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The Department of Art History specialises in high-quality research and teaching relating to several areas of art and architectural history. These include Byzantine art; the Renaissance (both in Italy and in Northern Europe); art and art theory from the seventeenth through to the twentieth century; recent and contemporary art practice; a cross-period interest in gender studies; architecture and material culture; and heritage studies. Our fully illustrated teaching books (co-published with Yale University Press) have attracted international recognition and many are best sellers. We run a popular MA in Art History and supervise PhD students.
| The department has four research groups, some of which are interdisciplinary: |
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In addition the department plays a key role in two inter-departmental research groups. The interfaculty Heritage Studies Research Group promotes a critical approach to understanding the role of heritage in society, looking at the historic environment, interpretation and sustainability issues as well as collections history. The Material Cultures Research Group uses a critical consideration of the role of tangible expressions of culture in society. Topics of interest range from the uses of Byzantine icons to the impact of social housing on gender relations.
Key facts
- The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise results showed 40 per cent of our research is ‘internationally excellent’ and 25 per cent ‘world-leading’.
- Our 2008 RAE score placed us within the top ten institutions nationally offering art history.
- We offer regular opportunities to participate in our collaborative study days held at Tate Modern, the Barbican, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Milton Keynes Gallery, the Walker Art Gallery and the Baltic.
- We offer unique access to an archive of gallery-based events, lectures and seminars through The Open Arts Archive.
- Our staff has been successful in obtaining substantial funding for high-profile research projects from The Leverhulme Trust and other funding bodies.
Further information
If you have an enquiry specific to this research area please contact:
- Email:
- arts-research-students@open.ac.uk
- Phone:
- +44 (0)1908 652479
For general enquiries please contact the Research Degrees Team via the link under 'Your questions' further down the page.
Publications
Research publications by Open University staff are available through Open Research Online (ORO), the university's repository of research publications and other research outputs. ORO can be searched or browsed by staff name or subject.
The following list, generated from ORO, provides a flavour of the most recently published work in Art History:
- Lymberopoulou, Angeliki and Rembrandt , Duits eds. (2013). Byzantine Art and Renaissance Europe. UK: Ashgate (In Press).
- Lymberopoulou, Angeliki (2013). Regional Byzantine Monumental Art from Venetian Crete. In: Lymberopoulou, Angeliki and Duits, Rembrandt eds. Byzantine Art and Renaissance Europe. Ashgate, (In Press).
- Woods, Kim (2013). Encountering icons: Byzantine art in the Netherlands, Bohemia and Spain during the 14th and 15th centuries. In: Lymberopoulou, Angeliki and Duits, Rembrandt eds. Byzantine art and Renaissance. Ashgate, (In Press).
- Woods, Kim (2012). The Master of Rimini and the tradition of alabaster carving in the early 15th century Netherlands The Master of Rimini and alabaster carving in the early 15th century Netherlands. Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, 62
- Richardson, Carol (2012). St Joseph, St Peter, Jean Gerson and the Guelphs. Renaissance Studies, 26(2), pp. 243–268.
- More publications relating to Art History
OU research degree areas
- Acoustics
- Art History
- Business and Management
- Chemistry and Analytical Sciences
- Children, Young People and Families
- Classical Studies
- Computing
- Design
- Development Studies
- Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Economics
- Education and Educational Technology
- English
- Geography
- Health, Social Work and Social Care
- History
- Languages and Applied Linguistics
- Life Sciences
- Materials Engineering
- Mathematics
- Music
- Philosophy
- Physics and Astronomy
- Planetary and Space Sciences
- Politics and International Studies
- Psychology
- Religious Studies
- Social Policy and Criminology
- Sociology
- Statistics
Your questions
The Research Degrees Team is here to advise you about our research degree programme and the OU experience.
- research-degrees-team@open.ac.uk
- Phone
- +44 (0)1908 654882
Employers' questions
The Research Degrees Team is happy to advise about supporting students through our research degree programmes.
- research-degrees-team@open.ac.uk
- Phone
- +44 (0)1908 654882