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Art History

Chair: Nicola (Nick) Camerlenghi

Professors: A. Cohen, M. K. Coffey, K. Hornstein; Associate Professors: A. Hockley, N. M. Camerlenghi, S. L. Kim, C. Elias; Assistant Professors: E. A. Kassler-Taub, A. Teriba; Senior Lecturers: S. E. Kangas, K. O’Rourke; Post-doctoral Fellow: H. Oh

Consult the Department Administrator for further information: art.history@dartmouth.edu

To view Art History courses, click here.

Requirements for the Major

Twelve courses as follows:

Introductory: Two courses from ARTH 1, ARTH 2, ARTH 4 or ARTH 5

Requirements: 

  • One Studio Art course;

  • Four Art History courses, each from a different area:

    • Pre-Modern (ancient and medieval art to 1400)

    • Early-Modern Europe (1400-1800)

    • Non-Western

    • Modern and Contemporary (1800 to the present);

  • One advanced seminar in Art History (ARTH 80 through ARTH 83; typically offered winter term only);

  • Art History Culminating Experience: Senior Seminar in Art Historical Theory and Method (ARTH 89; fall term only);

  • Three other elective Art History courses numbered 10 or higher, excluding ARTH 79: Independent Study

Please note the following: 

  • ARTH 1, ARTH 2, ARTH 4 and ARTH 5 may serve only as major introductory courses.

  • Only one FSP course may count toward the four different areas. A second FSP course will count as an elective. ARTH 26.03 and ARTH 26.06 do not count toward the Art History Major.

  • If you are considering completing an Independent Study or Honors Thesis in Art History, please speak with your advisor early in your coursework, and no later than spring term of your junior year, to discuss how this will fit into your major plan.

Students planning an Art History major must first complete a Major Worksheet (available outside the Department office or on our website), which needs to be completed and then signed by the Department Chair before it is submitted to the Department Administrator. Students formally elect the major by submitting a proposed plan of courses through DartWorks, which the Department Administrator will check against the submitted worksheet. The plan will be submitted to the Registrar once it is approved by the Department.

Requirements for the Modified Major

Students wishing to declare a modified major must submit a written description serving as the rationale statement for the proposed modification plan and a completed Modified Major Worksheet (available outside the Department office) to the Chair. If the faculty approve the proposal, the worksheet and rationale statement must be filed with the Department Administrator and the Registrar via DartWorks. The courses making up a modified major should constitute an intellectually coherent whole, to be outlined in the rationale statement. The Department will consider proposals for modifying the Art History major only if they are presented before the end of the student's senior fall term. Students formally elect the modified major by submitting a proposed plan of courses through DartWorks, which the Department Administrator will check against the submitted worksheet. The plan will be submitted to the Registrar once it is approved by the Department.

Twelve courses as follows, including a minimum of eight courses from the Department of Art History

Introductory: Two courses from ARTH 1, ARTH 2, ARTH 4 or ARTH 5

Requirements: 

  • Three courses in three out of four categories:

    • Pre-Modern (ancient and medieval art to 1400)

    • Early-Modern Europe (1400-1800)

    • Non-Western

    • Modern and Contemporary (1800 to the present);

  • One advanced seminar in Art History (ARTH 80 through ARTH 83; typically offered winter term only); or an Honors Thesis in the major.

  • Art History Culminating Experience: Senior Seminar in Art Historical Theory and Method (ARTH 89; fall term only);

  • One other elective Art History course numbered 10 or higher, excluding ARTH 79: Independent Study

Please note the following: 

  • ARTH 1, ARTH 2, ARTH 4 and ARTH 5 may serve only as major introductory courses.

  • Only one FSP course may count toward the four different areas. A second FSP course will count as an elective. ARTH 26.03 and ARTH 26.06 do not count toward the Art History Major.

  • If you are considering completing an Independent Study or Honors Thesis in Art History, please speak with your advisor early in your coursework, and no later than spring term of your junior year, to discuss how this will fit into your major plan.

Four additional courses, selected in consultation with the Art History advisor, will be taken in the secondary (modifying) department, along with whatever prerequisites the secondary department requires.

Another Major Modified with Art History

Introductory: One course: ARTH 1, ARTH 2, ARTH 4 or ARTH 5

Requirements: Four Art History courses selected in consultation with the advisor in the primary department.

Requirements for the Minor

Six courses as follows:

Introductory: One or two of ARTH 1, ARTH 2, ARTH 4 or ARTH 5

Requirements:

Four courses, one in each of four categories:

  • Pre-Modern (ancient and medieval art to 1400)

  • Early-Modern Europe (1400-1800)

  • Non-Western

  • Modern and Contemporary (1800 to the present) 

If only one introductory course is taken, an elective Art History course, numbered 10 or higher but excluding ARTH 79: Independent Study, may be taken as the sixth course. An advanced seminar or senior seminar in Art History (ARTH 80-ARTH 83; ARTH 89) is not required, but is strongly encouraged. 

