History of Art University of Leeds

Overview

Within the History of Art BA course from University of Leeds  you’ll explore practices and interpretations of art across an exceptionally wide array of intersecting cultures and different periods. In a world increasingly defined through images and material culture, we approach art history as a vital and dynamic framework for understanding both our shared histories, and some of the most pressing questions we are faced with now.

With an emphasis on the interconnections between art and larger social dynamics, the course offers an active engagement with questions of power, politics and society, and the potential for a deep understanding of art history to illuminate the wider frameworks that shape our culture, such as those of race, our relations to nature and the environment, class, gender and sexuality.

Career opportunities

Our History of Art course provides training in critical thinking about the ways in which practices, objects and ideas shape the world. It embeds high-level intellectual skills, flexibility of approach, independence, collaboration, and problem solving.

As you study, you’ll learn to adapt and build a wide and dynamic array of different intellectual and practical skills, vital for a changing world. Focus on the history of art, as part of a study of societies in the widest sense, means our students engage throughout their degree with trans-disciplinary approaches, drawing also on areas of literature, philosophy, the media, religion, history, and wherever else their research takes them.

There is also a strong emphasis on the institutional and professional dimensions of art and culture, and on understanding the practical side of how they take shape and affect our lives in the real world. These are vital transferrable skills in high demand, and graduates of History of Art at the University of Leeds go on to enjoy a wide range of career choices.

Employment opportunities include the widest array of challenging careers that demand those core, transferrable skills and the rigour of a Russell Group university degree, whether or not directly related to the history of art.