Program Overview

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Introduction to the Program

The University of York offers a comprehensive program in Curating and Art History, providing students with a deep understanding of art history and practical curatorial skills. This program is designed to equip students with the knowledge and expertise necessary to succeed in the field of art curation.

Program Overview

The BA (Hons) Curating and Art History (with a year abroad) program is a four-year course that combines theoretical and practical aspects of art history and curation. The program is designed to provide students with a broad knowledge of art history, as well as the skills and expertise necessary to work in museums, galleries, and other cultural institutions.

Key Features of the Program

• The program includes a year abroad, where students can study at one of the university's partner institutions in Europe or China.
• Students will have the opportunity to work with the university's art collection, which includes over 900 pieces of art.
• The program includes a range of modules that cover the fundamentals of art history, as well as practical curatorial skills.
• Students will have the opportunity to participate in internships and placements with art institutions, providing them with hands-on experience in the field.

Course Content

The program includes a range of modules that cover the fundamentals of art history, as well as practical curatorial skills. Some of the modules that students can choose from include:

• Curatorial Practice Now
• The Art of Looking
• The Practices of Art History
• Materials of Art and Architecture
• Objects in Focus (Curating)
• Italian for Art History Level 2
• Art and Its Institutions
• Research Skills for Art History
• Journeys, Histories, and Methods of Display
• Curating the Dressed Body in Fashion History
• Interwoven: Fashion and Clothing Communities in Art History (1800 - the Present)
• Fashion, Sustainability, and Ethics
• Art Law
• What is Pop Art?
• Art in the USA
• Surrealism: Art and Liberty
• Made in Italy
• The Future is Still Female: Art and Feminism since the 1970s
• How to Be a Critic
• The Emergence of Photography
• Camera South Asia
• Indo-British Art, c.
• Cut / Bite / Stamp: The Power of the Printed Image in Eighteenth-Century Britain
• Painting in Eighteenth-Century Britain
• The English Country House
• Three Rogue Architects
• Images as Knowledge
• Material Encounters in Northern Renaissance Art
• Contemplation, Knowledge and Power: Medieval Maps
• The Arts of Italy and the ‘Global Renaissance’
• Art in Renaissance Florence: Materials, Making, Agency
• From Brick into Stone: Islamic Architecture in Anatolia During the Long Thirteenth Century
• Looting, Acquiring, Gifting: The Islamic Art Market and Museums
• Babylon-Berlin: Ancient Art and Modern Museology
• Art and Iconoclasm: The Power of Images
• The First Cities: Art and Architecture of Ancient Mesopotamia

Year 1

In the first year, students will study a range of modules that will develop their skills in art history and cover a range of approaches to curating art museums. Some of the modules that students can choose from include:

• Curatorial Practice Now
• The Art of Looking
• The Practices of Art History
• Materials of Art and Architecture
• Objects in Focus (Curating)
• Transmissions and Connections
• Learn a language - you have the chance to study a general language module, including medieval or classical Latin, Arabic, Chinese, Italian, Modern Greek and many others.

Year 2

In the second year, students will be able to choose from modules across a wide historical, geographical, and theoretical range. The emphasis will be on learning to think about exhibitions and displays. Some of the modules that students can choose from include:

• Curatorial Internship
• Group Exhibition Project
• Italian for Art History Level 2
• Art and Its Institutions
• Research Skills for Art History
• Journeys, Histories, and Methods of Display
• Curating the Dressed Body in Fashion History
• Interwoven: Fashion and Clothing Communities in Art History (1800 - the Present)
• Fashion, Sustainability, and Ethics
• Art Law
• What is Pop Art?
• Art in the USA
• Surrealism: Art and Liberty
• Made in Italy
• The Future is Still Female: Art and Feminism since the 1970s
• How to Be a Critic
• The Emergence of Photography
• Camera South Asia
• Indo-British Art, c.
• Cut / Bite / Stamp: The Power of the Printed Image in Eighteenth-Century Britain
• Painting in Eighteenth-Century Britain
• The English Country House
• Three Rogue Architects
• Images as Knowledge
• Material Encounters in Northern Renaissance Art
• Contemplation, Knowledge and Power: Medieval Maps
• The Arts of Italy and the ‘Global Renaissance’
• Art in Renaissance Florence: Materials, Making, Agency
• From Brick into Stone: Islamic Architecture in Anatolia During the Long Thirteenth Century
• Looting, Acquiring, Gifting: The Islamic Art Market and Museums
• Babylon-Berlin: Ancient Art and Modern Museology
• Art and Iconoclasm: The Power of Images
• The First Cities: Art and Architecture of Ancient Mesopotamia

