Program Overview

Art History, BA

Introduction

Art History examines the histories of art in cultural context, visual communication in the world today, and the impact of visual technology in the future. The Art History major gives students the opportunity to address social, cultural and transnational issues through an engagement with visual culture objects, images and ideas and to imagine critical intersections in the arts, humanities, and sciences by means of innovative course instruction. Art History classes are catalysts through which students make cross-connections between their major areas of study and the diverse perspectives found in visual forms of communication.

Why Consider an Art History Major?

Are you interested in the visual language of culture and systems of representation? In studying Art History, you will learn to interpret and analyze art and visual culture. A degree in Art History will prepare you for a future as teacher, museum educator, gallery curator, visual resource librarian, art critic, scholar, and other careers that require creative problem solving and knowledge of visual language.

Student Resources

• Department website: Art and Art History
• Degree Works: Current students should also log on to Degree Works to check student-specific program progress.
• Career Services Center: Connect major to a career
• Sample Careers:
  • Art Consultant
  • Curator
  • Gallery or Museum Director
  • Art Critic
  • Architectural Conservator
  • Art Dealer
  • Art Historian
  • Researcher
  • Visual Resource Librarian
  • Arts Administrator
  • Museum Educator

How to Declare (Admission and Declaration Process)

How to Apply

To apply to the Art History major, students must have taken, or be currently enrolled in, A/HI 275 and two 200-level art history surveys, or pre-approved equivalent courses. Students must have a B average or higher in these classes to be considered for the Art History program.

Application deadlines

Application deadlines for the Art History major are October 15 and January 31. Completed forms must be received in the Department of Art and Art History by those dates.

Advising Tips

Students are expected to follow all prerequisite requirements for courses and seek early departmental advisement. As students enter the program, they will be assigned an advisor to develop an individualized course of study. This plan becomes an outline of the degree requirements but should be revised yearly in consultation with an advisor.

Grade Requirements

A grade of C- or better is required for a student’s major or minor courses, and supporting courses for majors and minors.

Requirements (68 credits)

