Partnerships with Galleries and Museums
The Department has signed agreements with Tate Britain, the V&A and the National Gallery. The purpose of these agreements is to facilitate strong partnerships and share expertise with colleagues in these institutions. These partnerships contribute to the research and teaching culture of the Department of History of Art at York in many ways. Students and staff benefit from these collaborative links with collections of international importance. Curators and museum staff regularly visit York, we host joint seminars and events and work on collaborative projects. Read more about the individual partnerships below.
We also have excellent links with York Art Gallery and the Friends of York Art Gallery. Students regularly get involved with activities and events at the gallery through SAASY.
Tate
In December 2009, the Department signed a partnership agreement with Tate Britain. This involves:
- a Tate Britain curator or member of Tate's Research Department teaching a full MA module every spring term. Karen Hearn, Curator of 16th and 17th Century British Art at Tate Britain, was the first visiting curator to come to York on this scheme.
- an art historian from York spending an equivalent amount of time working on research and exhibition projects at Tate Britain. Jason Edwards visited Tate Britain in 2010 to work on Tate's collection of sculpture by Alfred Gilbert.
The partnership will run initially for three years.
The partnership reinforces the department's close relationship with Tate Britain, which is already expressed in the Arts and Humanities Research Council-supported three-year research project, 'Court, Country, City: British Art 1660-1735', currently being led by Mark Hallett and two colleagues from Tate Britain, Professor Nigel Llewellyn and Dr Martin Myrone.
For more information about our links with Tate Britain, email Mark Hallett
V&A
The V&A and the History of Art Department agreed to institute a research partnership in March 2010 designed to further the most advanced art-historical scholarship in areas of mutual interest and expertise. The partnership involves:
- selected curators and scholars from both institutions focusing for two-yearly periods on a designated research field or strand, tied to particular areas of specialism within the museum and to the art-historical areas covered by one of the Research Schools in the department.Between 2010 and 2012 the designated strand will be ‘Medievalisms’. In this period experts in the medieval field from the V&A will work with members of the department’s Research School in Medievalisms. Future years will see the two institutions working together in the other areas covered by the department’s Research Schools – Architectural History and Theory; British Art; Sculpture; and Stained Glass.
- an annual V&A/York lecture, in which a scholar from one institution will give a public lecture in the other; the venue will alternate from year to year.
- an annual V&A/York symposium, again taking place in each venue in alternate years. Each such event will be jointly organised by a V&A curator and a York colleague.
- annual V&A/York Research Fellowships. These will see a V&A curator coming to York for a short period each year to present their research, to give classes to our MA and PhD students, and to work with a York collaborator. Each year a member of the History of Art department will spend a similar period at the V&A’s research department, working with interested curators, and presenting their research.
For more information about our links with the V&A, email Tom Nickson
National Gallery
The most recent research partnership was signed in October 2010 with the National Gallery. The collaboration will last initially for four years and it will result in a range of initiatives from joint research projects giving York students the opportunity to go behind the scenes at the National Gallery. It will focus on the Gallery’s main research strands and its exhibitions, as well as research topics of mutual interest initiated by the Department. Activities will include:
- an annual National Gallery/York lecture, which will involve a scholar from one institution giving a public lecture in the other, with the venue alternating from year to year.
- an annual National Gallery/York symposium or open forum discussion – organised jointly by a representative of each institution - on topics to be mutually agreed, again taking place in each venue in alternate years.
- art historians from York will also help to develop National Gallery exhibitions and carry out joint work on the Gallery’s exhibitions and research programme.
- behind the scenes access for History of Art Department students at the National Gallery with Curators to give them a more intimate knowledge of the collections.
For more information about our links with the National Gallery, email Amanda Lillie