Art History

The study programme in art history offers students the opportunity to understand visual objects in all areas of the discipline of art history (architecture, sculpture, painting, applied art, and visual culture) in their various historical and contemporary forms, styles, and functions.

The four-semester Master’s degree study programme in art history is aimed at preparing university-educated specialized employees working in the areas of research into works of art and visual culture.

The subject of art history concerns itself with knowledge, analysis, and a historical understanding of works of art. It studies artistic formation, styles, functions, and later critical reception. It also examines the creators themselves: artists and patrons, the art movements and “the operations of art history” (gallery institutions, monument care, and art criticism). On the most general spectrum of interests, art history currently provides a general historical study of images and hermeneutics of visual images.

The central focus of the study programme is to further widen the knowledge the student earned in the Bachelor’s degree study programme. While the initial goal was to obtain the knowledge and skills for describing, analysing, and understanding works of art within the framework of historical epochs and to use this knowledge in practice, this degree will focus on expanding the subject with further themes linked in particular with historical understanding and interpretation of works of art in their varied contexts. Students can also analyse the openness of the work of art in relation to other parts of social and spiritual life, in its links to cultural-historical, sociological, psychological, and other aspects of life.

The Master’s degree study programme deals with current research questions, reading foreign scholarly texts and conducting research work during foreign stays. It is designed to provide students with a thorough overview of art and a widened overview of the skills of a scholarly employee working in art history, as well as a focus on their research specialization and interest.

Potential students have successfully completed a corresponding Bachelor’s degree study programme and have an interest in independent specialized work in the subject. A visual memory and interest in reading and research work are also essential for future art historians. An active knowledge of one of the world languages and a passive knowledge of another is important for future studies.

Graduates first and foremost widen their knowledge of art history material in all fields of art and periods of art history and develop their ability to work independently with scholarly and pictorial information sources. They obtain skills for applying art theories and special art history approaches in their research work and for making use of the results of this work.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• have a knowledge of the entire breadth of the history of works of art, artists, and art history trends in the past and present
• make use of and critically evaluate art history sources (pictorial, documentary, and textual), create hypotheses, and test their relevance when solving research problems
• recognize and use historical and contemporary art history approaches for research and application in solving research issues
• identify the main contemporary themes in the historiography of art history, discuss them, and follow international developments in the field
• specialize in terms of areas and time periods in art history; independently create a research plan of examined issues of their specialization
• analyse and interpret a selected art history issue in an independently prepared specialized outcome (for example, a Master’s thesis)
• prepare the mediation of works of art from various art disciplines in the form of lectures, scholarly articles, criticism, essays, etc.
• present art works, or a complete art history theme, in exhibitions or expositions in galleries and museums

Graduates of the Master’s degree study programme in art history can work in particular as specialists equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills for work in teams in art history institutes, in art history museums and galleries, in monument care institutes, in journalism, in art criticism, in publishing houses, and in tourism.

Thanks to the knowledge and skills acquired during their studies, graduates can work in positions as specialized employees who will further prepare themselves for positions as curators at museums and galleries, as monument care specialists, in art criticism, or in communicating art as authors-curators of exhibitions, coordinators in the area of tourism, or as heads of cultural columns in the areas of media, television, and radio.

Although the degree in art history prepares graduates for careers in the art world, it also equips them with intellectual and practical skills applicable to many different spheres of employment. Now, when visual culture and an understanding of it play increasingly important roles in society, graduates can make use of their abilities in a range of additional professions, such trade in art and antiques, in presentation and propagation of art work, and in publicity and marketing.

A mandatory part of the study program is a creative and professional activity, which is carried out individually outside the classroom. The aim is to link teaching and research with practice and increase the competitiveness of graduates in the labour market. These are usually the following types of professional activity within the scope of the field:

1) publication: study (of at least 10 pages) or a set of articles (of at least 20 pages) published in a specialized or sectoral title;

2) conference: contribution to the conference;

3) editorial: editor of thematic publications - books, proceedings, editor of a scientific journal;

4) professional internship in domestic or foreign professional institution (scientific research institute, gallery, museum, heritage institute etc.)

The evaluation of the result takes into account both the professional nature and the quality of the output, and the relevance of the platform on which the output was made.

A standard scope of a master's thesis is regulated by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts Directive no. 1/2004. A recomended scope of master's thesis is 140 000 characters, including footnotes and content, not including list of literature, cover sheet, and annotations. The inclusion of attachments shall be approved by the thesis supervisor. The thesis should demonstrate the ability to define, critically evaluate and, in written form at the professional level, to interpret given art-historical theme on the basis of the literature and the sources and the professional guidance of the thesis supervisor. Assignment of the thesis is necessary to establish by the end of the first semester of the master's program.

After completion of the Master's studies, it is possible to continue further studies in any doctoral's degree programme (after satisfying the admission requirements).