Programme Overview:
- Duration:
- 1 Years / 2 Years
- Attendance:
- Full Time / Part Time
- Mode of Delivery:
- Face-to-Face
- Next Intake:
- 2024/2025 September
- Contact Name:
- Elizabeth Varley
- Contact Number:
- 01 716 8162
- Fees:
- Fee Information
The MA in Art History, Collections and Curating offers advanced postgraduate academic training in the history of art, with a special focus on collections and curatorial practice. It offers the opportunity to hone skills in the interpretation, critique, and analysis of works of art and architecture, developing the knowledge and capacity to pursue future careers in academia, research, writing, and curatorship. Combining academic scholarship with an introduction to the theory and practice of curation in museums and galleries, students will benefit from our School’s extensive partnerships with local, regional, and national cultural institutions whilst gaining first-hand exposure to advanced, active research in art.
• Delivered by academics and practitioners from across the university and the larger Dublin community.
• Offers the opportunity to hone skills in the interpretation, critique, and analysis of works of art and architecture.
• Combines academic scholarship with an introduction to the theory and practice of curation in museums and galleries.
Numerous graduates from the School of Art History and Cultural Policy occupy leading positions in cultural institutions in Ireland and across the world. Our graduate programmes develop those skills essential to a wide spectrum of careers involved with the arts, visual culture and the media. UCD graduates have occuplied directorial and curatorial positions at the National Gallery of Ireland, the Hugh Lane Gallery, the Chester Beatty Library and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, while a UCD graduate is currently Head of Education at the Wallace Collection, London.
Curricular information is subject to change
This course will primarily appeal to applicants with an undergraduate experience of art history, or a cognate discipline, and who wish to be introduced to the challenges and rewards of the subject at a more ambitious, research-intensive level. Our aim is to equip students with the knowledge and skill to develop their own individual enthusiasms as art historians and to extend, question, and reflect upon the critical approaches which shape the subject. The MA comprises a supervised research thesis on a subject of the student’s choice, and a series of small-group taught courses which offers advanced postgraduate academic training in the history of art, with a special focus on collections and curatorial practice. Via a stimulating mixture of thematically-linked lectures, seminars and site visits, including an international study trip to a major European city, the course is designed to make the best use of the rich art collections and research resources in Dublin and elsewhere, and to encourage an adventurous, first-hand engagement with works of art - whether in painting, sculpture, architecture, the decorative arts, photography or other visual media.
The School of Art History and Cultural Policy is committed to creating a supportive, collegial atmosphere, where MA students can be directly inspired by the excellence and diversity of its research activity (which strongly engages with, but also extends well beyond Irish art). While the course therefore provides a first-rate platform for students to go on to research at MLitt/PhD level, many of our MA graduates have pursued their art historical development in a more immediately vocational context as curators, guides, writers, educators and administrators. The School is also very keen to promote interdisciplinary approaches and instil in our MA students the kind of transferable, critically-aware skills which are sought after in a variety of scholarly and professional contexts, and which naturally arise within a discipline that is so uniquely and intellectually engaged in the act of looking.
MA Art History, Collections & Curating (Z344) Full Time
EU fee per year - € 9100
nonEU fee per year - € 22600
MA Art History, Collections & Curating (Z345) Part Time
EU fee per year - € 4550
nonEU fee per year - € 11300
***Fees are subject to change
Tuition fee information is available on the UCD Fees website. Please note that UCD offers a number of graduate scholarships for full-time, self-funding international students, holding an offer of a place on a UCD graduate degree programme. For further information please see International Scholarships.
The programme is directed at postgraduate students of art history and of cognate academic subjects such as history,archaeology,classics, and visual and material culture. It is also intended for those with experience in the art world and in the cultural heritage sector looking for an opportunity to hone their skills in the interpretation, critique, and analysis of works of art and design, developing the knowledge and capacity to pursue careers in academia, research, writing, and curatorship.
Rachel Owens
MA 2018
Studying an MA in Art History, I developed excellent research and writing skills as well as high attention to detail. I also acquired polished presentation skills which is an essential skill for an Art Historian. The MA is made up of several core modules along with a dissertation. With a range of lecturers specializing in a wide variety of topics, the MA attracts students interested in a large array of areas. Since graduating from UCD I have undertaken an internship at the Irish Georgian Society, where the skills I developed from completing the MA have been crucial.
Class time is divided between the modern classrooms of the Belfield campus, and the Georgian stuccoed splendour of Newman House in the heart of Dublin. The School has its own designated reference libraries and study spaces, including the Françoise Henry Reading Room and the Rosemarie Mulcahy Seminar Room, which houses a specialist library devoted to Spanish art.
The following entry routes are available:
* Courses will remain open until such time as all places have been filled, therefore early application is advised
The programme is directed at postgraduate students of art history and of cognate subjects such as art, architecture and geography. It is also intended for those with experience in the art world and in the cultural heritage sector looking for an opportunity to hone their skills in the interpretation, critique, and analysis of works of art and architecture, developing the knowledge and capacity to pursue careers in academia, research, writing, and curatorship.