History of Art and Architecture

专业详情

The History of Art and Architecture concentration offers training in the historical interpretation and critical analysis of the visual arts and architecture.   

The concentration is an effective core to a liberal arts education, and not merely pre-professional training for future art historians working in the academy or in the museum. The history of art and architecture is virtually unique among academic disciplines in studying the products of societies in every part of the world over the entire span of human history, from Paleolithic cave paintings to the works of our closest contemporaries. And the concentration develops skills of visual discrimination and verbal expression fundamental to many fields of inquiry and action.

Art history is itself a multifaceted discipline embracing many different methods, perspectives, and interests. Sometimes it deduces from works of art the time and place of their making, or the identity of their makers. Sometimes it examines how concepts, ideals, and sensibilities of people of the past are expressed in—and shaped by—their art. Sometimes it explores within large-scale fabrications (buildings, towns, cities) the dynamic between human and natural or technological worlds. These and other approaches are reflected in the teaching and scholarship of the History of Art and Architecture faculty.