BA Art History and Language Studies

Program Overview

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Our four-year BA Art History and Language Studies (including foundation year), will be suitable for you if your academic qualifications do not yet meet our entrance requirements for the three-year version of this course and you want a programme that increases your subject knowledge as well as improves your academic skills in order to support your academic performance. This four-year course includes a foundation year (Year Zero), followed by a further three years of study. During your Year Zero, you study three academic subjects relevant to your chosen course as well as a compulsory academic skills module, with additional English language for non-English speakers. You are an Essex student from day one, a member of our global community based at the most internationally diverse campus university in the UK. After successful completion of Year Zero in our Essex Pathways Department, you progress to complete your course with our School of Philosophy and Art History. Our course allows you study the history and theory of art combined with French (post-A Level), German, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese (post-A Level or ab initio). You receive a distinctive curriculum which covers the whole history of art, enabling you to choose from a variety of specialist options, while simultaneously becoming proficient in one or more languages. 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. Modules explore a wide variety of media, including architecture, urbanism, photography and video, as well as painting, drawing, printmaking, performance art and sculpture. We have also embedded clear pathways to careers in curating and museumship throughout the course should you wish to take them, with modules in every year dedicated to the histories, theories and practices of museums, exhibitions and galleries. At the same time you can either begin the study of a language as complimentary to your course, or improve your current language skills. One of the major reasons for choosing Essex is the quality of the education you will receive. We are 3rd in the UK for research outputs in art history (Grade Point Average, REF2021). You will be taught by our expert staff in your very first year, a rarity in UK art history courses. Why we're great.

• We equip you with the necessary knowledge and skills to succeed at Essex and beyond.
• Our international students benefit from a single visa for all four years of study.
• Small class sizes allow you to work closely with your teachers and classmates.

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 late medieval period to the present day. Our staff’s research interests include activist art, modernist art and totalitarianism, the relationship between art and science, the artistic status of body modification, art and the environment, critical heritage, and the visual culture of social problems. We also have significant experience in curation and public engagement. Recent projects include:

Paola Di Giuseppantonio Di Franco’s UKRI Future Leaders-funded research project, REPLACE

Matt Lodder’s Painted People: Humanity in 21 Tattoos (HarperCollins, 2022)

Diana Bullen Presciutti’s Saints, Miracles, and Social Problems in Italian Renaissance Art (Cambridge, 2023) Our language and linguistics staff are internationally renowned. Their books dominate the reading lists at other universities. All our language teachers are native or bilingual speakers, we maintain excellent student-staff ratios, and we integrate language learning with linguistics wherever there is synergy. In addition to helping you acquire practical foreign language skills, our staff share their expertise with you in the areas of professional translation, interpreting and subtitling, film and art, business, and culture.

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Specialist facilities

By studying within our Essex Pathways Department for your foundation year, you will have access to all of the facilities that the University of Essex has to offer, as well as those provided by our department to support you:

• We provide computer labs for internet research; classrooms with access to PowerPoint facilities for student presentations; AV facilities for teaching and access to web-based learning materials.
• Our Student Services Hub will support you and provide information for all your needs as a student
• Our social space is stocked with hot magazines and newspapers, and provides an informal setting to meet with your lecturers, tutors and friends.

Take advantage of our other extensive learning resources to assist you in your studies:

• Our Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) is the most comprehensive Latin American art research resource in the UK and has a state-of-the-art teaching and research space.
• Many of our students gain work and research experience through our collection
• Our onsite gallery Art Exchange runs an ongoing programme of contemporary art exhibitions, talks by curators and artists, and exhibitions organised by our curatorial students
• Enjoy regular visits to London galleries, including Tate Modern, Tate Britain, the National Gallery and the Royal Academy of Arts, as well as many independent and alternative spaces
• Access to two multimedia language teaching labs which are equipped with state-of-the-art Melissi
• Digital Classroom software, and fitted with computers integrating audio-visual projectors and large screens

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Your future

As the graduate job market becomes increasingly global the ability to speak a modern language will place you in a competitive position. Language skills are in scare supply and can be used in almost any job. Graduates from our BA Art History and Modern Languages are prepared for roles as curators, teachers, translators and journalists. Having strong language skills have enabled our graduates to work in diverse fields including banking, entertainment, media, education and tourism for UK and international companies. Our recent graduates have gone onto work for a wide range of organisations including:

• Foreign and Commonwealth Office
• National Portrait Gallery
• Victoria and Albert Museum

We also work with the university's Student Development Team to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.

Program Outline

Course structure

We offer a flexible course structure with a mixture of core/compulsory modules, and optional modules chosen from lists. Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field, therefore all modules listed are subject to change. Your course structure could differ based on the modules you choose. To view the compulsory modules and full list of optional modules currently on offer, please view the programme specification via the link below. We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision for you. We’ll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities as described on our website. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, or in response to COVID-19, we’ll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.

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Components

Components are the blocks of study that make up your course. A component may have a set module which you must study, or a number of modules from which you can choose. Each component has a status and carries a certain number of credits towards your qualification.

Status	What this means
Core	You must take the set module for this component and you must pass. No failure can be permitted.
Core with Options	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component but you must pass. No failure can be permitted.
Compulsory	You must take the set module for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.
Compulsory with Options	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.
Optional	You can choose which module to study from the available options for this component. There may be limited opportunities to continue on the course/be eligible for the qualification if you fail.

The modules that are available for you to choose for each component will depend on several factors, including which modules you have chosen for other components, which modules you have completed in previous years of your course, and which term the module is taught in.

