The Wallace Collection

The Wallace Collection, A Family Collection, A National Museum, An International Treasure House

For further information and application form see theIESA website (www.iesa.edu)

Or contact Adriana Turpin, Academic Director (a.turpin@iesa.edu)               

c/o The Wallace Collection
Hertford House
Manchester Square
London W1U 3BN

MA in the the History and Business of Art and Collecting

Validated by the University of Warwick

This two-year MA, organised by the Institut d’Etudes Supérieures des Arts (IESA) Paris in partnership with the Wallace Collection, is designed to develop a thorough understanding of European visual arts within the context of the history of collecting and the historic development of the art market. At the same time students gain the professional skills essential for working in work in the art world today, whether in the commercial or public sector. The course is taught in English.

The first year consists of two semesters of four months each, which leads to a postgraduate diploma, validated by the University of Warwick. The first semester takes place in Paris and covers the period from the Renaissance to the mid-eighteenth century, with a two-week study in Florence, concentrating on Florentine collections from the Medici to Stibbert and Bardini in the nineteenth century. The second term begins in Brussels with visits to Bruges, Antwerp and to the Maastricht Antiques Fair and then continues in London, with studies of the historic art market and collecting to the early twentieth century.

Core lectures cover the structures and practices of the art market today, including issues of law, finance, marketing, ethics and conservation.  With sessions in Paris and London, students are introduced to the different English and Continental practices. In the second year, students choose between specialist options on collecting and the art markets of the seventeenth, eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. Workshops on the theory and practice of the art market today take place throughout the first semester.

In the second semester students write their MA dissertation on a topic related to the historic or contemporary art markets and collecting. On completion of the course, students receive an MA from Warwick University.

IESA also offers a summer programme in July which takes place in Paris. Combining intensive French language classes with the study of French art, students can choose between a course taught in English on French art from the Renaissance to the Impressionists or a course taught in French on the art of the twentieth century.