A group of students and an instructor discuss a sculpture at the AIC
Art History, Theory, & Criticism

Dual Degree Admissions Information

Graduate Dual Degree

SAIC's graduate dual degree option in Modern and Contemporary Art History and Arts Administration and Policy provides students with a means to earn two synergistic degrees as efficiently as possible while maintaining the integrity and high standards of each degree.

Application and Admissions Information

  • Priority Deadline: December 1 - $45 Application Fee
    Application Deadline: January 10 - $90 Application Fee
    Apply online via SlideRoom

    If you are also interested in applying to the Arts Administration program, please ONLY submit a single application to the Dual Degree: Modern & Contemporary Art History AND Arts Administration & Policy.

    SAIC requires applicants to apply online. Filing an online application requires a valid credit card and a current email address. You may apply to up to three programs with one application and fee. If you are applying to either the MFA in Studio or the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Studio you may select up to three departments of entry.

    Applications must be submitted prior to 11:00 p.m. (CST) on the appropriate deadline. When you click the "submit" button on the Graduate Application form, you will be prompted to enter credit card information to pay the application fee. Your application form is not fully submitted until you have entered your credit card information.

    Under no circumstances will an application fee be waived or refunded. After you submit the application form you will be directed to a dashboard where you can begin working on your ePortfolio(s).

  • A conferred four-year baccalaureate degree or its equivalent is required for admission to all graduate programs at SAIC. Transcripts are records of your studies that list the courses you completed, the grades received, and provide evidence of degree conferral. They may include grade sheets, exam results, final diplomas, degrees, or graduation certificates. Official copies are issued in the original language directly by your university. Copies must bear the official stamp or seal of the institution, as well as the signature of the appropriate official such as the dean, rector, registrar, controller of examinations, or office of teaching affairs. Photos, notarized copies, facsimiles, or email transmissions are not acceptable.

    Official translations are expected for all educational documents issued in a language other than English. A translation agency or university language department should issue official translations typed on official stationary and the translator must attest proficiency in the original language and indicate their translations are accurate word-for-word.

    During the application process an unofficial transcript is acceptable for review pending an Admissions decision. Official transcripts are required upon admission. Include transcripts both official and unofficial from all universities/colleges from which a degree was obtained or prerequisites were fulfilled. You can attach unofficial transcripts as .pdf or .jpg files in the Educational History section of the application form. If you are in the process of completing a bachelor's degree when you apply, a transcript showing your first three years of study is acceptable.

    Transcripts are considered official if sent directly from the degree- or credit-granting institution to the SAIC Graduate Admissions Office. Hard copy transcripts are considered official if the documents remain in the registrar's original signed and sealed envelopes. Official transcripts can be sent both in digital and hard-copy format. Digital transcripts can be sent from the degree- or credit-granting institution to gradmiss@saic.edu. Hard copy transcripts can be mailed to:

    SAIC Graduate
    36 S. Wabash Ave., Suite 1201
    Chicago, IL 60603

    Students admitted to a graduate program who have not received a high school diploma, GED or equivalent are not eligible for federal Title IV financial aid funds. 

  • Please submit two responses in your statement of purpose document:

    • Write a 500- to 700-word statement of purpose that describes the history of your interests and experiences in Arts Administration, your personal and professional motivations and goals, and your reasons for pursuing graduate study at SAIC, and thoughts on potential future directions.
    • Write a 500 to 700 word statement that describes your Art History work or research. Discuss how you came to focus on the medium, body of work, or academic area you wish to pursue at the graduate level. Also discuss future directions or goals for your work, and describe how this area of study is particularly suited to your professional goals.

    A statement of intent is required for all graduate programs though the content varies by department. You will upload your statement of purpose to the Attachments section of your E-Portfolio.

  • 3 letters of reference are required.

    You are responsible for securing letters of recommendation from persons who are qualified to write about your potential for success at SAIC. If you are currently a student or are a recent graduate, we recommend you request letters of recommendation from current or former instructors.

    Letters of recommendation should be submitted electronically via the References section of the application form. In this section you will be asked to provide an email address for each of your references. Once you click "send request," an email will be sent from SlideRoom to your references with instructions on how to submit their recommendations online.

    If your references cannot provide an online recommendation please contact the Graduate Admissions office at gradmiss@saic.edu. 

  • A current résumé is required.

    A resume is required for all graduate programs. Upload your résumé to the Attachments section in your E-Portfolio.

  • For the Master of Arts in Arts Administration and Policy program, submit a sample of your critical writing, up to 2,000 words in length. This can be either an essay assignment from a previous course of study, an excerpt from a longer research paper, or a recently published article.

    For the Master of Arts in Modern and Contemporary Art History program, submit a 15 to 25 page critical writing sample that demonstrates knowledge of the field, ability in research, and clarity of argumentation. Submissions should be written on a topic in modern or contemporary art history from the 19th century to the present, but papers dealing with earlier historical eras will be accepted if they are in dialogue with current debates and methods. Additionally, topics dealing with relevant theories and philosophies, visual studies, and film studies will be considered.

    Applicants are required to submit an E-Portfolio, though the content varies by department. Please visit your individual program of interest to find details. You must submit a separate E-Portfolio for each program or studio department to which you apply. After you pay the application fee and submit the application form, an E-Portfolio for each of the programs you selected in the application form will automatically appear in your SlideRoom dashboard.

    Submission Specifications

    • Images: .jpg, .gif, .pdf (up to 5 MB each)
    • Videos: .flv, .wv, .mov (up to 60 MB each)
    • Audio: .mp3 (up to 10 MB each)
    • Text documents: MUST be in .pdf format (up to 10 MB each)

  • TOEFL: 100 
    IELTS: 7 
    DUOLINGO: 120

    International applicants are required to submit evidence of English language proficiency. You are waived from this requirement if you meet any of the following conditions:

    • Your native language is English
    • You have an undergraduate degree conferred by a U.S. accredited university
    • You have an undergraduate degree conferred by a university whose primary language of instruction is English

    If you do not meet one of these conditions, you must submit official English language proficiency test scores. You are strongly encouraged to schedule a language proficiency test appointment as early as possible in order to receive official test scores prior to the application deadline.

    SAIC accepts official scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), International English Language Testing System (IELTS), and Duolingo. The TOEFL Institution Code for SAIC is 1713. Please upload an unofficial copy of your test score results to the International Requirements section of the application form.

  • The department conducts interviews by invitation only. Applicants who pass the preliminary review will be invited to schedule an interview in Mid-February. Notification will be sent by late January. For students at a distance or unable to travel, interviews may be conducted remotely.

  • Dual Degree students writing their thesis in Art History and electing to follow the Design History pathway are expected to take ARTHI 5007 as their methods seminar followed by at least four seminars in the Design History curriculum. Thesis topics should address the history and theory of design or architecture.

    Specialization in Design History within the Master of Arts (MA) in Modern and Contemporary Art History 

    Graduate students in the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism's graduate degree programs may elect to follow a specialized pathway in Design History. Coursework in this specialization focuses on the production of knowledge, discourses, practices, and domains of objects that have been understood to fall under the broad category of design. As with the MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History degree as a whole, seminars and research topics focus on the modern and contemporary periods.

    Students following the Design History pathway will study the theories and practices of design and examine the conception, production, interpretation, and consumption of design.

    MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History students electing to follow the Design History pathway are expected to take ARTHI 5007 as their methods seminar, followed by at least four seminars in the Design History curriculum. Thesis topics should address the history and theory of design or architecture.

    Recent graduate seminars and courses in Design History include:

    • ARTHI 5101: Theories of Things: Art/Design/Object
    • ARTHI 5111: Urbanization and Its Discontents
    • ARTHI 5122: Critical Terms in Modern Architecture
    • ARTHI 5547: Typographic Modernity & Print
    • ARTHI 5571: Design and the Body
    • ARTHI 5575: Extraordinary Bodies: Disability/Art/Design
    • ARTHI 4547: Biopolitics and Data Visualization
    • ARTHI 5480: Vernacular, Colonial, Global: Modern Architecture at the End of Empire
    Curricular Requirements for the Design History Pathway36 credit hours total
    ARTHI 5007: History of Art History3 credit hours

    4 graduate seminars (5000-level) in Design History

     

    		12 credit hours

    Global Issues seminar (5000 level) that focuses on art worlds outside of Europe and North America or focuses on Global Art Theory.

    A list of courses that satisfies this requirement is available from the department every semester.

    		3 credit hours
    2 additional seminars in Art History6 credit hours
    2 interdisciplinary electives (4000-6000 level) or additional Art/Design History seminars6 credit hours
    ARTHI 5999 and ARTHI 6999 Thesis sequence in second year6 credit hours
    Completion of thesis 

    Degree Requirements and Specifications

    1. Completion schedule: Students have a maximum of four years from entry into the program to complete coursework and submit a final, approved thesis. This includes time off for leaves of absence. Credit for Thesis Research and Writing (ARTHI 5999 and 6999) is granted only after the thesis is approved and final copies are submitted to the Department.
    2. Thesis in Progress: Students who have not submitted a finished thesis for review and approval by the end of the final semester of enrollment are given a Thesis in Progress grade (IP). All students with a Thesis in Progress grade (IP) will be charged the Thesis in Progress Fee in each subsequent full semester until the thesis is completed and approved and the grade is changed to Credit (CR). If the statute of limitations is reached without an approved thesis, the grade will be changed to No Credit (NCR).
    3. Transfer credits: A minimum of 30 credit hours must be completed in residence at SAIC. Up to six transfer credits may be requested at the time of application for admission and are subject to approval at that time. No transfer credit will be permitted after a student is admitted.
    4. Curriculum: The program requires 36 credit hours, and each individual course is generally three credit hours. Courses are subject to approval by the Art History Graduate Program Director.
    5. Art History requirement: From the Graduate Seminars and additional courses in Art History, at least one course (3 credit hours) must be taken from the list of courses designated 19th-century art history and at least one course (3 credit hours) designated early-20th-century art history. A list of courses that satisfies this requirement is available from the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism every semester.
    6. Global Issues Seminar: If the Global Issues seminar is also designated as Design History, students may use it to also fulfill one of the four graduate seminars in Design History. In this case, students would then be expected to take 3 Additional seminars in Art History rather than 2.
    7. Electives: Electives can be taken from the following departments and programs without additional approval from the Graduate Program Director: Art History, Theory, and Criticism; Visual and Critical Studies; Arts Administration and Policy; Art Education; and Writing. Graduate seminars and upper-level courses in departments other than those listed above may be allowed as electives, contingent upon prior approval from both the Art History Graduate Program Director and the course instructor.
    8. Internship/Co-op Option: Students have the option of taking up to three hours of credit through the co-op internship program. These credit hours can be taken as part of additional courses or electives, but internship credits never count toward the required number of seminar credit hours.
    9. Full-time Status Minimum Requirement: 9 credit hours

    Core Design History Faculty

    • Shiben Banerji, Design History Coordinator and Assistant Professor, Dept. of Art History, Theory, and Criticism
    • Michael Golec, Associate Professor, Dept. of Art History, Theory, and Criticism
    • Bess Williamson, Associate Professor, Dept. of Art History, Theory, and Criticism

World-Class Resources

SAIC students have special access to incomparable resources including the Art Institute of Chicago and its Modern Wing, SAIC’s John M. Flaxman Library and Special Collections, numerous on- and off-campus collections, and public programs.

Students also have at their disposal a diverse array of arts, cultural and community organizations in Chicago, and have the opportunity to work in partnership with them on a variety of projects sponsored and led by the department’s Management Studio. 

On-Campus Opportunities

Students engage directly with current trends in the fields of art history through numerous events and lectures hosted by the Art History department. The Visiting Artists Program has brought in such distinguished artists as Graham Pullin, Arlene Shechet, Anab Jain, Lewis Hyde, Irene Hofmann, Xaviera Simmons, Kendell Geers, Ron Athey, Beatriz Milhazes, and Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle.

Each year, as part of the Lifton Lecture, a prominent scholar presents a public lecture on a topic related to modern and contemporary art history. A theme over the years has been an emphasis on women art historians and their contributions to the field. Students in their final year present their thesis before the department’s faculty and students.

Dual degree students participate in the production of E-merge: journal of arts administration and policy. E-merge is an online journal produced by graduate students in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Master of Arts Administration and Policy and Dual degree programs, featuring collaborations with guest editors from the SAIC Community. The journal is dedicated to fostering creative discussions amongst leading professionals, academics, and students, and provides dual degree candidates with valuable publication and journal-management experience.

Course Listing

Title Catalog Instructor Schedule

Description

Art has been many things to many people. This class introduces students to the history of art and art-like things on Earth from prehistory to ca. 1800 CE. It covers canonical examples from older scholarship alongside works and contexts emerging in recent art histories. Students will learn to perform basic art historical analysis and research, and the course will prepare them to form personal art histories, applying such art histories to their own work.

The course surveys historical art in a global scope, from the beginnings of known culture to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It introduces students to a range of interdisciplinary frameworks for parsing the production, reception, and conceptualization of art. And it challenges students to think about the relationships between past and present, highlighting how later artists and cultures have engaged earlier art and history.

There is a small amount of required reading each week-on average about 20 pages. Written work includes weekly reading responses, two in-class quizzes, an annotated bibliography project, and a take-home final exam.

Class Number

1041

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

Art has been many things to many people. This class introduces students to the history of art and art-like things on Earth from prehistory to ca. 1800 CE. It covers canonical examples from older scholarship alongside works and contexts emerging in recent art histories. Students will learn to perform basic art historical analysis and research, and the course will prepare them to form personal art histories, applying such art histories to their own work.

The course surveys historical art in a global scope, from the beginnings of known culture to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It introduces students to a range of interdisciplinary frameworks for parsing the production, reception, and conceptualization of art. And it challenges students to think about the relationships between past and present, highlighting how later artists and cultures have engaged earlier art and history.

There is a small amount of required reading each week-on average about 20 pages. Written work includes weekly reading responses, two in-class quizzes, an annotated bibliography project, and a take-home final exam.

Class Number

1042

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

Art has been many things to many people. This class introduces students to the history of art and art-like things on Earth from prehistory to ca. 1800 CE. It covers canonical examples from older scholarship alongside works and contexts emerging in recent art histories. Students will learn to perform basic art historical analysis and research, and the course will prepare them to form personal art histories, applying such art histories to their own work.

The course surveys historical art in a global scope, from the beginnings of known culture to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It introduces students to a range of interdisciplinary frameworks for parsing the production, reception, and conceptualization of art. And it challenges students to think about the relationships between past and present, highlighting how later artists and cultures have engaged earlier art and history.

There is a small amount of required reading each week-on average about 20 pages. Written work includes weekly reading responses, two in-class quizzes, an annotated bibliography project, and a take-home final exam.

Class Number

1043

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

Art has been many things to many people. This class introduces students to the history of art and art-like things on Earth from prehistory to ca. 1800 CE. It covers canonical examples from older scholarship alongside works and contexts emerging in recent art histories. Students will learn to perform basic art historical analysis and research, and the course will prepare them to form personal art histories, applying such art histories to their own work.

The course surveys historical art in a global scope, from the beginnings of known culture to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It introduces students to a range of interdisciplinary frameworks for parsing the production, reception, and conceptualization of art. And it challenges students to think about the relationships between past and present, highlighting how later artists and cultures have engaged earlier art and history.

There is a small amount of required reading each week-on average about 20 pages. Written work includes weekly reading responses, two in-class quizzes, an annotated bibliography project, and a take-home final exam.

Class Number

1044

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

Art has been many things to many people. This class introduces students to the history of art and art-like things on Earth from prehistory to ca. 1800 CE. It covers canonical examples from older scholarship alongside works and contexts emerging in recent art histories. Students will learn to perform basic art historical analysis and research, and the course will prepare them to form personal art histories, applying such art histories to their own work.

The course surveys historical art in a global scope, from the beginnings of known culture to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It introduces students to a range of interdisciplinary frameworks for parsing the production, reception, and conceptualization of art. And it challenges students to think about the relationships between past and present, highlighting how later artists and cultures have engaged earlier art and history.

There is a small amount of required reading each week-on average about 20 pages. Written work includes weekly reading responses, two in-class quizzes, an annotated bibliography project, and a take-home final exam.

Class Number

1107

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

Art has been many things to many people. This class introduces students to the history of art and art-like things on Earth from prehistory to ca. 1800 CE. It covers canonical examples from older scholarship alongside works and contexts emerging in recent art histories. Students will learn to perform basic art historical analysis and research, and the course will prepare them to form personal art histories, applying such art histories to their own work.

The course surveys historical art in a global scope, from the beginnings of known culture to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It introduces students to a range of interdisciplinary frameworks for parsing the production, reception, and conceptualization of art. And it challenges students to think about the relationships between past and present, highlighting how later artists and cultures have engaged earlier art and history.

There is a small amount of required reading each week-on average about 20 pages. Written work includes weekly reading responses, two in-class quizzes, an annotated bibliography project, and a take-home final exam.

Class Number

1060

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

Art has been many things to many people. This class introduces students to the history of art and art-like things on Earth from prehistory to ca. 1800 CE. It covers canonical examples from older scholarship alongside works and contexts emerging in recent art histories. Students will learn to perform basic art historical analysis and research, and the course will prepare them to form personal art histories, applying such art histories to their own work.

The course surveys historical art in a global scope, from the beginnings of known culture to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It introduces students to a range of interdisciplinary frameworks for parsing the production, reception, and conceptualization of art. And it challenges students to think about the relationships between past and present, highlighting how later artists and cultures have engaged earlier art and history.

There is a small amount of required reading each week-on average about 20 pages. Written work includes weekly reading responses, two in-class quizzes, an annotated bibliography project, and a take-home final exam.

Class Number

1102

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

Art has been many things to many people. This class introduces students to the history of art and art-like things on Earth from prehistory to ca. 1800 CE. It covers canonical examples from older scholarship alongside works and contexts emerging in recent art histories. Students will learn to perform basic art historical analysis and research, and the course will prepare them to form personal art histories, applying such art histories to their own work.

The course surveys historical art in a global scope, from the beginnings of known culture to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It introduces students to a range of interdisciplinary frameworks for parsing the production, reception, and conceptualization of art. And it challenges students to think about the relationships between past and present, highlighting how later artists and cultures have engaged earlier art and history.

There is a small amount of required reading each week-on average about 20 pages. Written work includes weekly reading responses, two in-class quizzes, an annotated bibliography project, and a take-home final exam.

Class Number

1103

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

This is an advanced section of the survey of world art and culture, prehistory to 1850. It is intended for BAAH students, Scholars Program students, and students interested in the history of writing about art (and teaching the survey). We will begin at 500,000 BC, and cover approximately 50 cultures; the list is at ow.ly/Y902K. In each case we will also question the ways historians describe the culture; we will study the ways art history textbooks promote certain senses of art and national identity; and we will consider how other institutions have tried to teach the global survey. The class is difficult, and requires a lot of memorization. Concurrent Registration in one ARTHI 1101: Discussion Section for Advanced Survey of World Art Prehistory to 1850 is required.

Class Number

1040

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

This course surveys developments in nineteenth and twentieth century art and architecture. Particular emphasis is placed on theoretical and critical issues, as well as the historical, intellectual, and socioeconomic changes that are reflected or addressed in the works of artists and architects. Note: ARTHI 1001 (or its equivalent) is recommended as a prerequisite for ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

1045

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

This course surveys developments in nineteenth and twentieth century art and architecture. Particular emphasis is placed on theoretical and critical issues, as well as the historical, intellectual, and socioeconomic changes that are reflected or addressed in the works of artists and architects. Note: ARTHI 1001 (or its equivalent) is recommended as a prerequisite for ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

1046

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

This course surveys developments in nineteenth and twentieth century art and architecture. Particular emphasis is placed on theoretical and critical issues, as well as the historical, intellectual, and socioeconomic changes that are reflected or addressed in the works of artists and architects. Note: ARTHI 1001 (or its equivalent) is recommended as a prerequisite for ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

1047

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

This course surveys developments in nineteenth and twentieth century art and architecture. Particular emphasis is placed on theoretical and critical issues, as well as the historical, intellectual, and socioeconomic changes that are reflected or addressed in the works of artists and architects. Note: ARTHI 1001 (or its equivalent) is recommended as a prerequisite for ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

1048

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

This lecture course grounds students in basic critical themes in the history of design and design objects. Through lectures, demonstrations, and readings students study the material and discursive conditions of the history of design.

Through lecture, readings, discussions, and museum visits, the class highlights a broad range of objects and formats in graphic design, object design, fashion design, and architectural design.

Course works includes object analysis assignments, short research paper, and mid-term and final exams.

Class Number

1065

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

Students will review the materials from the previous week's lecture, both the class's main thematic and conceptual points, and also the names, practices, and places that may be required for quizzes. The TA will also lead workshops in which students exchange ideas about their notebooks, maps, papers, curated projects, or installations. Concurrent Registration with 1353: ARTHI 1001 005: Advanced Survey of World Art From Prehistory to 1850 section required.

Prerequisites

Concurrent enrollment in ARTHI 1001 Scholars Section required.

Class Number

1058

Credits

0

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 501

Description

Students will review the materials from the previous week's lecture, both the class's main thematic and conceptual points, and also the names, practices, and places that may be required for quizzes. The TA will also lead workshops in which students exchange ideas about their notebooks, maps, papers, curated projects, or installations. Concurrent Registration with 1353: ARTHI 1001 005: Advanced Survey of World Art From Prehistory to 1850 section required.

Prerequisites

Concurrent enrollment in ARTHI 1001 Scholars Section required.

Class Number

1059

Credits

0

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

Students will review the materials from the previous week's lecture, both the class's main thematic and conceptual points, and also the names, practices, and places that may be required for quizzes. The TA will also lead workshops in which students exchange ideas about their notebooks, maps, papers, curated projects, or installations. Concurrent Registration with 1353: ARTHI 1001 005: Advanced Survey of World Art From Prehistory to 1850 section required.

Prerequisites

Concurrent enrollment in ARTHI 1001 Scholars Section required.

Class Number

1104

Credits

0

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 206

Description

Students will review the materials from the previous week's lecture, both the class's main thematic and conceptual points, and also the names, practices, and places that may be required for quizzes. The TA will also lead workshops in which students exchange ideas about their notebooks, maps, papers, curated projects, or installations. Concurrent Registration with 1353: ARTHI 1001 005: Advanced Survey of World Art From Prehistory to 1850 section required.

Prerequisites

Concurrent enrollment in ARTHI 1001 Scholars Section required.

Class Number

1105

Credits

0

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Sharp 706

Description

This course plunges students into content and ideas that universities often leave until graduate school, as we consider the role played by the 'critical' in 'visual and critical studies.' For the past ten years, it has been referred to as 'a primer for the art world.' It will still, mostly, provide you with a working vocabulary and crash course as to bodies of knowledge integral to the study of visual culture. At the same time, to productively engage in a reflective critique of society and culture, it will consider 'texts' from as diverse and contemporaneous a group of scholars, theorists, critics, and cultural producers as possible, from both inside and outside the academic institution.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2219

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Theory

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

This class offers one survey of how artists have responded and adapted to moments of severe political, economic, and social uncertainty. Some, like Albert Speer in Nazi Germany and Antonio Ferro of the Estado Novo in Portugal proudly shaped the images of dictatorial regimes. Others, like Pablo Picasso, created works that spoke to the horrors committed under Francisco Franco of Spain; others, like Malangatana Ngwenya, made drawings while imprisoned and awaiting trial. We will look at a spectrum of artists whose responses to their circumstances vary widely.
Together, we ask: how does one cultivate and protect free expression? How do we historicize art made during moments of crisis, censorship, and severe oppression? Each week, we will concentrate on a particular time and regime within the twentieth century across five continents. We will begin in Ancient Rome to explore the concept of the dictator perpetuo, and will explore one regime per week in the following countries: Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Italy, the Soviet Union, Germany, Cuba, Cambodia, North Korea, China, and Sudan. Texts will primarily consist of primary sources, artist interviews, documentaries and art-historical articles and book chapters. Secondary texts include Mary Beard's 'Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern' (2021); Claudia Calirman's 'Brazilian Art Under Dictatorship: Antonio Manuel, Artur Barrio, and Cildo Meireles' (2012), and Douglas Gabriel's 'Over the Mountain: Realism Toward Unification in Cold War Korea, 1980-1994' (2019, diss.).
Assignments include one 5-page exhibition proposal and one final exam.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2263

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Class, Race, Ethnicity, Art/Design and Politics, Gender and Sexuality

Location

MacLean 608

Description

Is it possible to have, or should we even want, an African American Art Historical canon?This class argues that the history of African American Art offers us, in practice and theory, resistant histories of 'high' and 'low' art, everyday objects, and ways of seeing. By conducting a chronological approach to African American Art, we will trace moments of historical continuity as well as emerging practices in order to better understand how the methods, materials, and meanings bracketed under the category of African American Art have been a site of innovation, experimentation, and avant-garde practice. We will spend this semester juxtaposing conventional approaches to art (painting, sculpting, line drawing, installation) with innovative approaches to visual culture (found objects, everyday materials, contemporary performance).

Artists of inquiry include Augusta Savage, Aaron Douglass, Hale Woodruff, Charles White, Elizabeth Catlett, Faith Ringgold, Sam Gilliam, Alma Thomas, David Hammons, Senga Nengudi, Marlon Riggs, Arthur Jafa, Rashid Johnson, Sadie Barnette. We will also discuss author-less works, collectives, and collaborate projects.

Students are required to complete an annotated bibliography, weekly in-class assignments, and a 3 hour final examination.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1088

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Class, Race, Ethnicity, Economic Inequality & Class

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

This course studies the medieval book in Europe and the visual arts crafted in medieval Paris as well as their connections to the global medieval world through exchange and gifting. The medieval cosmos in Islamic and European cultures, humans? relationship with the natural world, and artist?s practices of making will be studied as well as manuscripts, textiles, metal work, and more. Books in the medieval world include narratives of heroes, saints, love, magic, scientific knowledge, and documentation of artistic techniques. This course is Eurocentric however includes arts of Middle East and North Africa for a broader understanding of the medieval world.

Coursework includes field trips to view Chicago's medieval manuscript and art collections at the Newberry and the Art Institute. Readings include works by Sharon Farmer, ?Surviving Poverty in Paris,? Edson and Savage-Smith, ?Medieval Views of the Cosmos,? Michael Camille, ?Nature of Gothic,? Madeline Caviness, ?Patron or Matron?,? Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair, ?Islamic Penmen and Painters,? and more.

Coursework will vary but typically includes discussions, reading responses, in-class quizzes, short presentations and a research paper.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2158

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Books and Publishing

Location

MacLean 707

Description

If you could only be seen in one outfit for the rest of your life ? what would it be? How would you represent who you are through your choice of silhouette, color, pattern, and texture? In this course we will take a look at art?s ability to freeze moments, and garments, in time. What did the sitter (or the artist) chose to clothe the body? How did fashion and its power of communication function within the time the art work was made? What choices did the artist make to idealize or change their representation of the garments?

In statues from Ancient Greece fabrics flow around bodies like liquids, 18th century subjects were often painted in swathes of fabric meant to suggest ancient ideals through similar (impossible) textiles, and today Kara Walker uses those same floating fabrics on bodies to critique less than ideal idealists. To 19th century Impressionists the urgency of Modernity could only be represented by using contemporary garments, today Kehinde Wiley dresses a man on a horse in a hoodie. What clues tell us a figure is a warrior or a captive in work of the Nazca from ancient Peru? How can we read hairstyles in Ukiyo-e paintings from 17th century Japan? What do Jeffery Gibson and Nick Cave want us to see when they create coverings for bodies? And what was Amy Sherald trying to tell us about Michelle Obama?

We will utilize the collections of the Art Institute, The Field Museum, and others around the city to look closely, sketch, and research. Students will read, lead discussions, write daily reflections, explore through making, and develop skills in critical looking leading to two short research papers examining works of their choice.

In statues from Ancient Greece fabrics flow around bodies like liquids, 18th century subjects were often painted in swathes of fabric meant to suggest ancient ideals through similar (impossible) textiles, and today Kara Walker uses those same floating fabrics on bodies to critique less than ideal idealists. To 19th century Impressionists the urgency of Modernity could only be represented by using contemporary garments, today Kehinde Wiley dresses a man on a horse in a hoodie. What clues tell us a figure is a king in Incan pottery? How can we read hairstyles in Ukiyo-e paintings from Japan? What do Jeffery Gibson and Nick Cave want us to see when they create coverings for bodies? And what was Amy Sherald trying to tell us about Michelle Obama?

We will visit the collections of the Art Institute, The Field Museum, and other collections around the city to look closely, sketch, and research. Students will read, lead discussions, write daily reflections, and develop skills in critical looking leading to two short research papers examining works of their choice.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2278

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Class, Race, Ethnicity, Costume Design, Museum Studies

Location

MacLean 608

Description

This course surveys the history of architecture and design, including furnishings, decorative arts and interiors, from the earliest settlements of the Neolithic Era until the onset of Neoclassicism in the late Eighteenth Century. Special attention is given to the developments that have remained most influential within the architecture and design of today, with particular emphasis on ancient Greece and Rome, Early Christian, Byzantine and early Islam, the European Middle Ages, and the Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo cultures.

Through extensive lectures and readings, special focus in this class is devoted to the art of the Greek temple, Roman civil engineering, the rise of monasticism in the early Middle Ages, early Byzantine and early Islamic religious design, pilgrimage and Romanesque church building, Gothic Europe and the age of cathedrals, Italian Renaissance architecture and the rise of Humanism, Baroque churches and papal patronage, French chateaux and absolute monarchy, and the origins of Modernism during the eighteenth-century Enlightenment.

Students will complete a combination of in-class and take-home exams along with a final research paper on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1051

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 707

Description

This is an undergraduate survey of modernism and postmodernism in Latin America from the 1920s through the present. Topics will include national identity and 'anthropophagy' in the first wave of modernism in the region, debates over Surrealism and realism in the 1930s, the transition from 'concrete to 'neo-concrete' form and the link between architecture and developmentalism in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, conceptual art and politics in the 1960s and 1970s, and more recent sculptural, photographic, performance, and relational practices.