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Modules

Modules are the individual units of study for your course. Each module has its own set of learning outcomes and assessment criteria and also carries a certain number of credits. In most cases you will study one module per component, but in some cases you may need to study more than one module. For example, a 30-credit component may comprise of either one 30-credit module, or two 15-credit modules, depending on the options available. Modules may be taught at different times of the year and by a different department or school to the one your course is primarily based in. You can find this information from the module code . For example, the module code HR100-4-FY means:

HR	100	4	FY
The department or school the module will be taught by. In this example, the module would be taught by the Department of History.	The module number.	The UK academic level of the module. A standard undergraduate course will comprise of level 4, 5 and 6 modules - increasing as you progress through the course. A standard postgraduate taught course will comprise of level 7 modules. A postgraduate research degree is a level 8 qualification.	The term the module will be taught in. AU : Autumn term SP : Spring term SU : Summer term FY : Full year AP : Autumn and Spring terms PS: Spring and Summer terms AS: Autumn and Summer terms

Year 0 Year 1 Year 2 Final Year This module aims to introduce you to the history of painting, sculpture and architecture in Western Europe. We hope that through following the course you will become familiar with the way people interpret and write about art, and that you will develop your own style of discussing art. The module focuses on certain key concepts. We start by looking at Greek Civilisation and its influence, and end with the artistic revolutions in France which changed the way we look at art today. View Introduction to the History of Art in Western Europe: From Classical Greece to Impressionist France on our Module Directory This blended-learning module is designed to support students in their academic subject disciplines and to strengthen their confidence in key skills areas such as: academic writing, research, academic integrity, collaborative and reflective practices. The students are supported through the use of subject-specific materials tailored to their chosen degrees with alignment of assessments between academic subject modules and the skills module. View Research and Academic Development Skills on our Module Directory COMPONENT 03: CORE WITH OPTIONS IA108-3-FY or IA111-3-FY or IA118-3-FY or IA121-3-FY (30 CREDITS) COMPONENT 04: CORE WITH OPTIONS IA108-3-FY or IA111-3-FY or IA118-3-FY or IA121-3-FY (30 CREDITS) This module is intended as a skills-building course for first year art history students, to develop writing skills across a range of assessed and non-assessed writing types (essay, critical review, reading summary, label text, catalogue essay etc). The module will also present an introduction to research methods in art history, and a historical overview of art historical writing. View Writing and Researching Art History on our Module Directory This module tackles some of the biggest questions surrounding the history of art. You will explore some key issues of philosophical aesthetics, such as the nature of representation, by engaging critically with seminal texts, artworks, and architecture. In this module, you will develop your analytical and interpretive skills, and leave with a solid foundation for the study of the history of art. View Art and Ideas: I on our Module Directory COMPONENT 03: OPTIOL AR116-4-AU and/or Art History option(s) (30 CREDITS) COMPONENT 04: COMPULSORY WITH OPTIONS Language option(s) (Higher Intermediate or above) or Intensive Initial Parts I & II) (30 CREDITS) COMPONENT 05: COMPULSORY WITH OPTIONS Language option(s) (Initial to Advanced) (30 CREDITS) How did our society decide what counts as ‘art’ and what is ‘culture’? Is there really such a thing as high vs low culture? What are the political stakes of these divisions? This module looks at the shift in ideas from ‘art history’ to visual and material cultural studies. This module will engage with these debates and teach you new methods for seeing, interpreting and understanding art, design, craft, performance, film and games. These new ways of seeing are often driven by a critical impetus, and allow us to look at culture to draw out new perspectives on social and political issues of activism and social change, sex, technology, memes, police violence, migration, austerity and crisis, state surveillance, and our relation to animals and the environment. View Art and Ideas II: More Art, More Ideas - Critique and Historiography in the History of Art on our Module Directory COMPONENT 02: OPTIOL Art History options (30 CREDITS) COMPONENT 03: OPTIOL Language (Advanced or above) option(s) from list (30 CREDITS) COMPONENT 04: OPTIOL Language (Lower Intermediate or above) option(s) from list (30 CREDITS) COMPONENT 05: OPTIOL CS200-5-AU or (CS712-5-FY and option from list) (15 CREDITS) In this module you will produce a 4,000-word dissertation. The finished dissertation should show an all-round grasp of your subject and the ability to present your material clearly, succinctly and in the most appropriate sequence. It should also demonstrate evidence of a serious engagement with your topic, a mastery of the information currently available, and the inclusion of your own reasoned, critical judgements. A supervisor will help guide you as you begin to develop a research question, start researching the topic and write the dissertation. This is a capstone module, available to final-year art history students. View Final Year Dissertation Project on our Module Directory COMPONENT 02: OPTIOL Art History option(s) (30 CREDITS) COMPONENT 03: OPTIOL Language (Proficiency or above) option(s) from list (30 CREDITS) COMPONENT 04: OPTIOL Language (Higher Intermediate or above) option(s) from list (30 CREDITS) This third art and ideas module deepens your existing thematic and historiographical knowledge building on Art and Ideas 2. We’ll be looking back at ‘the history of art history’ before the twentieth century. We’ll also look forward, to new cutting-edge theoretical approaches to arts, visual and material cultures. View Art and Ideas III on our Module Directory

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Teaching

• 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
• Our classes are run in small groups, so you receive a lot of individual attention

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Assessment

• Your assessed coursework will generally consist of essays, reports, in-class tests, book reviews, individual or group oral presentations, and small scale research projects