Art History

Art history is a living subject, growing and adapting in a time of social change.

From paintings and sculpture, to ceramics, textiles and buildings, art history is the exploration of visual, material and spatial creativity in historical context. We examine images, objects and spaces – whether art, design and architecture, prehistoric artefacts, photography, moving image, or museums and sites of heritage. We explore how art holds multiple meanings, and whose voices need to be heard to understand those meanings.

We have the largest art history student intake in the UK and we have been teaching art history with our Associate Lecturers to tens of thousands of students since 1975. The Open University has an international reputation for its innovative art history research projects. Our research-led teaching materials offer a diverse and stimulating avenue into visual literacy, inviting students to discover a creative, inspiring and challenging way of looking at and engaging with objects, images and the built environment from the local to the global and from prehistory to the present. We support the importance of employability, weaving in real world challenges in assessment and in curriculum content. Many of our students draw upon their studies while working in the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) and heritage sectors, in teaching and education or as part of developing their own art practice.

Our academics

Our research and teaching interests begin in prehistory and end in the present day. We work collaboratively on urgent problems such as the climate crisis, and on making art history accessible and inclusive (including decolonising our curriculum). Our research opens up new questions for the discipline by bringing a global focus to the materials we study, by tackling issues such as the depiction of ableism and pandemics, and by exploring the role played by artists and filmmakers in bringing about societal change. We share and develop our expertise, working in research groups founded by our department such as Open Ecologies and Objects, Collections and Museums and in wider groups across disciplines, such as the Medieval and Early Modern Research Group.

Our research

Our consistent record of high performing REF results places us as a leading department with international reach. We receive funding from a variety of institutions including the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.

In the recent Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, OU research in Art and Design achieved 100% 4* (world leading) or 3* (internationally excellent) ratings for its Impact and for the Research Environment, whilst over 76% of our research publications were assessed as 4* or 3*. Our publications demonstrated the quality and range of our research in the history and theory of art, which we integrate in our teaching materials for the BA (Hons) Art History and Visual Cultures and for our MA degree. Our PhD student community flourishes through carefully structured research support, with excellent outcomes.

How we work with others

Our academics often collaborate with institutions in the GLAM sector and facilitate public engagement work in schools, with members of communities, and museum audiences. We also advise on OU/BBC productions, including Art that Made Us (a series that presents an alternative history of the British Isles, told through art), Secrets of the Museum (a series venturing behind the scenes at the Victoria and Albert museum of art, design and performance), Age of the Image (a series exploring how the power of images has transformed the modern world) and Civilisations (a series exploring the visual culture of societies around the globe).

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