Main picture:

Artists’ practice lies at the heart of modern and contemporary art teaching at Christie’s Education. Encounters with living artists provide an awareness of the complexity of practice. Image Courtesy John Slyce A mixture of fact and fiction charactises the work of Charlotte Cullinan and Jeanine Richards. Context is the key which unlocks the everyday experiences that are documented in the three dimensional structures that have often been presented as part of Cullinan + Richards’ work. Image Courtesy John Slyce Cullinan + Richards use a web of installations to create shifting vulnerabilities which celebrate painting. Installation View: Copyright Cullinan + Richards, Girl Rider, Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, 2008 Cullinan + Richards’ March 2008 installation ‘Girl Rider’ is based on the extraordinary stunt of a girl in the act of ‘horse-diving’, an extraordinary spectacle which would horrify a modern viewer. Installation View: Copyright Cullinan + Richards, Girl Rider, Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, 2008
Jorge Pardo, Detail, Untitled , 2007, Installation View from the exhibition 'I Love My Wife', Neugerriemschneider Gallery , Berlin. Beat Raeber, a graduate of the Christie’s Education modern and contemporary master’s programme, now working at Neugerriemschneider Gallery, Berlin, hosting a group of students during their field study in Berlin. Simon Starling, the English conceptual artist, who won the Turner prize for his installation Shedboatshed in 2005 is also known for his sound and light works such as Wilhelm Noack oHG, 2006, an installation that explores the history of this metal working firm from its Bauhaus routes through the war until today. Courtesy Neugerriemschneider Gallery, Berlin. Kathryn del Boccio, a Christie’s Education graduate at The Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
Previews of Sale at Christie’s King Street form an integral part of the courses at Christie’s Education allowing students to see how decisions concerning display often governing the first impression a work of art makes on the viewer. Sessions with Christie’s experts, gallerists and curators, often in front of the works of art themselves allow students to gain a familiarity and knowledge of individual works of art. This work shows Signac’s interest in harmony through colour and music. The rocks and the sails act as symbols of musical notation; each of the five paintings in this series, of which this is one, was given a musical ‘instruction’ – in this case larghetto, as well as a title: Concarneau: Calme du matin, Op.219 (1891). Auguste Macke, a member of Der Blaue Reiter was killed during the first world war at Pertheles-Hurles in the autumn of 1914. Had he lived he would have taken his place beside Nolde, Kirchner, and Pechstein as one of the leaders of expressionism.
Experiencing the Venice Biennale is unlike experiencing any other contemporary art exhibition in the world. Image Courtesy John Slyce. Jorge Pardo, Detail, Untitled , 2007, Installation View from the exhibition 'I Love My Wife', Neugerriemschneider Gallery , Berlin. Olafur Eliasson, installation view Six tons of Vatnajökull ice taken from Jökulsárlón on the south coast of Iceland, cooling aggregate, styrofoam, wood, lacquer dimensions variable. 2006, Installation View from the exhibition, Neugerriemschneider Gallery , Berlin. The Modern and Contemporary Art programme shifts emphasis each year to take in the latest contemporary shows such as the decennial Sculpture Project at Münster. Pawel Althamer, Path (Sciezka), 2007. Courtesy Münster Sculpture Project.

Postgraduate Diploma - Modern and Contemporary Art


All the course work for this programme is directly related to a real-work experience. You will be asked to write reviews, artefact analyses, acquisition reports and curatorial reports. Your thesis will be a catalogue of an exhibition that you would like to stage. Whatever period of study you chose you will receive the same core training. We will teach you the Christie’s Auction House cataloguing procedures and you will be able to assess and write about all forms of art in the period you have chosen to study. As part of this course you will also be introduced to critical writing and thinking about art so that you can either enter the art-world immediately or go on to study further.

Course components

  • Core lecture series Modern, Anti-Modern, Postmodern: provides the key information necessary for building a sound knowledge of Modern and Contemporary Art.
  • Study Trips: two international trips a year to major events in Europe or the Americas supplement regular visits to UK sites throughout the year and are included in the basic fee.
  • Object-based study is central to our teaching: group work designed to bring you into contact with real works of art through museum/gallery-based classes, specialist-led handling sessions and studio visits.
  • Cataloguing to auction house and museum standards: preparation for professional exams, through handling works of art in the auction house, cataloguing them and giving reasons for their attribution and market value.
  • Art Market, Gallery and Museum studies: debate issues raised by the art market in study sessions led by gallerists, auction house specialists and contemporary artists.
  • Art History Seminars: develop an understanding of the contested histories of modern and contemporary art, develop the skills to research different cultural, thematic and critical contexts and explore recent areas of research.
  • Research Project: you will select and source a stimulating group of works for exhibition, design a display for a specific venue and produce strategies for the marketing, interpretation and financial aspects of the project.

Topics on this option

  • Modernity: capitalism, city, empire in Nineteenth Century French painting; Edouard Manet to Paul Gauguin.
  • Modernisms: ideals of abstraction and expression in painting and sculpture; Paul Cezanne to Mark Rothko, Auguste Rodin to Anthony Caro.
  • Photography: dialogues with Fine Art; Alfred Stieglitz to Nan Goldin.
  • Avant-gardes: subversive strategies and critical debates; Futurism, Dada, Russian Constructivism.
  • Surrealisms: psychoanalysis, sexuality, the body; Salvador Dali, Hans Bellmer, Louise Bourgeois.
  • Beyond painting: performance, actions, objects; Jackson Pollock, Yves Klein, Yoko Ono.
  • Postmodernism: consumerism, simulation, identity; Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Chris Ofili.
  • Contemporary: installation, globalisation, participation; Gabriel Orozco, Sophie Calle, Alfredo Jaar.
  • Artists' Talks: by internationally renowned and emerging artists such as Martin Creed, Carey Young, Jimmie Durham.
  • Curators' Talks: sessions led by innovative independent museum curators such as Emma Dexter, Simon Morrissey, Anthony Kiendl.

Entry requirements

A university degree or equivalent. We welcome students from a range of disciplines and especially mature students who may wish to combine their work experience with previous qualifications which may not have yet gained them a first degree. This diploma may then also be used to access Master’s level courses the following year. Non-English speaking students must have IELTS 7 or equivalent.

 

 

Postgraduate Diploma - Modern and Contemporary Art

Course Dates

Term 1

Thursday 27 September 2012
– Friday 07 December 2012

Term 2

Monday 07 January 2013
– Friday 15 March 2013

Term 3

Monday 22 April 2013
– Friday 28 June 2013

Course Fees

£19,000

Course Director

Lizzie Perrotte

University of Glasgow

Visit the University of Glasgow’s website here.
Apply now

To apply for this course click here.