Through surveys, focused studies, and advanced seminars, students concentrating in Art History come to understand the history of art on a global scale. Students will develop their knowledge of specific art objects within relevant historical and cultural contexts, learn the history of materials and image-making technologies, evaluate and interpret works of art, and critically consider their own research interests in conversation with current scholarship in the discipline.

The program provides foundational art history knowledge for General Education students, art majors, and art history minors, while preparing art history majors for graduate school or professions in the arts. Through a required minor and foreign language study, students also add depth and breadth to their understanding of the histories, cultures, and global circulation of objects.

Upon completion of the BA in Art and Visual Culture with a concentration in Art History, students have a general knowledge of the monuments and principal artists of major art periods of the past, including a broad understanding of the art of Western and Nonwestern cultures. This broad-based knowledge is augmented by more advanced study in the art of specific periods or thematic topics such as landscape studies, the cross cultural study of masks, ancient Pompeii, the history of museums, the visual culture of contemporary Asia, and Islamic architecture, among many other topics.

The unique range of courses in the BA in Art and Visual Culture prepares students for a variety of possible career paths from graduate work in art history, to the practice of law, or to work in museums, art centers, libraries, publishing houses, or archives.