Art: Art History Specialization, B.A.

About the Bachelor of Arts in Art Program

Bachelor of Arts in Art

The Bachelor of Arts in Art will provide School of Art students with a liberal arts degree in art, offering a broader emphasis of visual arts and related studies than is currently provided through the Bachelor of Fine Arts. The bachelor of arts degree is a 120-hour program that can be completed in four years and will include the requisite percentage of studio art, art history, and general studies classes. The degree will provide students an opportunity to participate in a more individualized degree through the choice of elective courses for a minor from outside the major area discipline that is consistent with the university philosophy and policies for a liberal arts degree.

Field of Specialization in Art History

Students working toward the Bachelor of Arts in Art with a field of specialization in art history must complete 22 hours of Art Foundations courses, 30 hours of upper-level art history courses selected with the written consent of an advisor (at least 24 of which must be taken in residence, including Senior Thesis in Art History), a minor course of study from outside the major area discipline, sophomorelevel in a foreign language, and the university core curriculum requirements for a B.A. in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. The number of credit hours required for a field of specialization in art history is 120 (including a minimum of 39 credit hours of art history). ARTH 3303  and most upper-level art history courses are writing intensive.

After completing three art history survey courses in Art Foundations (9 credit hours), students will achieve a breadth of study by selecting seven upper-level art history courses (21 credit hours) with at least one course from a minimum of five of the following fields: Medieval art, Renaissance and Baroque art, Native American and pre-Columbian art, Latin American art, 18th- and 19th-century European and American art, and Modern and Contemporary European and American art. Prior to the last semester of the senior year, students are required to take an additional 6 credit hours in a focus area in preparation for the senior thesis (another 3 credit hours). The capstone experience is the presentation of the senior thesis research at the Undergraduate Art History Symposium.

Art history students complete either a traditional 18-hour minor from outside the major area discipline or an 18-hour interdisciplinary research minor (subject to approval by the art history area advisor and the associate dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts) in collateral fields that support their art history research focus area.

The field of specialization in art history requires sophomore-level proficiency in a foreign language. For further information on the foreign language requirement, click here .

Recommended Curriculum

Total Hours: 120

* Choose from the university’s core curriculum .

** Students are encouraged to select a minor in a foreign language or in collateral fields that support their art history research focus and senior thesis topic.

*** A student must complete 6 hours at the sophomore level or above in a single language. The prerequisite for all sophomore language courses is credit for the freshman level. This credit can be determined through credit by examination. The score attained on the exam will determine whether the student is placed in a second-year course, a 5-hour review course, or in some cases the first or second semester of a beginning (first-year) language course.