Year 3

In the third year, students will live, study, and potentially work abroad, combining university study with an international vocational opportunity. The department has a number of partners in Europe and China, but students will also be able to make use of the university's partners in the World University Network, and partners beyond the university as well.

Year 4

In the fourth year, students will continue to explore their own interests from a wide variety of time periods, contexts and media. Students will also work on their 7,000-8,000-word dissertation, which will give them a chance to explore an interesting topic in significant detail, and must have a significant curatorial aspect.

Fees and Funding

The fees and funding information for the 2025/26 academic year is as follows:

• UK (home) fees: £9,535
• International and EU fees: £26,900
• Fees for subsequent years may increase within the government fee cap in subsequent academic years.
• International fees are subject to increase in subsequent years in line with the prevailing Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate (up to a maximum of 10%).

Entry Requirements

The typical offer for the program is AAB at A level. Students do not need an A level in History of Art. The university also accepts other qualifications, including:

• Access to Higher Education Diploma: Obtain Access to HE Diploma with 36 credits at Distinction and 9 credits at Merit or higher
• BTEC National Extended Diploma: DDD
• European Baccalaureate: 80%
• International Baccalaureate: 35 points
• T levels: The university will consider a range of T Level qualifications for entry.
• Scottish Highers / Advanced Highers: Scottish Highers - AABBB Advanced Highers - not required for entry
• UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma in Art and Design: Distinction
• International foundation programme: Foundation Certificate from our International Pathway College or an appropriate alternative.
• Other international qualifications: Equivalent qualifications from your country.

Careers and Skills

The program is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the field of art curation. Students will develop skills that are attractive to a wide range of employers, but particularly suitable for careers in cultural roles such as gallery/museum curator, the art market, conservation and journalism. Recent graduates from the department have gone on to roles that include:

• Curator
• Gallery director
• Conservation officer
• Art consultant They have worked for a range of organisations, including:
• National Museum of Wales
• Museums Sheffield
• Sotheby's
• Christie's
• BBC

Learning Outcomes

The program is designed to provide students with a range of learning outcomes, including:

• Deploy a broad knowledge of varied types of art and architecture from diverse periods and places, together with understanding of their historical, cultural and institutional contexts.
• When encountering new visual material either first-hand or in reproduction, apply high-level descriptive and observational skills, develop critical visual analysis drawing upon an appropriate range of methodological approaches, and identify relevant sources for further research.
• Analyse and evaluate how works of art are presented in museums, galleries and other settings, and demonstrate an understanding of how the contexts of collection, preservation and display have helped to shape the history of art.
• Identify and engage with concepts, values and debates that inform contemporary curatorial practice, drawing on first-hand practical experience.
• Communicate complex ideas effectively, both orally and in writing, well-supported by visual material where required, at varied lengths and registers appropriate to the context and intended audience.
• Confront and interrogate widely-held assumptions, understand how interpretations of culture and its contexts have changed over time both incrementally and in more radical paradigm shifts, and continue to engage critically with future changes in ways of thinking.
• Carry out an original and independent investigative project from beginning to end: identify and assemble relevant primary material, develop relevant methodologies for interpretation, consult significant source materials and experts, manage time in an appropriate framework, and complete the project to a deadline in the required format, and work both independently and as an effective team member in pursuit of an objective, exercising initiative and leadership when appropriate.
• For Curating and Art History with a Year Abroad only. Adapt successfully to unfamiliar contexts and take advantage of the intellectual and wider benefits of intercultural experiences.