About the Department
The Department of History of Art is an internationally recognised centre for the research and teaching of history of art at one of the UK's most prestigious universities.
In terms of research activity, the Department plays a key role in University research initiatives, and in developments with collaborators across a wide range of institutions, nationally and internationally. Our 7 full-time members of staff encompass a wide range of art historical periods, methods and approaches. We are particularly active in the areas of British and European art from Medieval to Modern. Staff research ranges across Medieval altarpieces, Tudor Portraiture, Victorian aestheticism, French and British modernism, Soviet visual culture, German Expressionism and aspects of contemporary art. Geographical and historical periods are also complemented by research on art theory and criticism.
Staff and research students from the department engage widely in the activities of Bristol Institute for Research in the Humanities and Arts (BIRTHA) and the Association of Art Historians. Close links also exist with national scholarly institutions such as the British Academy and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.
At postgraduate level, we offer an innovative taught Master of Arts (M.A.) degree in History of Art. Staff in the Department also supervise postgraduate students taking higher degrees by research (M.Phil, M.Litt & PhD) and there is a lively postgraduate research community which actively contributes to and participates in the dynamic research culture of the department.
The research interests of the staff are also fully represented in our undergraduate degree programmes, which attract students of the highest academic potential from a wide range of educational, social and ethnic backgrounds. The Department offers BA courses in History of Art, History of Art with Study Abroad and History of Art with a Modern Language.
Since August 2009 the Department of History of Art has been located within the 'primary unit' of 'Historical Studies' within the School of Humanities in the Faculty of Arts of the University of Bristol. Historical Studies consists of History and History of Art, which are overseen by a single Head of Subject and a single Head of Education. The School of Humanities occupies a number of Victorian villas in Woodland Road. These are linked by attractive and sympathetically developed modern buildings to the rear that are arranged around a series of gardens. Despite the merger of History and History of Art into one 'primary unit', the two departments retain a distinctive identity, each delivering their own undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. While the administrative merger of the departments into 'Historical Studies' will certainly lead to greater opportunities for undergraduate students from History of Art to take units from History in future (and vice versa), there are no plans to merge the degree programmes, both of which are extremely popular and successful.
The Head of Subject is Professor Ronald Hutton, who has responsibility for all matters that pertain to research, including research students.
The Head of Education is Dr Hugh Pemberton, who has responsibility for the taught programmes within Historical Studies. As such he has overall responsibility for both the BA and the MA programmes in History and History of Art.
Please address all correspondence as directed on the Department's general enquiries page or, if you wish to contact an individual member of our staff within History of Art, you can find their email address and / or telephone number on our staff contacts page.