Modern and contemporary art and theory

The OU art history discipline has a strong record of pioneering and world-class research in Modern and Contemporary Art.

A landmark achievement in this area is the internationally acclaimed three volume series Art in Theory: an Anthology of Changing Ideas, which is continued in the volume Art in Theory: The West in the World co-edited by Professor Leon Wainwright (2020).

Research is being conducted around nineteenth and twentieth-century art and design with a particular interest in the art market, collecting and reception as well as around the politics of contemporary art, art activism and methodologies including display and curatorial practices. This work also encompasses art from an ecocritical/environmental angle, transnational networks, diasporas and migration.

We welcome applications in areas that correspond with current staff research interests. We look for detailed and well thought-out proposals, which set out specific research questions and outline the originality of your topic or approach.

Entry requirements

A UK Masters’ degree or equivalent level in a relevant subject (art, architecture or design history), or exceptionally a First Class undergraduate degree with a substantial dissertation. If you are not a UK citizen, you may need to prove your knowledge of English.

Potential research projects

We welcome applications to study topics that complement our current research.

Current/recent research projects

• On Figuration in the work of Post-Conceptual British women painters
• Collecting and connecting portrait-sitting experiences: a re-evaluation of experiential feedback in enhancing knowledge and understanding of portraiture
• The conceptualisation of absence and remembrance in twenty-first century art 
• Contemporary Public Art in the North of England
• The Marketing of Contemporary British Art, 1975–1990

Potential supervisors

• Dr Amy Barnes – museum studies, collecting, curating and the representation of art
• Dr Warren Carter – twentieth century US and Mexican art; public art;  methodologies in the social history of art
• Dr Kim Charnley – politics of contemporary art including art activism, socially engaged art and institutional criticism
• Dr Amy Charlesworth – modern and contemporary art and visual culture (British, European and north American) 
• Dr Renate Dohmen – 19^th century art  and design, including British India
• Dr Sam Shaw – Art in Britain and Europe c.1850-1950 with a particular interest in the art market, reception and art writing; art from an ecocritical/environmental angle 
• Dr Leon Wainwright – Politics of art historiography; modern and contemporary art in the Dutch-, English- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean; of the African, Asian and Caribbean diasporas in Britain, the Netherlands and North America 
• Dr Robert Wallis – visual and material cultures of contemporary Paganism

Fees and funding

Some of our research students are funded via the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership; others are self-funded.

For detailed information about fees and funding, visit Fees and studentships.

To see current funded studentship vacancies across all research areas, see Current studentships.

Links

• Art History at The Open University