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The Art History Department specialises in high-quality research and teaching relating to several areas of art and architectural history, including 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:
- Artistic networks, 1300–1550
- Eighteenth-century visual cultures
- Gender in the humanities
- Modern art theory and practice.
The department also 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 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 have 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’ on the right of 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:
- McKellar, Elizabeth (2013). Landscapes of London: the City, the Country and the Suburbs, 1660-1840. New Haven: Yale University Press (In Press).
- Perry, Gill (2013). Playing at Home: The House in Contemporary Art. London: Reaktion books Ltd (forthcoming).
- Perry, Gill; Retford, Kate and Vibert, Jordan eds. (2013). Placing Faces: the Portrait in the Country House in the Long Eighteenth Century. Manchester: Manchester University Press (In Press).
- McKellar, Elizabeth (2013). Guides, guidebooks and visitors to London, c.1650-1730: metropolitan literature in its continental context. In: Arnold, Dana and Cohen, Jean-Louis eds. Paris et Londres s'observant 1670-1970. Paris: INHA & Infolio, (In press).
- Wainwright, Leon (2013). Americocentrism and art of the Caribbean: contours of a time-space logic. Journal of American Studies, 47(2) pp. 417–438.
- More publications relating to Art History
Research degrees
Your questions
For advice about applying for a research degree, or sponsoring a research student, send us an email or call +44 (0)1908 654882.