Art History and Visual Culture courses investigate the production of art, architecture, and film through the technical, social, economic, cultural, psychological, and epistemological forces at work when they were produced and viewed. The major places a particular emphasis on how images form beliefs and values, taking into account issues of ethnicity, gender, and class.
Addressing questions of chronology, theory, and methodology, the curriculum proceeds from a disciplinary to an interdisciplinary approach, guiding students in the development of analytical and synthetic thinking about visual culture. Students are encouraged to take classes in Communication and Media Studies and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies and to apply the methods from these disciplines to the study of art history and visual culture.
Students who have completed the major will be prepared to enter graduate and specialized studies in art history and visual culture. They may also choose a career in a gallery, museum, auction house, in the art-publishing sector, or some specialized corporate environments.
