Art History and Visual Culture
The art history and visual culture major endeavors to provide a fundamental understanding of the visual world from a variety of viewpoints. Courses investigate the production of art, architecture, and film through the technical, social, economic, cultural, psychological, and epistemological forces at work when they were produced and viewed. The major places a particular emphasis on how images form beliefs and values, taking into account issues of ethnicity, gender, and class. Addressing questions of chronology, theory, and methodology, the curriculum proceeds from a disciplinary to an interdisciplinary approach, guiding students in the development of analytical and synthetic thinking about visual culture. Students are encouraged to take classes in Communication and Media Studies and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies and to apply the methods from these disciplines to the study of art history and visual culture.
Students who have completed the major will be prepared to enter graduate and specialized studies in art history and visual culture. They may also choose a career in a gallery, museum, auction house, in the art-publishing sector, or some specialized corporate environments.
Major Requirements (42 Credits)
Required Courses (12 credits)
| AHT 102 | Introduction to Art History and Visual Culture I: Antiquity to Early Renaissance | 3 |
| AHT 103 | Introduction to Art History and Visual Culture II: High Renaissance to Contemporary Art | 3 |
| AHT 270 | Theories and Methods in Art History and Visual Culture | 3 |
| AHT 320 | Anthropologies of Art | 3 |
Major Electives (18 credits)
Six of the following (with at least two at the 300 level):
| AHT 211 | Collecting Art and the Law | 3 |
| AHT 213 | Art and Ideas: Exploring Vision | 3 |
| AHT 215T | Art and Industry in England: 1800-2000 | 3 |
| AHT 216 | Introduction to the History of Photography | 3 |
| AHT 218T | Harbor Cities: Architecture, Vision, and Experience | 3 |
| AHT 230T | Art, Politics, Landscape: Ireland | 3 |
| AHT 231 | Renaissance Art and Architecture in Italy | 3 |
| AHT 234 | Painting in France in the 19th Century: Reality, Impressions, Simultaneity | 3 |
| AHT 257T | Introduction to the History of Architecture | 3 |
| AHT 280 | Contemporary Art: From the New York School to the Present | 3 |
| AHT 285T | Technology in Art, Visual Communication, and Fashion | 3 |
| AHT 334 | Artists' Biopics | 3 |
| AHT 338 | The City and Its Representation in the 20th Century | 3 |
| AHT 350 | Museums and Art Galleries: Theory, History and Practice | 3 |
| AHT 357 | Art Market Studies: From Renaissance Commissions to Online Auctions | 3 |
| AHT 361 | The Visual Culture of Disaster | 3 |
| AHT 362 | Visual Semiotics: Signs and Symbols in Art, Architecture, Film, and Fashion | 3 |
| AHT 371 | Topics in Art History | 3 |
| AHT 375 | Nature City Post-1960 | 3 |
| AHT 263T | Art and Food | 3 |
Interdisciplinary Electives (6 credits)
Two of the following:
| CLCS 100 | The Stories We Live By | 3 |
| CLCS 110 | Reading Cultures: Approaches to Cultural Studies | 3 |
| CLCS 150T | Reading Film (Spain) | 3 |
| CLCS 200 | Gender and Sexuality in a Global Context | 3 |
| CLCS 220 | Inventing the Past: The Uses of Memory in a Changing World | 3 |
| CLCS 225 | Music and Popular Culture from the 1950s to the 1990s | 3 |
| CLCS 241 | Forbidden Acts: Queer Studies and Performance | 3 |
| CLCS 242 | Representations of Poverty in Literature | 3 |
| CLCS 250 | Ecocritical Approaches to Film | 3 |
| CLCS 300 | Masculinities in Literature and Film | 3 |
| CLCS 310T | The Culture of Cities: From Roman Garrisons to Industrial Chic | 3 |
| CLCS 340 | Fashion and Visual Culture | 3 |
| CLCS 350 | Culture and Human Rights | 3 |
| CLCS 371 | Law and Culture | 3 |
| CLCS 372 | Tales of Catastrophe | 3 |
| COM 105 | Introduction to Communication and Media Studies | 3 |
| COM 201 | Fundamentals of Media Studies and Criticism | 3 |
| COM 202 | Fundamentals of Interpersonal Communication | 3 |
| COM 301 | Globalization and Media | 3 |
| COM 302 | Intercultural Communication: Theory, Research, and Practice | 3 |
| COM 327 | Producing Digital Media: Communication and Media in Practice | 3 |
| FRE 374 | Introduction to French Cinema | 3 |
| FRE 376 | French Cinema: The New Wave | 3 |
| GER 373 | German Film as Medium of Culture | 3 |
| HIS 243 | Worlds of Islam | 3 |
| HIS 357 | Weimar Germany: Crisis or Crucible of Modernity? | 3 |
| ITA 373 | Italian Film and Society | 3 |
| ITA 374 | Italian Cinema | 3 |
| ITA 375 | Italian Film Adaptation: From the Page to the Screen | 3 |
| MUS 206 | Music History From Mozart to Mahler; Classicism, Romanticism, Modernism | 3 |
| MUS 213 | Classical Music in Film | 3 |
| MUS 216 | A History of Opera: From Orpheus to West Side Story | 3 |
| MUS 217 | Masterpieces of Western Classical Music | 3 |
| MUS 218 | Music and Politics: From the French Revolution to Communism | 3 |
Note: Prerequisites may be required for courses outside of the major.
Studio Art Course (3 credits)
Complete one Studio Art (STA) or Visual Culture (VCA) course at any level.
Capstone Requirement (3 credits)
One of the following:
| AHT 495 | Senior Seminar in Art History and Visual Culture | 3 |
| AHT 497 | Art History Senior Project | 3 |
| AHT 498 | Art History Internship | 3 |
| AHT 499 | Art History Thesis | 3 |