Art History and Film Studies
Art history and film studies together examine how visual meaning is made, how images and moving pictures function within culture and society, and what they reveal about the historical moments and contexts that produced them. Art history develops the analytical tools for understanding painting, sculpture, architecture, photography and other visual forms, exploring how images communicate, how they are valued and contested, and what the history of visual art tells us about power, identity and human experience. Film studies applies a related but distinct critical vocabulary to cinema, examining how films are constructed, how they create emotional and intellectual effects, and what they mean within broader cultural and political contexts.
At the University of St Andrews you will study across four years of full-time study, including a year abroad that broadens your cultural and visual experience. You will learn to analyse the history, context, style and meaning of images and objects in both art historical and cinematic contexts, developing visual literacy and engaging with the critical and theoretical frameworks that allow you to explore questions of aesthetics, politics, power and identity across visual media. The combination is particularly coherent because the analytical skills of art history translate naturally to film, and the study of cinema opens new dimensions of contemporary visual culture to art historical investigation.
Graduates in art history and film studies work in galleries, museums, film archives, festivals, arts journalism, arts administration, broadcasting, cultural policy, publishing, heritage and education. Many graduates also pursue postgraduate study in film studies, curating, art history, media studies or cultural heritage management, developing specialist expertise in one or both areas. The combination of visual literacy, critical argument and cultural breadth that the degree develops is valued in the arts, media, communications and cultural sectors more broadly.