Please note the following: 

  • ARTH 1, ARTH 2, ARTH 4 and ARTH 5 may serve only as introductory courses.

  • Please note, only one FSP course may count toward the four different areas. A second FSP course will count as the elective. ARTH 26.03 and ARTH 26.06 do not count toward the Art History Minor.

Students planning an Art History minor must complete a Minor Worksheet (available outside the Department office or on our website), which needs to be completed and then signed by the Chair and submitted to the Department Administrator. Students formally elect the minor by submitting a proposed plan of courses through DartWorks, which the Department Administrator will check against the submitted worksheet. The plan will be submitted to the Registrar once it is approved by the Department.

For more information about how to submit a plan through DartWorks, please consult the student guide located on the Registrar's website.

Minor track in East Asian Art History

This minor introduces students to the art, architecture, and visual cultures of East Asia. 

Six courses as follows:

Requirements:

  • One of the following pan-East Asian courses:

    • ARTH 38.01: Sacred Architecture of Asia

    • ARTH 38.03: East Meets West

  • Any five courses from the following list:

    • ARTH 32.01: 2000 Years of Korean Painting 

    • ARTH 32.11: Introduction to Korean Art

    • ARTH 32.21: Sacred Art and Architecture of Japan

    • ARTH 32.22: The Japanese Painting Tradition

    • ARTH 62.20: Modern and Contemporary Korean Art

    • ARTH 62.21: K-Pop and Global Korea

    • ARTH 62.30: Japanese Prints

    • ARTH 62.81: Women, Gender and Art in East Asia

    • ARTH 62.91: Art, Business, and Soft Power in Asia

  • Students are encouraged, but not required, to include one of two advanced seminars among the five courses they select to complete their minor:

    • ARTH 82.01: Arts and Culture of Korea’s Last Dynasty

    • ARTH 82.02: The Camera in Nineteenth-Century Asia

    • ARTH 82.03: Asian Art Herstory

Minor track in Architectural History and Urbanism

This minor introduces students to the history and theory of architecture and urbanism across geographies and time periods. 

Six courses as follows:

Requirements:

  • Introductory: ARTH 4: Introduction to World Architecture

  • Any five courses from the following list:

    • ARTH 17.01: Rome: The Eternal City

    • ARTH 17.05: Castles, Cloisters, Cathedrals

    • ARTH 26.02: FSP: Early Modern Architecture in Rome

    • ARTH 27.01: The Ideal City

    • ARTH 27.03: Building Boom: Architecture and Urbanism in Early Modern Italy

    • ARTH 28.09: Art on the Move: Renaissance Italy and the Islamic World

    • ARTH 38.01: Sacred Architecture of Asia

    • ARTH 47.04: Architecture and the Uncanny

    • ARTH 47.05: A Mirror Image: Self, Place & Home in Contemporary Architecture

    • ARTH 47.06: Modernity’s Global Story of Architecture

    • ARTH 61.71: Italian Renaissance Architecture

    • ARTH 62.71: Islamic Architecture

  • Students are encouraged, but not required, to take an advanced seminar focused on architecture such as: ARTH 80.02: Advanced Seminar: Domes

  • Students are encouraged, but not required, to take SART 65: Architecture 1, though this course does not count toward the six courses for the ARTH minor.

Minor track in Global Modern Art History

This minor introduces students to the art, architecture, and visual cultures of global modernities in their historical, geographical, and theoretical dimensions.

Six courses as follows:

Requirements:

  • One of the following introductory courses:

    • ARTH 2: Introduction to the History of Art II

    • ARTH 5: Introduction to Contemporary Art

  • Four of the following courses, divided between at least three different geographic areas of focus (Europe, Americas, Asia):

    • ARTH 28.05: Art & Society in the Age of the Rococo

    • ARTH 28.06: European Art in the Age of Revolution (1750-1850)

    • ARTH 40.01 American Art and Identity

    • ARTH 40.02: The American Century: Modern Art in the United States

    • ARTH 40.03: Art and Politics in Modern Latin America

    • ARTH 40.04: Mexicanidad: Race/Raza, (trans)Nation, and Mexican(o/a/x) Cultural Identity

    • ARTH 41.01: Modernism and Modernity: Art in late nineteenth-century France

    • ARTH 41.02: Twentieth Century Art in Europe, 1900-1945

    • ARTH 47.06: Modernity’s Global Story of Architecture

    • ARTH 48.02: Histories of Photography

    • ARTH 48.03: The Arts of War

    • ARTH 48.04: Women in Art

    • ARTH 48.05: Satire: Art, Politics & Critique

    • ARTH 62.20: Modern and Contemporary Korean Art

    • ARTH 62.30: Japanese Prints

    • ARTH 62.81: Women, Gender and Art in East Asia

    • ARTH 63.01: Mexican Muralism

    • ARTH 63.13: Bad Art!

