The Department of Art History offers programs leading to the undergraduate degree (B.A. or B.S.), master of arts and the doctor of philosophy in art history. Our faculty is comprised of specialists in, to name a few: African and African Diaspora art; American art and architecture; American material culture; Contemporary art and theory; Chinese Art; Curatorial Studies; Early Modern European art; Islamic art and architecture; Japanese art; Medieval European art; Print Culture; Photography, Film, and Video; Vernacular architecture; Victorian art and material culture, and Visual Studies and Critical Theory. The department encourages the study of the global history of art, and material and visual culture while investigating works in all media from a wide range of periods and a variety of world cultures.
Students enjoy close interaction with faculty members and profit from superb resources for interdisciplinary research. Faculty members have international reputations in their specialties, regularly receive prestigious awards, lecture widely, and serve on major professional boards. Our majors work across the globe in all kinds of fields, ranging from the arts to the sciences to the professions. Our graduate students go on to teach at the postsecondary level or pursue careers in museum and curatorial professions, private galleries and auction houses, library or archival work, architecture and historical preservation, and art conservation.
The department is housed in the Conrad A. Elvehjem Building with the Chazen Museum of Art, which has a broad historical collection with several areas of particular strength, an active acquisitions program, and facilities to host major traveling exhibitions and exhibition courses. The building is also home to the Kohler Art Library, which contains an excellent collection of published materials and full range of periodicals.