Specific topics include the cosmopolitan avant-garde that appeared in Mexico at the start of the 1920s, the theorization of anthropofagia in Brazil and indigenismo in Peru, Cuba?s Grupo Minorista, Mexican muralism and surrealism, Joaquin Torres-Garcia?s introduction of abstraction to Uruguay and Argentina, links between art and architecture in Venezuelan and Brazilian developmentalism, the rise of kinetic and participatory approaches in the 1950s and 1960s, conceptual art as a response to the dictatorships of the 1960s and 1970s, Latinx and Chicanx actions and performance in the United States, the politics of memory in post-dictatorship/violence art in Chile and Colombia, persistent questions of borders and internationalism in contemporary approaches to ?relational aesthetics? in Central America and the Caribbean, and many other examples.

This course requires weekly reading responses, two papers, and a final exam.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1066

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

This course examines the emergence, growth and evolution of art by Asian Pacific Islander Americans throughout the twentieth century especially in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement that also spawned a genesis of Asian American identity, culture and activism to the late 1980?s during the apex of multiculturalism and the politics of representation to the transnationalism of the new millennium and beyond.

Through readings, field trips, and film screenings, our class will consider the ongoing debate of what constitutes Asian American art by looking at artists including Isamu Noguchi, Roger Shimomura, Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Maya Lin, Tseng Kwong Chi and others within these historical, cultural and political contexts to discuss how questions related to stereotype, cultural difference, gender politics, and identity construction affected and shaped its development and meaning.

Course work will include in-class presentation, two research papers as well as a mid-term and final exam.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1081

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Class, Race, Ethnicity

Location

MacLean 920

Description

This course introduces Korean visual culture by examining images and objects in their historical, social, religious, and philosophical contexts. It covers key examples of paintings, ceramics and Buddhist art from the Three Kingdoms period to the Choson dynasty, through Modern Korean art, This course helps students gain a comprehensive understanding of traditional Korean visual culture and its modern legacy.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1083

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 608

Description

This course examines significant developments in European architecture, with regard to structure, function, and style, from the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century through the outbreak of World War I. Major architects and their works are dealt with in the context of pertinent practical, theoretical, and social issues, to assess the overall prominence of architecture in the period of emergent modernism in Europe.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1052

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

This course is a chronological history of human dress from pre-history to the 20th century, and from archaeological remains of ancient cultures, through diverse global material technologies and markets influencing dress, through European monarchical and social class attire, to global exploration and colonialist effects upon worldwide human dress and ways of life. Portraiture, artistic dress and reform dress will be seen to evolve and transform long-standing gender binaries in human dress. Historic styles will be seen to continue to influence contemporary dress and fashions. The sartorial contributions of diverse historical and global human cultures also be appreciated for their innovations and ongoing influences. All students may become conversant with the anatomy, language and literature of dress.

Learning experiences include lectures, readings, library and museum visits, observational sketching and noting from documents of dress, film viewing and spoken illustrated presentations in class. Focus on primary, secondary and tertiary sources of clothing information will be essential. Historical accuracy, creative anachronisms and research of period clothing will be expressed in film viewing and Ryerson Library antique costume books. Visits to Art Institute curatorial departments to view period armor, textiles and garments will provide essential experiences of historic dress.

Assignments will include: self-introductory observations on a museum exhibition visit, a spoken presentation from a group of diverse Documents of Dress sketched and noted by each student on visits to about 6 libraries, museum installations and curatorial departments, and a final presentation/research paper of 10 pages on a Personification of Style, an individual whose attire and accomplishments made important cultural contribution in their time. Citations and bibliography are essential for credit. Knowing your sources is essential.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1053

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Costume Design

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

This course is designed to serve as an introduction to film analysis, in which students learn the basic concepts and vocabulary of film aesthetics and criticism. We examine different trajectories of film, studying mainstream film practices next to alternative ones. By studying the basics of film form and film style, through examples from different national cinemas, genres, and directorial oeuvres, students learn to analyze and write about films as both formal and cultural constructs. Along with questions of film technique and style, we study cinema's relationship to popular culture and fine art. The films discussed include works by Griffith, Eisenstein, Welles, Hitchcock, and Godard. This course does not assume any prior exposure to film studies.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1100

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 1307

Description

This course examines the photographs made in response to the shaping influences of 19th and 20th century global cultures. Our understanding of the issues guiding visual history has been sensitized by iconic as well as lesser known photographs and it is those meaningful images that are addressed across the semester. Because photography has been transformed across its history as technology altered practice and practice altered how the medium was conceptualized, the study of social and intellectual history along side the making of imagery is central if the larger purposes of photography are to be grasped and shared.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2167

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 608

Description

This course discusses the development of photography as both an art and a tool, including its invention, the initial social reaction to the photograph, the careers of major photographers, movements, and commercial publishers. The interrelationships between photography, art, science, and society are emphasized.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1062