• A/HI 275 - Introduction to Writing and Critical Thinking (5 credits)
• A/HI 375 - Methods in Art History (5 credits)
• A/HI 475 - Senior Projects/Practicum (5 credits)
  • (the above courses must be taken in sequence)
• One 100-level course (5 credits) from:
  • ART 110 - View and Gesture (5 credits)
  • ART 120 - Surface and Color (5 credits)
• One course (3 credits) from:
  • A/HI 210 - History of Architecture (3 credits)
  • A/HI 211 - History of Western Art I: Prehistory to the Middle Ages (3 credits)
  • A/HI 212 - History of Western Art II: Renaissance to Modernity (3 credits)
• One course (3 credits) from:
  • A/HI 240 - Visual Culture in Western Europe in the 19th Century (3 credits)
  • A/HI 241 - Visual Culture in Western Europe and America in the 20th Century (3 credits)
  • A/HI 261 - Introduction to Latin American Visual Culture after 1900 (3 credits)
• One course (3 credits) from:
  • A/HI 245 - African American Art (3 credits)
  • A/HI 250 - Arts of Africa pre-1900 (3 credits)
  • A/HI 251 - Arts of Africa after 1900 (3 credits)
• One course (3 credits) from:
  • A/HI 270 - Visual Culture in South and Southeast Asia (3 credits)
  • A/HI 271 - Visual Culture in East Asia (3 credits)
  • or EAST 271 - Visual Culture in East Asia (3 credits)
  • A/HI 272 - Contemporary Art in Asia (3 credits)
• Two additional courses from:
  • A/HI 210 - History of Architecture
  • A/HI 211 - History of Western Art I: Prehistory to the Middle Ages
  • A/HI 212 - History of Western Art II: Renaissance to Modernity
  • A/HI 240 - Visual Culture in Western Europe in the 19th Century
  • A/HI 241 - Visual Culture in Western Europe and America in the 20th Century
  • A/HI 245 - African American Art
  • A/HI 250 - Arts of Africa pre-1900
  • A/HI 251 - Arts of Africa after 1900
  • A/HI 261 - Introduction to Latin American Visual Culture after 1900
  • A/HI 270 - Visual Culture in South and Southeast Asia
  • A/HI 271 - Visual Culture in East Asia
  • EAST 271 - Visual Culture in East Asia
  • A/HI 272 - Contemporary Art in Asia
• Choose 30 credits of 300-or 400-level art history courses from the following list of courses. A minimum of 10 credits at the 400 level is required. (A/HI 300, 302, 305 and 306 are not accepted toward the major.)
  • A/HI 301 - Modern Art and Modernism (5 credits)
  • A/HI 308 - Visual Arts in the Community (5 credits)
  • A/HI 310 - Indigenous Arts of the Pacific Northwest (5 credits)
  • A/HI 313 - Art and Technology (5 credits)
  • A/HI 315 - Early Modern Civic Identity: Special Topics (5 credits)
  • A/HI 316 - Land and Landscape (5 credits)
  • A/HI 330 - Sacred Christian Arts and Texts (5 credits)
  • A/HI 335 - Visual Arts in the Age of Contact, Exploration, and Colonization (5 credits)
  • A/HI 336 - Visual Arts of Medieval Iberia and Early Modern Spain (5 credits)
  • A/HI 348 - Art and Ecology (5 credits)
  • A/HI 358 - Postwar Art and Culture (5 credits)
  • A/HI 360 - Nationalism and Cultural Identity, 19th and 20th Centuries (5 credits)
  • A/HI 368 - Pacific Arts and Visual Culture (5 credits)
  • A/HI 370 - Islamic Visual Cultures (5 credits)
  • A/HI 371 - Transforming Traditions: Art and Visual Culture in Japan (5 credits)
  • or EAST 371 - Transforming Traditions: Art and Visual Culture in Japan (5 credits)
  • A/HI 397 courses
  • A/HI 381 - African Art and Politics (5 credits)
  • A/HI 383 - Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora (WWII to present) (5 credits)
  • A/HI 391 - Topics in Art History (5 credits)
  • A/HI 401 - Contemporary Issues and Post-Modern Critiques (5 credits)
  • A/HI 411 - Contemporary Japanese Visual Culture (5 credits)
  • or EAST 411 - Contemporary Japanese Visual Culture (5 credits)
  • A/HI 413 - Space and Representation (5 credits)
  • A/HI 415 - Space and the Urban Environment (5 credits)
  • A/HI 416 - Topics in Global Borders and Contested Terrains (5 credits)
  • A/HI 430 - European Sacred Art and Theological Aesthetics (5 credits)
  • A/HI 431 - Popular Culture, Tourism and Leisure (5 credits)
  • A/HI 438 - Art, Gender, and Sexuality (5 credits)
  • A/HI 440 - New Media and Digital Art (5 credits)
  • A/HI 446 - Aesthetics and Art Theory (5 credits)
  • A/HI 447 - Art in the Public Sphere: Laws, Markets, Policy (5 credits)
  • A/HI 450 - Decolonizing Visual Culture (5 credits)
  • A/HI 489 - Architecture and Museums (5 credits)
  • A/HI 490 - Seminar: Exhibition Theory and Practice (5 credits)
  • A/HI 491 - Advanced Topics in Art History (5 credits)
  • A/HI 497 courses
• Students are strongly encouraged to take courses outside of the art history area, such as computer technologies, languages, literatures and cultures, anthropology, film, communication or other classes to complement their studies and provide better preparation for the diversity of careers that employ skills with visual language.

Departmental Honors

In addition to the general requirements for all honors students, an art major who wishes to graduate with honors must complete an honors senior project in art.

University Graduation Requirements

• General University Requirements
• Writing Proficiency Requirement (WP)
• 180 Minimum Total Credits
• 60 Minimum Upper Division Credits
• Residency Requirement
• Minimum Grade Requirements
• Final Quarter Requirement