Art History (MA)

Return to Department.

Please refer to the Program Policy Document for more information.

Program Educational Goals:

Students will demonstrate:

Knowledge of artistic traditions across a wide diversity of times and places, and also a high level of knowledge in one particular area of study, whether chronological, geographical and/or thematic.
The ability to write about works of art clearly and with appropriate attention to such factors as style, iconography, condition, provenance and reception. They will demonstrate the ability to present their writing with the appropriate citations of evidence from both primary and secondary, visual and textual, sources, and to use at least one language other than English as necessary for their scholarship.

Requirements for the Degree:

Requirements for the MA degree in Art History consist of 27 credits of course work plus three Master’s Paper credits, satisfactory completion of the language requirement (working proficiency in one language other than English), and satisfactory completion of the Master’s Paper. The degree requirements should be completed within two years of full-time study.

Core Coursework:

All students will be required to take 27 credit hours, of which at least 21 hours must be Art History graduate courses. With prior permission from the Director of Graduate Studies, students may substitute one or more courses in such related fields as Anthropology, Early American Culture, Historic Preservation, History, Museum Studies, and Philosophy.

Chronological Distribution:

Students enrolled in the M.A. Program must take at least one graduate seminar or graduate-level lecture course (600 or 800 level) in each of the following four time periods (if a course cuts across boundaries between time periods, it will count as one period only at the judgment of the faculty and in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies).

At the beginning of each semester, all Department of Art History courses will be identified as satisfying the requirement in one (or none) of these areas. Students who wish to satisfy the distribution requirement with courses taken outside the Department of Art History must petition the Director of Graduate Studies in writing before enrolling in such a course, and must receive approval for the satisfaction of the distribution requirement by that course from the Director of Graduate Studies.

The list below is not exhaustive and is subject to change.

Geographic Distribution:

Students in the M.A. Program must take at least one course in three of the following five areas (if a course cuts across boundaries between geographic areas, it will count as one area only at the judgment of the faculty and in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies).

The list below is not exhaustive and is subject to change.

European:

ARTH 602 - Seminar: Curatorial Studies Credit(s): 3
ARTH 605 - Studies in Greek and Roman Art Credit(s): 3
ARTH 606 - Studies in Medieval Art Credit(s): 3
ARTH 613 - Studies in Renaissance Art & Architecture Credit(s): 3
ARTH 616 - Studies in Italian Baroque Art Credit(s): 3
ARTH 617 - Studies in Northern Baroque Art Credit(s): 3
ARTH 619 - Studies in Art of the Iberian World, 1400-1800 Credit(s): 3
ARTH 621 - Studies in Nineteenth Century Art Credit(s): 3
ARTH 623 - Studies in Modern Art since 1900 Credit(s): 3
ARTH 627 - Studies in the History of Photography Credit(s): 3
ARTH 629 - Seminar in Modern Architecture Credit(s): 3-12
ARTH 633 - Seminar in Orientalism and Postcolonial Art History Credit(s): 3
ARTH 656 - Studies in Contemporary Architecture Credit(s): 3

Art of the Americas:

AFRA 645 - Black Bodies on Display: Race in Museums Credit(s): 3
ARTH 602 - Seminar: Curatorial Studies Credit(s): 3
ARTH 619 - Studies in Art of the Iberian World, 1400-1800 Credit(s): 3
ARTH 621 - Studies in Nineteenth Century Art Credit(s): 3
ARTH 623 - Studies in Modern Art since 1900 Credit(s): 3
ARTH 626 - Studies in Modern Art and Theory Credit(s): 3
ARTH 627 - Studies in the History of Photography Credit(s): 3
ARTH 629 - Seminar in Modern Architecture Credit(s): 3-12
ARTH 635 - American Art to 1900 Credit(s): 3
ARTH 636 - Modern American Art Credit(s): 3
ARTH 656 - Studies in Contemporary Architecture Credit(s): 3
HIST 605 - Historiography of Material Culture Credit(s): 3
UAPP 654 - Architecture of Everyday Life Credit(s): 3

African:

AFRA 645 - Black Bodies on Display: Race in Museums Credit(s): 3
ARTH 602 - Seminar: Curatorial Studies Credit(s): 3
ARTH 620 - Seminar in African Art Credit(s): 3
ARTH 656 - Studies in Contemporary Architecture Credit(s): 3

East Asian:

ARTH 602 - Seminar: Curatorial Studies Credit(s): 3
ARTH 633 - Seminar in Orientalism and Postcolonial Art History Credit(s): 3
ARTH 656 - Studies in Contemporary Architecture Credit(s): 3

Art of Islam:

ARTH 602 - Seminar: Curatorial Studies Credit(s): 3
ARTH 606 - Studies in Medieval Art Credit(s): 3
ARTH 633 - Seminar in Orientalism and Postcolonial Art History Credit(s): 3
ARTH 656 - Studies in Contemporary Architecture Credit(s): 3

Language Requirement:

The Department of Art History considers the ability to read scholarly works in languages other than English essential. All graduate students entering the M.A. Program in the Department are expected to have upon enrollment or to gain at the earliest possible moment the ability to read works in the history of art in at least one language other than English, as approved by their faculty adviser and the Director of Graduate Studies and as appropriate to their course of study.

Proficiency in the selected language will be tested by a Departmental language examination. During a period of one hour, with the use of a dictionary, the student must translate a passage of art historical writing. M.A. students will be expected to demonstrate a working proficiency in the language, including its grammar, as well as a familiarity with the basic art historical terminology in that language.

Master’s Paper Requirement:

Three credits.

ARTH 870 - Master’s Paper Credit(s): 3

Art History (MA)

Program Educational Goals:

Requirements for the Degree:

Core Coursework:

Chronological Distribution:

Before the year 1400:

1400-1700:

1700-1900:

1900-present: