Overview
Nadya Bair
Susan Jarosi
Ruth Lo
Arathi Menon
Laura Tillery
Onno Oerlemans (Acting Chair)
The goal of the Art History Department is to equip students with a critical understanding of the historical and theoretical concerns that have shaped the production, circulation, and reception of art, visual culture, and architecture over time and around the world.
Students Will Learn to:
- Analyze material and visual culture and/or the built environment as a form of visual literacy
- Apply art historical and interdisciplinary methods of analysis to the study of material and visual culture and/or the built environment
- Draw connections between the past and present to illuminate the relevance of both
- Identify how particular scholarly discourses and practices have contributed to social, structural, and institutional hierarchies in art history’s own history
Beginning with the Class of 2025, a concentration in Art History consists of a minimum of ten courses: nine Art History courses and one praxis-based course.
The nine Art History courses must include: two 100-level courses; three 200-level courses; ARTH-330W (Theories and Methods of Art History), typically taken in the fall of junior year; two additional 300-level courses electives; and ARTH 493 (Senior Seminar), to be taken in the spring of the senior year. Concentrators will work with their Art History advisors to develop a course of study that includes a diverse array of subjects, media, and approaches that make up the discipline of Art History.
The praxis-based requirement can be satisfied in various ways: for example, with a course in studio art, digital arts, or the performing arts (music, theater, and dance). Other courses, such as programming courses in Computer Science or applied learning in Data Science, may also satisfy the praxis-based course requirement and should be selected in consultation with your Art History faculty advisor.
The Senior Project in Art History includes an extensive research project completed in the context of the ARTH-493 (Senior Seminar) and its oral presentation before the Department. Concentrators are encouraged to expand a previous Art History project or paper into their Senior Project.
Students concentrating in Art History will satisfy the Social, Structural, and Institutional Hierarchies (SSIH) requirement by completing ARTH330W (Theories and Methods of Art History) and an additional SSIH-designated course in the catalog’s list of Art History courses.
A minor in Art History consists of five courses in Art History, one of which must be designated SSIH and one must be at the 300-level.
Courses taken C/NC cannot count toward a concentration or a minor in Art History.
Honors in art history will be awarded on the basis of a cumulative average of 3.7 (90) or above in coursework toward the concentration and distinguished achievement on the Senior Project.