History of Art

The course

History of Art is offered as a full three-year course.

Part I in History of Art offers a broad introduction to the history of art and architecture, together with detailed study of the superb works of art and architecture in Cambridge colleges and museums.

Part II offers a variety of more specialised options on subjects ranging from the medieval period to contemporary art, as well as two compulsory courses, one on critical and methodological approaches to the subject, and one on the concept and practice of display. Both parts of the Tripos also include dissertations. Further details can be found on the Department’s website.

History of Art at Pembroke

Pembroke is close to the Department, which is just a five minute walk along Trumpington Street. We are even closer to the Fitzwilliam Museum, which has one of the finest collections of art in the country and is used extensively in teaching. Seminars and lectures are also regularly held at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge’s outstanding gallery of modern and contemporary art, and in the world-class buildings and collections of many of the colleges. 

We have a vibrant community of graduate as well as undergraduate students in the subject.  Students get to know the College’s art historians as well as other Fellows well through formal teaching, visits to local collections and buildings, and informal social gatherings. The College offers plenty of opportunities for undergraduate and graduate art historians including travel grants and life drawing classes (currently every Monday evening during term time) and a college art and photography society known as PAPS. There is a well-equipped college Art Room for those interested in undertaking practical art and design, while a recent bequest has made Pembroke Library one of the richest college libraries for the subject, with several thousand books on art and architectural history. These practical and financial opportunities, coupled with the presence of Fellows in the subject and the college's own outstanding architecture, make Pembroke one of the most vibrant and supportive colleges for the study of History of Art.

Admissions

No A-level subject is stipulated or deemed inappropriate. If Art and Design is offered as one of three A Levels, it is desirable that an A* be achieved in a subject other than (or in addition to) Art and Design. Achieving an A* in an academic, essay-based subject would be preferable. No prior qualification in the History of Art is necessary, as we are keen to encourage applications from interested students from all backgrounds. Applicants should prepare for interview by reading around the subject, looking at specific buildings and works of art, and considering these in an informed and critical manner.

Pembroke History of Art Teaching Staff

Prof Polly Blakesley - Director of Studies

A historian of Russian and European art from the 18th to the early 20th century, Polly was educated at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Moscow, and is now Professor of Russian and European Art at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Pembroke College. She is also the co-founder of the Cambridge Courtauld Russian Art Centre (www.ccrac.org.uk), a leading research centre dedicated to Russian and Soviet art, through which she has run a number of collaborative projects with museums, galleries and universities abroad.

Polly is a Syndic of the Fitzwilliam Museum, and has curated and contributed to the catalogues of exhibitions in London, Cambridge, Moscow, Darmstadt and Washington DC. She has also served on the boards of the Hamilton Kerr Institute and Kettle’s Yard and as a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, London, where she curated the exhibition Russia and the Arts and advised on its partner exhibition at the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow in 2016. 

Careers 

Recent Pembroke graduates in History of Art have embarked on careers in national and local museums and galleries, auction houses, journalism, and arts publishing or PR. Some have decided to undertake teaching or postgraduate research, and others have successfully transferred their verbal, visual, and analytical skills to non-arts-related career paths. The course offers particularly good preparation for careers that place emphasis on visual literacy, such as advertising and marketing.  Whatever their destination, students tend to become passionate about their course, and retain close ties with their lecturers and supervisors after they graduate. Current undergraduates are happy to discuss their experience of the History of Art Tripos with prospective applicants.

Further Information 

For further information on the specifics of the course and admissions criteria please see the page about History of Art on the University website.