History and History of Art with a Placement Year

History and history of art is a combination that approaches the past through two complementary but distinct sets of evidence and methods. History examines the textual record: documents, correspondence, chronicles, and the full range of written sources through which past societies left accounts of themselves. History of art examines the visual and material record: paintings, sculptures, photographs, buildings, and objects, asking what they meant in their original contexts and how their meanings have changed over time.

Studied together, the two disciplines give you access to a fuller and richer account of the human past than either could offer alone.

At the University of East Anglia, this four-year full-time programme with a placement year is delivered in a uniquely significant context: UEA's History of Art department is located within the Sainsbury Centre, a world-renowned art museum that houses one of the most important collections of world art in the UK. Studying history of art within a working art museum gives you direct access to primary objects rather than only reproductions, and connects your academic study to the real professional environment of curatorial, conservation, and museum work. You will engage with textual sources in history and with the art and material culture of different periods and cultures, developing skills in archival research, visual analysis, critical writing, and the construction of historical and art historical arguments.

The placement year extends your experience into a professional setting, where you develop skills relevant to careers in heritage, museums, galleries, archives, or a wide range of other fields.

Graduates pursue careers in museums and galleries, heritage management, archives, education, journalism, arts administration, auction houses, publishing, and the cultural sector. Postgraduate study in history, art history, museum studies, or curatorial practice is a natural continuation.