In the College of Arts and Sciences .
Course Offerings
The Department of the History of Art provides a broad range of introductory and advanced courses in art of Europe and the Americas, East and Southeast Asia, Africa, Native American art and Indigenous Studies from antiquity to the present.
Website: arthistory.cornell.edu
Faculty
C. Lazzaro, chair; A. Alexandridis, B. Anderson, A. Cohen-Aponte, M. I. Dadi, M. Fernández, C. Finley, S. Hassan, K. McGowan, A. Moisey, A. Pan, V. Platt, K. Presutti, J. Rickard, C. Robinson, S. Samuels
The Major
Department majors acquire a broad understanding of the history of art in several chronological and geographical areas: ancient, medieval, Renaissance, modern (Europe and the Americas), Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Latin America, and Africa. Additionally, majors practice a range of art historical methods and interpretive strategies, including connoisseurship, dendrochronology, feminism, iconography, semiotics, critical theory, and social history. Majors are encouraged to locate the history of art within allied humanities fields and the applied arts by taking courses in history, literature, history of architecture, and fine arts. The study of foreign languages is strongly encouraged.
Declaring the Major:
For admission into the major, students are required to have completed the 1000-level gateway class, ARTH 1100 - Art Histories: An Introduction , and to have received at least a grade of B.
Major Requirements
Note: In addition to the major requirements outlined below, all students must meet the college graduation requirements .
- 40 credits of History of Art courses, 26 of which must be at the 3000-level or above.
- ARTH 1100 - Art Histories: An Introduction with a grade of at least B.
- If declaring the major at the end of the sophomore year students who have not attended the gateway class must complete a tutorial with a grade of at least B.
- These courses count toward the total 40 credits.
- VISST 2000 - Introduction to Visual Studies
- ARTH 4101 - Proseminar: Introduction to Methods
- At least one 2000-level introductory ARTH class
- At least one 3000-level ARTH lecture class
- Two 4000-level or above ARTH seminars
- Note: A grade of B- is required to receive credit toward the major for all history of art courses.
Honors
To become a candidate for the degree of bachelor of arts with honors in the history of art, a student must:
- Have a cumulative average of A– for all courses taken in the department and B+ in all arts and sciences courses.
- Submit an application to write an honors thesis to the director of undergraduate studies during the second semester of the junior year. The application must include a summary of the proposed project, an endorsement by a faculty sponsor, and a copy of the student’s transcript.
- In the senior year, include ARTH 4998 - Honors Work I and ARTH 4999 - Honors Work II in their course load. These courses address the research and writing of the senior thesis under the direction of the student’s project advisor.
- Students must present their research at the Undergraduate History of Art Honors Symposium which takes place the first or second Friday in February.
The Minor
The History of Art minor is designed to attract majors in related departments, such as American Studies, Anthropology, Art, English, History, Near Eastern Studies, Religious Studies, and Romance Studies. There are no prerequisites or distribution requirements in order to give students maximum flexibility in combining a selection of courses tailored to complement their majors. Students interested in pursuing the minor should visit the front desk at the History of Art department (GM08 Goldwin Smith Hall) to request the minor form. The form may also be completed on the History of Art website application page.
Minor Requirements:
- No fewer than 20 ARTH credit hours
- This includes five courses at the 2000- and 3000-levels
- one of which must be at the 2000-level
- two of which must be at the 3000-level or above
- Only courses in which students have earned a grade of B- or higher will be counted toward the minor.
- No more than two courses from the minor may be double-counted toward a student’s major.
First-Year Writing Seminars
Consult the John S. Knight website for times, instructors, and descriptions. These courses may not be used to satisfy the distribution requirement or the major.