a strong tradition of postgraduate education. In history of art, we cover the major areas of European art and architecture from 1300 to the present, and in the art and architecture of Latin America and of the United States.