Art History at Sydney now #1 in Australia in QS Subject Rankings
The QS World Subject Rankings released earlier this month have recognised the strengths of the discipline of Art History at the University of Sydney. Art History at Sydney was placed first in Australia and is in the top 30 globally.聽
"The latest QS Subject Rankings reflect the evolution of the discipline of Art History at Sydney into a research and teaching powerhouse in recent years," says Professor Roger Benjamin, Acting Chair of Discipline.聽
Across a number of projects its researchers are investigating the rich spectrum of Art History including Orientalism of the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, contemporary photography, modern Australian art, First Nations art and 18th century French theatre and art.
Two of Art History's current research projects were awarded funding through the Australian Research Council鈥檚 (ARC) Discovery Projects scheme. The projects explore Art and Cultural Exchange at the Strait of Gibraltar and Art, migration, state-building: India in the Indian ocean world respectively. In addition, the ARC has shortlisted two further Discovery proposals by our researchers.
Student experience
To foster engagement between the classroom and industry,聽the discipline connects its students with museums, galleries, and exhibitions in Australia and worldwide through gallery visits, travel programs and internships. The discipline offers undergraduate programs in Art History, postgraduate courses in Art Curating听补苍诲 Museum and Heritage Studies, as well as the nation鈥檚 leading higher degree program with more than 20 PhD students enrolled.
In their final year, undergraduate聽Art History and Visual Arts students can explore聽the world鈥檚 most significant cultural hubs, such as Paris or聽Berlin, through聽the 鈥�Art and the City鈥� fieldwork unit. In this immersive experience, students engage with a city鈥檚 history of architecture and public space and its galleries, monuments, collections, and artworks 鈥� all while earning credit for their degree.聽
Our postgraduate students in聽Art Curating听补苍诲聽Museum and Heritage Studies聽can accelerate their career development through聽internships聽that serve as work-integrated learning experiences. The Discipline鈥檚 staff networks link postgraduate students聽to an array of聽museums, galleries,聽archives, libraries, and related organisations聽in Sydney and beyond.
International recognition and new projects
Australia鈥檚 only continuing Islamic art academic, Dr Peyvand Firouzeh, our DECRA winner, will present at Toronto's 'Arts of the Indian Ocean' conference. She examines how an independent Muslim state, comprised largely of Mughal migrants, fashioned its self-image. Her teaching presents Islamic architecture, miniature paintings and decorative arts in units of study such as 鈥楢rts of the Book鈥�.
I am excited to share my research in Toronto. The conference is the perfect venue for discussing expansive cross-cultural connections in the Indian Ocean World with leading international experts.
Earlier this month Professor Mary Roberts spoke at Yale University on the Polish artist Stanislas Chlebowski, painter to the Ottoman Sultan in the 1860s-70s. A leading expert on the orientalism of the Eastern Mediterranean, Professor Roberts鈥� forthcoming book is Four Thresholds: Orientalist Interiors, Islamic Art, the Aesthetics of Global Modernities. The ARC also shortlisted Professor Roberts' latest research proposal for a Discovery Grant.聽
Associate Professor Donna Brett, Chair of Discipline, has just returned from the University of Oxford, where she lectured聽on 鈥淢odernist Photobooks: Propaganda and the Everyday鈥澛燼s聽Sloan Fellow at the Bodleian Library. Associate Professor Brett聽chairs the Photographic Cultures Research Group and has published extensively on state spy photography in the Eastern Bloc, theorising photography and trauma.
Our Museum and Heritage Studies experts Dr Chiara O鈥橰eilly and Dr Anna Lawrenson currently study how regional museums can serve as societal bulwarks against the depredations of natural disasters produced by climate change. Their exciting new project has been shortlisted by the聽ARC.
This multinational project maps how regional institutions help communities through the environmental, social and economic challenges of the Anthropocene.
Engagement
The discipline recently farewelled the eminent Canadian Plains Cree curator Gerald McMaster, the inaugural First Nations Visiting Professor funded by the Terra Foundation. Professor McMaster convened a key symposium on Indigenous Visual Knowledges at the Chau Chak Wing Museum last month.
罢丑别听Power Institute, the endowed research and education affiliate of the program led by Professor聽Mark Ledbury, contributes richly to the discipline through Power Publications,聽听补苍诲 new projects like the聽Visual Understanding聽Initiative聽which has received a six-year grant from an anonymous foundation.
罢丑别听Power Institute's Schaeffer Fine Arts Library feeds into the research success of the discipline. The library boasts refined architect-designed spaces, and its unique non-circulating collection holds many of the books, journals, films and digital media essential for聽students in Art History, Film Studies and Visual Arts. Its new public art program will showcase聽Matisse, Minotaure to Verve, by the disciplines's resident Matisse expert Professor Roger Benjamin. The program will kick off聽with a聽聽on Thursday, 2聽May.
This news story has been based on an article by Professor Roger Benjamin for Art History's . Professor Benjamin's latest book聽 has been published by聽Halstead Press.
Banner photo:聽Matisse, 'Swimming-Pool' cutout, Verve 1958. Photo by Professor Roger Benjamin.聽