91´óÉñ

Why take courses in this discipline?

The Department of Art History is a group of active scholars with a dedicated teaching practice who believe art history is a crucially important discipline for understanding human history and contemporary society. We bring interdisciplinary perspectives from philosophy, religion, politics, economics, gender, and race to international art and visual culture. Through art history, we strive to upset received narratives and kindle passion about culture in our world. In art history classes, students learn to translate our visual worlds into verbal and written expression through analytical thinking and interpretation of artworks, artistic traditions, and the built environment. Learning to look closely is transferable to many evolving fields including biology, medicine, and AI image discernment. In Art History you’ll develop the creative and critical thinking skills, aesthetic judgment, and historical knowledge needed to pursue advanced studies or enter a career in architecture, arts management, education, law, museums and galleries, and more.

How does the discipline contribute to the liberal arts?

Courses in art history primarily concern the study of creative expression and human behavior and society.

What kinds of questions are asked in this discipline?

Art history students ask questions about history, society, and culture through the study of art and material objects. Students in art history will learn to question the gaps in traditional histories – often the people who are left out of historical texts can be better understood through the material and artistic record.

How does a student get started?

First-year students should take Introduction to Art History (ARH 103), which introduces students to the discipline and to the global history of art, and serves as a prerequisite for most other courses.

Students majoring in art history must also take Introduction to the Studio (ART 111), Drawing (ART 134), or another approved studio art class.

Students majoring in art history are encouraged to take courses in a foreign language, history, film, literature, and philosophy.

AP/IB Credit

A score of 4 or 5 on the AP art history exam counts for four credits in the humanities division but does not count for major credit.

Courses in Art History

All courses in Art History

Regular 200- and 300-Level Courses

• Arts and the Visual Cultures of China
• The Global Mongol Century
• Collecting the "Orient"
• Gender and Sexuality in East Asian Art; From Edo to Constantinople; 
• Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
• From Beasts to Revolutionaries: Modern Art in Europe 1900-1940
• Gender and Art Since 1945
• American Art
• Modern Architecture and Globalization
• Greek Archaeology and Art
• Roman Archaeology and Art
• Theory and Methods of Art History

Recent Special Topics

• Caribbean Art and Visual Culture
• Black Art & Visual Culture
• The Camera and the Body
• Medieval Mediterranean
• The Blessed to the Bawdy: Reframing Medieval Art
• Surrealism
• Modern and Contemporary Art of South Asia 

Study Away

Recommended programs: IES Abroad in Berlin and Freiburg, the alternative Syracuse University in Florence, IES Abroad in Madrid, Hamilton College in Paris, Trinity College in Rome, as well as facilitated direct enrollment options in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

We are currently considering additional programs that could offer preapproved credits toward the major.

Contributions to Other Majors/Concentrations

Courses in art history contribute to concentrations in American studies, East Asian studies, European studies, and film and media studies.

Department Events and Opportunities

A highlight of the art history curriculum is the Exhibition Seminar, a rare opportunity for undergraduate students to curate a professional exhibition using objects in the 91´óÉñ Art Collection. The seminar culminates in a show in the 91´óÉñ Museum of Art, and in the publication of a catalog students have researched, written, and produced.