art history
While it's partly a joke that "art history is for artists like ornithology is for the birds," there's a grain of truth in the fact that a study of ornithology makes one ready to identify and appreciate any bird and art history makes one ready to identify and appreciate any work of art.
Art history is rarely taught in high school, and thus students who enroll in the subject for the first time in college are surprised to discover how exciting it can be, opening up a whole new world of visual experience and making one not only more knowledgeable about art but also more able to use the eyes to see things that ordinary people cannot see.
Art history teaches us to understand how and why works of art are made, and thus it is just as helpful to practicing artists as it is to professional art historians.
As a field for majors, art history prepares students for careers not only as teachers but also in art galleries, museums, film and television, freelance writing, publishing, investments, and many corporations seeking to hire "liberal arts graduates" turn to art history majors because they have acquired a broad range of knowledge in the politics, economics, religion and the literature of the various periods of the history of art.
Several of our graduates in art history are in prestigious jobs in art museums, corporations, and colleges all over the country. We don't offer graduate degrees in art history but we have prepared many students to pursue their masters' and doctors' degrees elsewhere.
View below the wide variety of exciting courses that we offer in art history.
Courses
ARHS 2913 Art History Survey I
Survey of art works from Stone Age through Medieval.
ARHS 2923 Art History Survey II
Survey of art works from Renaissance to the present.
ARHS 4813 The History of Photography
Survey of photography from 1685 to present.
ARHS 4823 History of Graphic Design
Survey of graphic design history from 1850 to the present.
ARHS 4833 Ancient Art
Study of the visual arts of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and The Roman Empire. Prerequisite: ARHS 2913.
ARHS 4843 Medieval Art
Study of Early Christian, Byzantine, Early Medieval, Romanesque, and Gothic styles. Prerequisite: ARHS 2913.
ARHS 4853 Italian Renaissance Art
Study of Proto-Renaissance, Early, High Renaissance, and Mannerist styles in Italy. Prerequisite: ARHS 2923.
ARHS 4863 Northern Renaissance Art
Study of Late Gothic and Renaissance styles in the Netherlands, Germany, and France. Prerequisite: ARHS 2923. (Same as ARHS 4863H)
ARHS 4873 Baroque Art
Study of art styles of the 17th and 18 centuries, primarily in Italy, Spain, France, Flanders, and the Netherlands. Prerequisite: ARHS 2923.
ARHS 4883 19th Century European Art
Study of Neo-Classical, Romanticist, Realist, Impressionist, and Post-Impressionist styles. Prerequisite: ARHS 2923.
ARHS 4893 20th Century European Art
Study of the major styles and movements of the century, including Cubism, Fauvism, German Expressionism, and Surrealism. Prerequisite: ARHS 2923.
ARHS 4913 American Art to 1900
The visual arts in the United States from their beginning in Colonial times through the nineteenth century. Prerequisite: ARHS 2923.
ARHS 4923 American Art Since 1900
The visual arts in the United States from the turn of the century to the contemporary era. Prerequisite: ARHS 2923.
ARHS 4933 Seminar in Contemporary Art (FA)
No longer offered.
ARHS 4943 Seminar in Art Criticism
Study and problems in the criticism of art forms.
ARHS 4943H Honors Seminar in Art Criticism
Study and problems in the criticism of art forms.
ARHS 4963 Individual Research in Art History
Independent study in specific areas of art history and criticism. Prerequisite: 12 hours of art history.
ARHS 4973 Seminar in Art History
Special studies of periods and styles of art. Prerequisite: 6 hours of art history.