Art History: Dress and Textile Histories
Research Methods in Practice (HISTART5105)
Semester 1
This course will consist of teaching and learning sessions run by different staff and some guest speakers on a wide range of topics, both practical and theoretical. Bringing all taught postgraduate students in the subject together, it is intended to enable students effectively to engage with broad questions of research methods and their application in History of Art. It is designed and structured to meet the need for a critical, theoretical and methodological underpinning to postgraduate study and to equip students with vital practical research skills.
Convenor: Dr Debbie Lewer
Nineteenth-century Dress and Textiles (HISTART5104)
Semester 1
This course will examine the history and development of dress and textiles during the long nineteenth century. It will seek to place dress within the context of key aesthetic, economic, political, social and technological developments. It will also look at key Scottish industries, such as Paisley shawls and Turkey Red printed cotton. The course will include lectures, object-based study sessions and visits to collections and historic sites in central Scotland.
Convenor: Rebecca Quinton
Framing Dress & Textile Histories (HISTART5022)
Semester 1
This course will enable students to gain an understanding of approaches to dress and textile histories from a variety of theoretical perspectives, including material culture, art history, consumption, body and gender. This problematising and theorisation will be underpinned by a historical survey from the medieval period to the present day. A core component will be the opportunity for object-centred research using the collections at Glasgow Museums’, including the internationally significant Burrell Collection.
Visiting lecturers for the 2011-12 session included Mary M Brooks, co-author of X-radiography of Textiles, Dress and Related Objects, and Mairi Mackenzie, author of Isms: Understanding Fashion.
Convenor: Rebecca Quinton
Making Dress & Textile Histories (HISTART5040)
Semester 2
This course will enable students to gain the ability to think critically and creatively about the research and application of textile and dress history. This will include an introduction to the history and nature of dress and textiles collections as well as the curation, interpretation and preservation of such artefacts. Students will develop professional skills that will benefit their future careers, with a particular emphasis on those wishing to work in museums or with historic collections. This course will be supported by practical skills and study sessions with local collections.
Visiting lecturers for the 2011-12 session included Barbara Burman, author of The Culture of Sewing Gender, Consumption and Homedressmaking.
Convenor: Rebecca Quinton
18th-Century Dress (HISTART5020)
Semester 2
This course will examine the history and development of dress during the long eighteenth century. It will seek to place men’s, women’s and children’s dress within the context of key aesthetic, economic, political, social and technological developments. The course will include lectures, object-based study sessions and visits to collections and historic sites in central Scotland. Topics include the cut and construction of men’s and women’s wear, riding habits and gender, dress and political identity.
Visiting lecturers during the 2011-12 session included Dr Lesley Miller, Senior Curator (Textiles) at the Victoria and Albert Museum, David Wilcox, Lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art, and Dr Sally Tuckett, Post-doctoral Research Assistant, University of Edinburgh
Convenor: Rebecca Quinton
Study Trip
These courses are supported by a five-day study trip.
In 2011-12 this was to Preston, Manchester and Macclesfield and included visits to see the displays and stores at the Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, and Whitworth Art Gallery.
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.