Art history is different from other historical disciplines in that it is founded on the primacy of objects that are both concretely present and yet artifacts of history. Art history courses concentrate on painting, sculpture, and architecture, all forms defined as fine arts. Because the basic unit of art historical analysis is the visual experience, art historical study strengthens one's powers of observation and the ability to use those observations as a point of departure for critical thought.

For non-majors, art history studies provide a standard of aesthetic appreciation and an awareness of past and present achievements in the visual arts. With additional study at the graduate level, art history can lead to professional careers in college teaching, museum curatorship, fine arts librarianship, and publishing.

Studio art courses focus upon the materials, methods, and forms most commonly used by contemporary artists. Students are guided toward mastery of technique and expression of ideas.

Articulation of personal experience and visual ideas in drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics, and sculpture is approached as a process of facilitating informed choices by student artists.

The faculty recognizes and encourages individual differences by working with students primarily on an individual basis, emphasizing the need to cultivate self-evaluation. The faculty seek to stimulate students' ability to think, express themselves, and appreciate life creatively.

A minimum of 39 credits of which 18 must be at the 300 level or above. Courses Required:

• Materials, Methods and Design 2-D, ART 200, 3 credits
• Materials, Methods and Design 3-D, ART 202, 3 credits
• History of Western Art I, ART 205, 3 credits
• History of Western Art II, ART 206, 3 credits
• Painting I, ART 222, 3 credits
• Drawing I, ART 210, 3 credits
• Sculpture I, ART 252, 3 credits
• Age of Dada and Surrealism, ART 369, 3 credits

Students electing to major in art may design their program with either of two foci: (1) Art History, emphasizing visual analysis of art works and understanding of stylistic development or (2) Studio Art, stressing problem solving and development of skills and techniques necessary for effective visual communication. Ordinarily, a student majoring in art with an emphasis in studio art will select a concentration of three semesters in drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, or printmaking.

Students are encouraged to make integrative connections between their visual studies and related areas in natural science, humanities, and the social sciences. They are also expected to attend Mendenhall Gallery exhibitions.

Interdisciplinary Major: The department participates in an interdisciplinary major in art history and philosophy. See Applied Philosophy under the Philosophy department.

ART HISTORY

• 205 History of Western Art I Surveys art beginning with the Paleolithic age through the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Medieval Europe, and Byzantium up to the early Renaissance. Stresses cultural context and style. One semester, 3 credits.  
• 206 History of Western Art II Surveys the visual arts of Europe from the Renaissance to the present. One semester, 3 credits.
• 207* Women and the Visual Arts Historically oriented examination of women artists from the Renaissance through the Modern periods, followed by an exploration of theoretical issues involving women and representation. One semester, 3 credits.
• 361* Art of Ancient Greece and Rome (307) Examines the visual arts of ancient Greece and Rome. One semester, 3 credits.
• 362* Art of the Medieval West Surveys art and architecture of Western Europe from the Early Christian period to the beginnings of the Renaissance. One semester, 3 credits.
• 363* Art of the Renaissance Explores the visual arts of the Renaissance in both northern and southern Europe. One semester, 3 credits.
• 364* The High Renaissance and Mannerism Art and architecture in Florence, Rome, and Venice in the later fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with special attention to the works of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titan. One semester, 3 credits.
• 366* Art of the Eighteenth Century Explores the painting, sculpture, architecture and decorative arts in France, Great Britain, Spain, Germany and Italy from approximately 1700 to 1800. One semester, 3 credits.
• 368* Age of Impressionism Explores the visual arts in Paris during the last half of the 19th century from the perspective of modernism, asking how and why the painting of modern life, practiced by Manta, Degas, and the Impressionists, became transformed into the  Symbolism of Gauguin and Van Gogh. One semester, 3 credits.
• 369* Age of Dada and Surrealism Explores the visual arts during the first half of the 20th century, concentrating on Dada and Surrealism and its antecedents such as Cubism, Futurism, and Suprematism. The relation of these movements to World War I, the rise of Fascism, and World War II will be examined. One semester, 3 credits.
• 380* Visual Arts of India Provides a broad historical survey of Indian art, beginning with Indus Valley culture and ending with Rajput painting in the 18th century. Emphasizes the religious traditions to which the objects are connected. One semester, 3 credits.
• 381* Art of Mexico Surveys the art of Mesoamerica and Mexico from the time of the Olmecs to the twentieth century. One semester, 3 credits.
• 382* Art of Colonial Spanish America Surveys the art produced within the interaction of different ethnic groups under Spanish rule in California, Southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, and the Andes.
• 391* Seminar in Pre-Modern Art Explores an art historical topic from the Ancient, Medieval, or Renaissance periods. Topics will vary; the seminar may be repeated for credit whenever the topic changes. Permission. One semester, 3 credits.
• 392* Seminar in Modern Art Explores selected substantive and methodological problems in art history of the Modern period. Topics may be drawn from the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth or twentieth centuries. May be repeated for credit whenever the topic changes. Permission. One semester, 3 credits.