Cultures of Collecting (HISTART5102)

Semester 1

This course will introduce you to aspects of the histories of collections and their display, historically and in the present. It will address cultures of collecting in Britain and Europe, from the late eighteenth century onwards, and consider collections as a form of civic enterprise and private philanthropy.  It will explore the origins of public museums that emerged from the second half of the eighteenth century onwards. 

Key 19^th century developments that influenced the art market, such as the growth of middle-class patronage and the increasing professionalisation of the artist will be examined as well as the impact of new sites of display upon taste and collecting practices. Lastly, the course considers the historic roots of modern day collecting and the international art market at the turn of the 19^th century and into the early twentieth century.

Convenor: Patricia de Montfort

Mapping Contemporary Art in Collections in Scotland (HISTART5109)

Semester 1

This course establishes an overview of the collections of contemporary art currently held in public trust or made publicly accessible in Scotland, underpinned with a critical consideration of the formation of those contemporary holdings – be they public or private or national, civic or independent – as comparative with wider UK and international examples. The course will also include a number of case-study sessions, with contributions from curators who work with a range of collections, focusing on how they develop their curating practice around contemporary art.

Convenor: Dr Tina Fiske

Glasgow: Collecting and Curating Contemporary Art 1990 Onwards (HISTART5108)

Semester 2

This course provides a focused engagement with the collecting policy for contemporary art at Glasgow Museums and the strategies for its display, storage and dissemination, comparative to UK and international peers such as Berlin and Barcelona. Commencing with a critical consideration and contextualisation of contemporary collecting in Glasgow from 1990 onwards, the course will specifically focus on GoMA’s participation in the recent Art Fund International initiative through a close consideration of specific case-study acquisitions.

Convenor: Dr Tina Fiske

From Freeze to Frieze: Economies of Collecting Contemporary Art (HISTART5023)

Semester 2

From Freeze to Frieze examines the recent trajectory of the classic ‘artist-to-patron-to-museum’ formula as that by which museums and galleries traditionally acquired works of contemporary art. The course considers the exchange relations that now increasingly underpin the ‘artist-patron-museum’ dynamic, taking account of critical discourse that surrounds those relations, and a number of influencing factors and trends apparent from the advent of the Freeze exhibition in London in 1987.

Convenor: Dr Tina Fiske

Collecting East Asian Art (HISTART5107)

Semester 2

This course will investigate the history and patterns of collecting East Asian art during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by contrasting collecting practices in Europe and North America with those of China and Japan. It will make cross-cultural comparisons of collecting practices, examine the history of collecting from post-colonial studies perspective and look at key factors which have had an impact on fashions of collecting.

Convenor: Dr Minna Törmä

Dissertation (HISTART5018P)

Submitted at the end of August

The dissertation, or other substantial piece of work, encourages independent work through deeper study of a particular art historical, or related, problem and encourages the application of acquired research skills. It is expected that MLitt dissertations should make a contribution to some aspect of the subject. The dissertation is 15-20,000 words in length (including footnotes and bibliography) and will be on a topic chosen in consultation with the tutors and the programme director during Semester 1.