Art History
Program
Description
The Department of Art
offers the Bachelor of Arts degree in History of Art. History of Art
students begin the program with introductory courses that survey
historically significant objects and monuments, including paintings,
graphics, drawings, sculptures, pottery, photographs and architecture,
from ancient times through the present. These courses consider the form,
content, role and meaning of these
expressive works in light of their
social, political, philosophical and cultural contexts. The program
stresses, from
its foundation courses through its highest level seminars, an awareness
of how diverse methodological approaches frame our knowledge of each
particular subject.
Advanced courses
reflecting the world outlook of the cultures studied identify four
traditions in the history of western art. Geography defines the older
two—the Classical Tradition of the Mediterranean World and the Northern
European Tradition, which parallel one another in time up to the end of
the sixteenth century. Time separates the third and fourth
traditions—the Enlightenment Era studies the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, while the Modern Era explores the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. Two upper level seminars let students study the principal
underpinnings of the field—its essential theories and its critical
methods.
In addition to the courses
in History of Art, the program requires students to take two studio art
courses to provide insights into the working methods of artists, the
creative processes which foster intuitive thinking, and nonverbal
conceptualization and articulation. Also, students must take two modern
language courses to broaden their research capabilities in the field.
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Career Opportunities
With its focus upon critical thinking in verbal and nonverbal forms
of cognition, the History of Art program prepares students for many
options in addition to continued study on the graduate level. It readies
students for careers in museums, art galleries, arts administration,
antiquities, communications, arts libraries and arts criticism.
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