Keep Art History alive!

Addressing the recent cuts of the subject of art history as an A Level subject, here is why we should fight to keep art history alive.

Art has been around since quite literally the beginning of time. This is verified through cave paintings and rock drawings. In today’s society, we know how big the art sector can be and how valuable some pieces of art can be, yet people still continue to question the importance of art and art history.

The decision to cut art history as a subject from the UK’s A Level’s comes during apparent changes to the curriculum recommended by former education secretary Michael Gove. Gove, who clearly doesn’t have a creative bone in his body made the changes to make way for “more challenging and more ambitious” subjects. Drop Michael Gove in an art history masters and he can see for himself just how challenging art history can be. More challenging subjects also means that students will struggle more and possibly not get the college course that they want because they can’t keep up with these new challenging subjects that they are forced to choose out of.

These people who have given art history the axe deemed the subject soft and worthless, these comments by themselves would make any art history major dejected at the thought. How someone can deem this subject worthless yet 839 students sat an A-level exam in the subject this summer, clearly demonstrating its popularity.

It will be so much harder than it already is for those with an interest in art to get into this sector considering they don’t have the option to study it in schools anymore. This is where most teenagers develop their interests to realize what they want to do as a career. I had no interest in art history at the beginning and began to love it in school the more I learned about it and the more I visited galleries. And here I am just after finishing a masters in it and now plan on spending the rest of my life working within this sector because that is the impact learning about art history can have on people. If you don’t study it in school, then how are you to know whether you have an interest in it and want to pursue that career? It is not a subject like maths or Irish which is drilled into children’s brains from early childhood which you know a lot about and you know whether you like it, this is a subject that you realize you like it or not through learning it in school. It unleashes teenagers creative side just like music does but why is music still offered at A Level? Even the fact that history is always deemed an important subject in school but art history is essentially a visual history lesson so where is its importance?

There is 100% still this stigma attached to art and art history but it is not just for the elite or upper-class like people think. Of course, if you are interested in purchasing art you might need some money but why else would most galleries and museums have free entry? To welcome all people to visit, not just those with money. Most galleries in Dublin city are free to enter including Ireland’s most popular, the National Gallery as well as the UK’s National Gallery. It is not surprising that there is a fee to enter the Louvre or the Rijksmuseum or MOMA as these are some of the most popular and busy galleries in the world. The art history majors who play their cards right and make the effort in their studies can be a part of these world-renowned galleries and museums. How? Because they studied art history.

Just looking at the most popular galleries/ museums in the world shows the importance that art has in today’s culture. The majority of the employee’s in these places come from an art history background. As of 2014, The Palace Museum, Beijing welcomes 14,000,000 people annually. The Louvre welcomes 9,260,000 and The British Museum, 6,695,213. These are staggering figures for a subject that is deemed worthless. Its’ worth is represented through those millions of visitors who enter those galleries every year. Our own National Gallery sees 641,572 visitors annually which although not as impressive, is still incredible considering Dublin is Ireland’s third smallest county.

Although there may be people like Obama who believe other subjects are more profitable: “I promise you, folks can make a lot more potentially with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree” which could easily be true but that doesn’t mean that it should be axed as a subject just because of this reason. A report from First Research puts the count at roughly 6,500 art dealers and galleries in America, probably most of whom have an art history background. These all have a combined annual revenue of approximately $8billion which perfectly articulates how big this sector is. Even past president JFK stated “I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft.” As do I because although Ireland is not affected by this change yet and it is only the UK bringing about this decision, once something is put in place in one country it will not be long before others hop on the bandwagon.

Celebrities like Vera Wang, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Middleton and Emmy Rossum all studied art history. And while art history’s skills may not feed directly into a predetermined career path, plenty of successful people have applied those skills to a range of careers due to the fact that it gives students the opportunity to learn to research and critically write, analyse and become visually aware of their surroundings.

There is such variety to art history that people just don’t see. The subject is not all nude babies or incomprehensible shapes of colours like some people think. Art history is also the Empire State Building that you go to visit in New York, it is the Mona Lisa you see when in Paris, it is the Hope poster with Obama’s face that you shared on social media, it is the pretty cathedral you visit while in Barcelona, it is the Campbell soup can or the colourful Marilyn Monroe you see plastered all over modern media. These are things that regular, every day people visit, not just your elite art historians or your PhD art majors. People still visit galleries and museums and admire works that make them feel something and this will not end. Whether art history gets dropped from A Levels or from all universities, art history will live on. It is just a shame that those who are dropping it do not appreciate its complete and utter importance in today’s world.

"Who is going to care for the nation’s cultural treasures – the storehouse of its identity? Who will communicate their significance through exhibitions and publications to the huge audiences hungry to learn about them? There is only one answer."

#Art #Gallery #Arthistory #Museum #Nationalgallery #Obama