About the Program

Art history explores the historical meaning of art, architecture, and visual culture in all parts of the world from antiquity to the present. It analyzes visual objects through their form, technique, design, historical context, and ideological function. It also studies individual artists or makers, cultural institutions, audiences, and intercultural exchanges. It is inherently interdisciplinary, often requiring theoretical engagement with fields such as anthropology, philosophy, critical theory, political science, history, literature, film, performance, theater, and area studies.

The study of art history develops skills of informed and critical looking, reading, speaking, and writing. Thus, while it offers specialized knowledge of the visual world for those who want to pursue careers in the art world, academia, and the practice of art and design, the major is also excellent for any student seeking a solid foundation in the liberal arts. With its broad historical, cultural, geographic, and methodological spectrum, it offers an excellent background for students who want to specialize in areas such as law, medicine, business, international relations, politics, and education.

Careers in museums generally require at least a master’s degree. Careers in college and university teaching and research require a PhD. For more information about careers in art history, contact the director of undergraduate studies.

The art history curriculum enables students to acquire a broad knowledge of world traditions of art and visual culture and gain expertise in particular areas, forms, and practices. It readily accommodates students who wish to study abroad. At the heart of the major curriculum is the Undergraduate Methods Seminar (391), which surveys different methodological approaches to art history and critical texts that have shaped the discipline. It prepares students for the independent research required in seminars and advanced lecture courses and ideally should be taken by the end of the junior year.

100-level freshman seminars treat a wide variety of art historical topics that vary from year to year and are intended to introduce students to the discipline of art history and help them develop or improve their basic writing and research skills. These courses are not required for art history majors.

200-level courses offer broad introductions to African, African diaspora, Asian, ancient, medieval, Islamic, American, Latin American, and European art and the history of architecture. They are taught in rotation, usually with three subject areas offered annually. The courses consist of two or three lectures and a single discussion class each week and provide students with the factual and methodological foundation for more advanced courses at the 300 level.

300-level courses provide detailed explorations of important fields and issues in art history and visual culture. Enrollments may be limited to facilitate discussion. In these classes students discover the field expertise of their professors and are introduced to advanced research in art history. 300-level classes often require prior course work at the 200 level, preferably in a related chronological and geographic area, and some may also require consent of the instructor.

Undergraduate seminars (390) are available to art history majors only, except with special consent of the faculty. Seminars meet once a week for instruction, discussion, and debate. In these classes majors hone their visual, analytic, speaking, and writing skills and have the opportunity to work both cooperatively and individually. Seminar topics generally reflect the advanced research interests of the professor. Field trips to museums, private collections, and architectural monuments are often integrated into the class. The Museums Seminar (395) is often taught by a museum curator and may take place at the museum.  Majors are required to take at least 1 seminar in addition to 391 prior to graduation and may take as many as 3.

Internships (396) at museums, galleries, or other suitable institutions often may be arranged for credit. Students wishing to take an internship are strongly encouraged to consult first with the director of undergraduate studies.

Independent study (399) outside the academic curriculum may be arranged in exceptional circumstances. In these cases students must get the consent of their academic adviser prior to the term in which they intend to pursue their independent research.

All majors are required to confer with the director of undergraduate studies at the start of the academic year about their course work and are encouraged to do so before each period of registration. The director is also responsible for approving study abroad, transfer credits, and the petition to graduate. He or she communicates regularly with majors by e-mail.

Major in Art History

Departmental courses
• 2 200-level courses
• 9 300-level courses, including Undergraduate Methods Seminar (391); at least 1 390 or 395 seminar; and at least 1 course each in ancient-medieval, Renaissance-Baroque, modern, and non-Euro-American art history.
Related courses: At least 4 additional courses from one or more of the following departments or programs: African American studies, anthropology, art theory and practice, classics, comparative literary studies, English, French and Italian, gender studies, German, history, music history, performance studies, philosophy, radio/television/film, religion, Slavic languages and literatures, theater, and Spanish and Portuguese.

Minor in Art History

Minor course requirements (8 units)
• a maximum of 2 of the 8 required courses at the 200 level
• at least 1 of the remaining courses in a non-Euro-American area

Honors in Art History

Students may be nominated for honors in art history only if they have successfully completed a senior thesis demonstrating substantial research and high quality. Students who wish to write a thesis must have a grade point average of 3.5 or better in departmental and related courses. The senior thesis requires
• successful completion of 2 independent study courses (399), 1 of which may count toward the major (taken in the fall and winter quarters of senior year)
• participation in the departmental senior thesis colloquium, in which students meet as a group with the director of undergraduate studies, twice in the fall and twice in the winter/spring, to share their work and their progress with their peers; the colloquium does not count toward course credit

Completed senior theses are submitted in April prior to graduation and evaluated by a departmental honors committee. For further information, please contact the undergraduate adviser. See also Honors and Prizes in the Undergraduate Education section of this catalog.

CAMPUS AND AREA RESOURCES

Scholarly resources at Northwestern include the University art collection, housed at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, the fine arts collection in Deering Library, the McCormick Library of Special Collections, and the Herskovits Library of African Studies, all on the Evanston campus. The Visual Media Collection, which is part of Northwestern Library’s Digital Collections, is housed in the art history department and consists of a steadily growing collection of digital images chronicling the history of the art and architecture of Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The slide collection in the art history department includes approximately 275,000 slides.

Resources in the area include the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago History Museum; the Newberry Library; the Field Museum; the Museum of Contemporary Art; the Chicago Architectural Foundation; the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts; the David and Alfred Smart Museum, the Renaissance Society, and the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago; the Evanston Art Center; and other institutions. Research libraries that students may use with consent include the Ryerson Library at the Art Institute, the Newberry Library, and the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago.