Department of Art History

Art History (MA, PhD)

Telephone: (302) 831-8415; Fax: (302) 831-8243
https://www.arthistory.udel.edu/
Faculty Listing: http://www.arthistory.udel.edu/people/faculty

Program Overview

The department offers programs leading to the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. The department offers studies in the history of art from ancient to modern times, with special concentrations in art of the Americas and in European art from the Renaissance through the modern eras, and emphasis on museum and curatorial training. Cooperative arrangements with Bryn Mawr College and the University of Pennsylvania permit students to take courses at both institutions. Other arrangements with various institutions enable students to work with original objects and documents and to arrange, under faculty and museum staff supervision, exhibitions on a variety of subjects. The University Museums, located on the campus, has a collection of about 6,000 objects for teaching and student research as well as providing opportunities for organization of exhibitions. The collections of Gertrude Käsebier photographs and Abraham Walkowitz paintings and drawings, e.g., are the largest in existence. The University Museums has received the Paul R. Jones Collection of African American Art, the Frederick and Lucy S. Herman Native American Art Collection, and the Mabel and Harley McKeague Alaskan Inuit Collection. There is also a collection of books and ephemera on Italian Futurism. The Mark Samuels Lasner Collection in the University Library is especially rich in Victorian materials, including many illustrated books. Periodically, art history graduate seminars have contributed to the research for, and organization of, exhibitions at such museums as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Delaware Art Museum, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, as well as the University Gallery.

Another university resource is the Center for Historic Architecture and Design (CHAD), a multidisciplinary research and public service group exploring the evolution of historic architecture, engineering, and the built environment. Based in the College of Arts & Sciences, CHAD is cosponsored by the departments of Art History, History, and Geography, the College of Engineering, and the Museum Studies Program, and the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture. CHAD is the first American university center in this field recognized by the Department of the Interior. Graduate students in art history may pursue a graduate specialization both in architectural history and in historic preservation and may qualify for CHAD grants, internships, and assistantships.

The Department of Art History enjoys a longstanding relationship with the Center for Material Culture Studies, a dynamic collaboration of individuals, programs, and departments engaged in the documentation, interpretation, and preservation of objects and images. The Center builds on our collective national reputations and extraordinary strengths in well-established academic, research, and public service programs in the fields of material culture, historic preservation, museum studies, and historical archaeology. The Center for Material Culture Studies capitalizes on institutional partnerships with the Winterthur and Hagley museums, Historical Society of Delaware, and Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs. The Center’s programs reach into its University constituencies ranging from the humanities to the performing and studio arts, and reaching out to larger public and scholarly communities.

The Winterthur Museum Library, open to graduate students in art history, is especially strong in American art and in Western European art and design, a special concentration in the Department of Art History.

The nearby Delaware Art Museum, pre-eminent in its collection of pre-Raphaelite art and the art of illustration, includes a comprehensive collection of American paintings, sculpture, and prints from about 1800 to the present day, the Samuel and Mary R. Bancroft English Pre-Raphaelite Collection, the John Sloan Collection, the Howard Pyle Collection, and the N.C. Wyeth papers.

Requirements for Admission

Graduates of the program have entered careers in college and university teaching, museum curatorship and administration, national and state arts agencies, architectural preservation and historic sites, librarianship, and research. Although it is desirable for candidates to have majored in the history of art, well-qualified applicants from other fields will be considered.

Applications for admission in the fall semester must be in the Graduate College by January 2. Applicants may request assistantships as part of the online application. See Graduate Admissions for further information.

Students are admitted to the graduate program in Art History on the basis of consideration of a combination of all of the following materials: a writing sample; a personal statement; letters of recommendation; undergraduate and, if relevant, graduate records.

Financial Aid

Please refer to Graduate Fellowships and Assistantships for further information.

Programs

Master’s

Doctorate

4+1

Art History/Art History for Museum Professionals 4+1 (BA/MA)