  • One advanced seminar in the history of modern art (in the range of ARTH 80 and higher) or ARTH 89 (Senior Seminar in Art Historical Theory and Method)

Students planning an Art History minor must complete the relevant Minor Worksheet (available outside the Department office or on our website), which needs to be completed and then signed by the Chair and submitted to the Department Administrator. Students formally elect the minor by submitting a proposed plan of courses through DartWorks, which the Department Administrator will check against the submitted worksheet. The plan will be submitted to the Registrar once it is approved by the Department.

For more information about how to submit a plan through DartWorks, please consult the student guide located on the Registrar's website.

Advanced Placement

The Department does not award course credit to students who have taken the high school Advanced Placement course in Art History. However, an Art History major or minor who has achieved a grade of 5 in this course may substitute two appropriate mid-level Art History courses for the two introductory-level courses (ARTH 1, ARTH 2, ARTH 4 or ARTH 5) required as  for the major or minor. The substitute courses must be chosen in consultation with a faculty advisor.

Honors Program

To receive a BA degree "with honors" from the Department of Art History, a student must first be admitted to the Honors Program. The student will then engage in independent but supervised research and compose an honors thesis to subsequently be presented at a public forum. The research must represent a significant contribution to a specific field of inquiry within the discipline. The Honors Program enables students to explore particular problems in depth, while working closely with a faculty mentor.

To be eligible for the Honors Program, a student must have achieved a 3.2 general College average and a 3.4 average in all Art History courses at the end of their junior year. A candidate for admission to the Honors Program must consult with a potential faculty adviser as early as possible in their coursework, and no later than spring term of their junior year. In either the spring preceding or in the fall of the senior year, the candidate must submit a written proposal of the proposed Honors project and then complete an in-person proposal presentation to the whole Art History faculty. Admission or non-admission to the Honors Program will subsequently be determined by a vote of the faculty. The Honors Program will consist of an advanced project of study under ARTH 91-ARTH 92 (only one of which may be counted as part of the major as an elective), taken during two consecutive terms in the senior year (typically completed winter and spring term). The resulting Honors Thesis is then publicly presented and subject to approval by the department’s faculty. 

The Art History Department oversees funds intended to underwrite research for honors projects in the Department. For information, please contact the Department Administrator (art.history@dartmouth.edu).

Foreign Study Program

The Department of Art History's annual spring term foreign study program offers students the extraordinary opportunity to study intensively the major artistic monuments of Italy in the land where they were produced. Based in Rome, one of Europe's richest artistic centers, the program examines the monuments of the city, their creators, their patrons, and their various audiences. The curriculum encourages students to see art and architecture not as isolated phenomena, but rather as they exist within larger cultural and historical contexts.This program is open to all students.

There are two prerequisites for the Art History FSP: Italian 1 (or its equivalent) and Art History 1. In addition, Art History 2 is highly recommended. 

While in Rome, students are enrolled in ARTH 26.01 and ARTH 26.02 or ARTH 26.04 and ARTH 26.05 depending on the instructor (both of which may be counted toward the major and/or minor; one course fulfills a departmental distributive and the other course fulfills an elective), and ARTH 26.03, which is the equivalent of Italian 2. ARTH 26.03 may not be counted toward the Art History major and/or minor. For students who have already completed Italian 2 or higher, there are more advanced language courses of study available, which may not be counted toward the Art History major and/or minor. 

Interested students should contact Professors Cohen, Hornstein, or Camerlenghi as early as possible in their academic careers.

Transfer Credit

Transfer credits will be granted only to students who have declared a major, modified major, or minor in the Department of Art History. Majors are limited to two transfer credits, only one of which can fulfill a departmental distributive requirement. Modified majors and minors are limited to one transfer credit, which cannot fulfill a departmental distributive requirement. 

The Art History Department does not grant transfer credit for courses on topics related to those we teach. Applications for transfer credits must meet all of the requirements stipulated by the Registrar. Excluding transfer credit requests for new students transferring into Dartmouth for their first term, the Department of Art History will not review requests for a course that has already been taken. The transfer credit request is to be made prior to the course being taken. Before requesting transfer credit, students must submit a copy of the syllabus of the course they intend to take to the Chair of the Art History Department.