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
M.I. Dadi, chair; A. Alexandridis, B. Anderson, A. Cohen-Aponte, M. Fernández, C. Finley, S. Hassan, A. Howie, N. Lin, 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 (ancient to contemporary) and geographical areas: Europe, Africa, North America and Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, China and Japan. Additionally, majors practice a range of art historical methods and interpretive strategies, and 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, especially as it pertains to study abroad opportunities, 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. Once this has been done, students should email the Undergraduate/Graduate Coordinator, Danielle Vander Horst (dmv43@cornell.edu), to state their intent of declaration and provide a list of additional classes taken or being taken that qualify them for admission to the major.
Major Requirements
Note: In addition to the major requirements outlined below, all students must meet the college graduation requirements .
- 10 History of Art courses, at least 6 of those must be at the 3000-level or above.
- ARTH 1100 - Art Histories: An Introduction with a grade of at least B (offered every Fall)
- 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 10 History of Art courses.
- VISST 2000 - Introduction to Visual Studies (offered every Spring)
- ARTH 4101 - Proseminar: Introduction to Methods (offered every Fall)
- ARTH 2xxx (at least one course at the 2000-level)
- ARTH 3xxx (at least one course at the 3000-level)
- ARTH 4xxx (at least two courses at the 4000-level)
- Three additional ARTH electives at the 3000-level or higher
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- Note: A grade of B- is required to receive credit toward the major for all history of art courses.
Honors
Candidates for honors must be History of Art majors who have made consistent and satisfactory progress towards degree completion and who have a demonstrated interest in furthering their academic explorations within the field. Ideally, students pursuing Honors should have taken at least one course in which they wrote a formal research paper and have completed ARTH 4101 - Proseminar: Introduction to Methods during their Junior year.
Students interested in pursuing honors should be in communication with both the Undergraduate Coordinator and the Director of Undergraduate Studies about their intentions in the Spring of their Junior year. Students should begin contacting potential thesis advisors late Spring of their Junior year with work slated to begin either over the Summer if necessary or upon the start of the Fall semester of their Senior year.
In the Senior year, Honors students will take ARTH 4998 - Honors Work I (Fall) and ARTH 4999 - Honors Work II (Spring) as part of 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 participate in the Honors Writing Workshop hosted by the Knight Institute and also present their research at the Undergraduate History of Art Honors Symposium which takes place mid-Spring semester prior to Spring Break. Thesis defenses take place the last week of classes in the Spring semester at which point faculty advisors will determine the level of honors to be awarded (cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude).
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 consider the requirements below and reach out to either the Undergraduate/Graduate Coordinator or Director of Undergraduate Studies with questions. The minor application form can be located on the History of Art department website.
Minor Requirements:
- No fewer than 5 History of Art (ARTH) courses
- 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 or be from a study abroad program.
- Courses not coded or crosslisted with ARTH or VISST must be approved by the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
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.