Liberal Arts and Sciences: Art History

Art History Courses. 32 hours (including ARTHI 111 and ARTHI 112).

Supporting Course Work. 15 hours (chosen in consultation with an adviser).

Like the other humanities, the history of art as an undergraduate major offers an enrichment of and a preparation for life, rather than training for a specific occupation. The student who goes on to graduate work in the field can look forward to becoming a teacher of the subject, to membership on the staff of a museum, or to employment in a commercial art gallery.

Working in consultation with the undergraduate adviser for art history, each student will design a program of study that satisfies the requirements listed below. Students who wish to take a considerable number of studio courses as part of their major should enroll in the history of art option offered by the School of Art and Design within the College of Fine and Applied Arts.

REQUIREMENTS

1. Courses in the History of Art and Architecture. ARTHI 111 and ARTHI 112 and at least 24 hours of art history in 200- and 300-level courses, including one 3-hour course in each of the following areas: (a) ancient and medieval art; (b) Renaissance, Baroque, and Rococo art; (c) late eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century art; and (d) African, Asian, Oceanic, and pre-Columbian art. Courses in the history of architecture, excluding ARCH 210, may be used with the approval of the adviser for as many as 12 hours of credit in meeting the 24-hour requirement.


2. Foreign Language. French or German is strongly recommended for fulfilling the foreign language requirement; however, another language may be used with the approval of the adviser as the needs of the student's program dictate. A student who has decided to make the history of Oriental art his or her major study area in undergraduate and graduate work would be well advised to satisfy the foreign language requirement with Chinese or Japanese rather than with a European language.


3. Supporting Course Work. At least 15 hours of courses at the 200 and 300 levels in supporting areas chosen with the approval of the adviser must be completed. Although the program in art history allows considerable latitude in the selection of such courses, they should be chosen with the goal of enhancing the student's understanding of the cultural context within which works of art and architecture have been created. Recent practice suggests that supporting courses will most commonly be drawn from such fields as anthropology, classics, history, literature, music and dance history, philosophy, psychology, and religious studies.

Departmental Distinction. To be eligible for distinction, a student must earn a high grade-point average and complete at least 4 semester hours of independent research. See the undergraduate adviser for details.

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