Degree: Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Major: Art History

Program Overview

The art history curriculum is designed to give students a broad grounding in a variety of artistic media, with a strong emphasis on understanding the cultural context in which they were produced. Students develop technical and critical vocabularies as well as sound writing skills to analyze works of art. Study of and research on works of art in the Cleveland Museum of Art are essential components of the undergraduate curriculum. Internships for credit or with volunteer status are available at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and other arts institutions in University Circle.

Learning Objectives

• Students will be able to demonstrate visual literacy through written and oral communication.
• Students will be able to employ critical and creative thinking to solve interpretative problems and make connections between art and larger social, political, and cultural issues.
• Students will be able to identify, locate, interpret, and analyze a variety of primary and secondary source material including archival materials and digital resources.
• Students will be able to synthesize primary and secondary textual and visual sources in order to formulate a clear, persuasive argument (oral or written) about a work of art or art historical theme.
• Students will be able to discuss and analyze how works of art express or engender social and cultural values and problems, and will be able to use multiple interpretative approaches in order to address these issues.

Undergraduate Policies

For undergraduate policies and procedures, please review the Undergraduate Academics section of the General Bulletin.

Accelerated Master's Programs

Undergraduate students may participate in accelerated programs toward graduate or professional degrees. For more information and details of the policies and procedures related to accelerated studies, please visit the Undergraduate Academics section of the General Bulletin.

Program Requirements

Students seeking to complete this major and degree program must meet the general requirements for bachelor's degrees and the Unified General Education Requirements. Students completing this program as a secondary major while completing another undergraduate degree program do not need to satisfy the school-specific requirements associated with this major.

This major requires 36 credit hours of coursework in art history, including:

Students are encouraged to study broadly within the major. Students must take one course at the 200 or 300-level in four different areas from among these options:

• African Art
• Ancient Art
• Art of the Americas
• Asian Art
• Byzantine Art
• Contemporary Art
• Design
• Early Modern Art
• Medieval Art
• Modern Art
• Museum Studies/History of Collecting

Departmental Honors. Majors who wish to earn the Bachelor of Arts in Art History with Honors must submit a written application to the department chair no later than the fall semester of their senior year. Departmental honors are awarded upon fulfillment of the following requirements: a grade point average of at least 3.5 in the major and an A in ARTH 399.