History of Art
The pre-eminent discipline for the critical understanding of a world saturated with visual images.
It should first of all be emphasisd that no artistic skills are necessary to study History of Art.
History of Art is a new subject to most people - what is it like? Well, I am as passionately interested in my subject now as I was as a student. For me it is not only my job but also an unavoidable and enjoyable part of my life. In the city I am surrounded by architecture, in the countryside by landscape and on visits to great cities like Florence or New York by visual culture of all kinds. All of this is the subject of History of Art, as are the buildings in which we live, work and shop, the designed goods we buy, the adverts we are assailed by and the films and televsion we watch.
Western culture has always been a strongly visual one, nowadays increasingly so. Historically, pictures have always been as important as the written word - from political propaganda to popular entertainment. There are various ways in which historians investigate the past and one very valuable way is through the history of art. Of course, no one approach - be it artistic, political or economic - can give the whole picture. This is why in History of Art we adopt, as far as is possible, an 'interdisciplinary' approach. This means that art is related to political, religious, philosophical, literary, economic and other factors. Art can, of course, be enjoyed purely for its own sake but, while this is an added benefit and enjoyment in studying History of Art, the aimof its study is to understand art - of a particular place, of a particular time or or a particular artist.
We learn to do this in various ways. Generally classes comprise informal slide lectures at which the student takes notes adn is encouraged to ask questions. There are occasional 'coffee and biscuit' classes where topics are revised, a video is shown or a related topic is introduced for discussion.
It is absolutely essential that art and architecture are studied at first hand and, whenever possible, we leave the classroom for a gallery or architectural visit. We are lucky at Fettes to be within easy reach of the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland as well as plenty of contemporary galleries and historical buildings.Sometimes the class has a trip a little further afield, for example London, Glasgow or Durham.
Important questions: how good is the teaching and is it intellectually challenging enough to impress universities? Is the course enjoyable and would anyone ant ot take the subject beyond Sixth Form: Let me quote from the last HMI Inspector of Schools report on Fettes: The overall quality of the History of Art course was exceptionally high. Over the last few years grades achieved have been consistently high and a good proportion of students have gone on to read History of Art at top universities such as Cambridge and the Courtauld Institute at the University of London.
As far as other universities and careers are concerned, History of Art at A Level or degree levelis as useful and welcome as any other arts/humanities qualification. In terms of vocational training, it is especially relevant to a wide range of careers such as teaching, museum and gallery work, auction houses, advertising, journalism, the media and the heritage industry.
So, if you are good at English, interested in history, enjoy looking at art and, above all, have plenty of intellectual curiosity, give History of Art a try - I doubt very much that you will regret it.