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 202

Description

This course offers an historical survey of music as a sonic art form from the Futurists to the present day. Emphasis is placed on works that tune the performance environment, explore sound as sculpture, interact with the listener/viewer, and employ intermedia. Class discussions include topics such as basic psycho-acoustics, sound manipulation, conceptual art, installation techniques, and constructivist aesthetics.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1091

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

This course is designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to the history of video art from its emergence in the late 1960s through our present moment. Students will examine key works and the major historical, cultural, and aesthetic influences on the form.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1063

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Digital Communication

Location

MacLean 1307

Description

Exploring the art, fashion, music of the 'Jazz Age'this class reveals the enduring impact 1920's aesthetics has had on contemporary fashion, art and social customs. Starting with an exploration of the differing mind sets of Europeans versus Americans, this class then takes an in-depth look of the artists and lifestyles 1920's Paris that had been greatly impacted by the influx of Americans after the First World War. The class ends with the lasting legacy of the Jazz Age, which was seen particularly in the 1960's, but currently has resurfaced in contemporary issues of gender identity.

More specifically, this class examines using film and texts the two key Jazz Age couples; F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and Gerald and Sara Murphy. The former couple establishing the persona of 'the flapper' and the latter couple establishing a major link between American in France and the Famous School of Paris artists particularly Picasso. Other key figures are examined such as the first major Chinese American actress Anna May Wong and the black performer Josephine Baker as well as fashion designer Coco Chanel and film star Clara Bow.

Course work revolves around two key texts as well as a reading the Great Gatsby. Reading questions accompany the 1st text and essay is required to explore the other text in relation to the Great Gatsby. There is also one final paper on one Jazz age artists of the student's choice.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1093

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

Archives are more than boxes of historical documents studied by historians. As this course demonstrates, archives are also sites of creative practices, interventions, and collaborations. Focusing on archival practices in contemporary art, this course examines how artists make work with preexisting archives and produce new collections of their own. We will investigate how artists have activated archival collections, countered exclusions in archives, critiqued colonial archives, and developed archives with and for marginalized communities. The course will provide an overview of key terms and major themes in critical archival studies, such as memory, ephemera, critical fabulation.
Readings will include texts by the following scholars, curators, and archivists: Sarah Callahan, Tina Campt, Michelle Caswell, Maria Eugenia Cotera, Ann Cvetkovich, Okwui Enwezor, Saidiya Hartman, Carolyn Steedman, and Diana Taylor. Along with these writings, we will learn about the art practices and archives of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC artists: William Camargo, Guadalupe Rosales, Wendy Red Star, Irene Antonia Diane Reece, Diana Solís, Stephanie Syjuco, and Fred Wilson. In addition to the Flaxman Library Special Collections, we will visit archives held in Chicago institutions, such as the Newberry Library, the Gerber/Hart Library and Archives, and the Harold Washington Library Center. During these class trips, we will meet with archivists and librarians.
Coursework will include written reflections on assigned readings and field trips, a creative project based on an archival collection, and a final research paper and presentation on a self-selected topic.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student

Class Number

2279

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Class, Race, Ethnicity, Community & Social Engagement, Public Space, Site, Landscape

Location

MacLean 301

Description

This course explores the history of 20th century warfare through the lens of art and history, most especially photography. An upper-level undergraduate course, lectures and discussion likewise aim to introduce students to both the uncanny strangeness and implicit violence embedded in the photographic medium. In this way, the material of the class reaches beyond only explicit representations of war, and instead also considers how the medium of photography is today part and parcel with our modern, contemporary experience of witnessing violence. Chronologically structured, the course considers the ever-shifting ethos of representation and war with pictures beginning in 1898 and the American imperial projects across the Philippines.

However, with the American Civil War looming in the immediate background of democratic identity and pictorial practice, the 1865 war photographs from Alexander Gardner and Timothy O'Sullivan unofficially commence our investigations. We then speedily arrive at the wars in the Pacific (1898) and slowly traverse through the long 20th century: WWI, the inter war years, WWII (Hiroshima; the death camps and Lee Miller's Hitler), Korea to Vietnam, Iraq and the 'Desert Storm' wars, 9/11, and Abu Ghraib--these are some of the historical markers structuring the material of the course.

As we often traverse beyond the edges of mere binary and literal representations of war, the course will as importantly incorporate art photography from some of the most consummate American masters of the last century: Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, Eugene Smith, Carrie Mae Weems, Diane Lawson, Dawoud Bey, An My Le and others comprise this short list. The ways in which pictures are often obliquely and subtlety inscribed with a pathos of war are always fundamentally at stake.

Finally, the basement photography gallery at the Art Institute as well as rotating special exhibitions will offer the class firsthand opportunities to discuss photographic works of art in person. Moreover, their will be two film screenings across the term and students will be expected to attend the screenings and in turn contribute to related conversation.

Students will be asked to complete one short (2-3 pages) and one long (6-8) end of the term paper. Topics may vary but all students will be asked to discuss their final project with the professor; most pressing at stake is the writing process, one's own art historical temperament, and perhaps most fundamentally: how can we (students and artists) learn to put words to images, going beyond blithe captions and ironically glib, disinterested tropes.

Ideally there will also be a short final written exam (20% of the final grade): this will include two long essay questions; three short questions; and 15-20 works of photography to be identified.*I write this with hopes that a short exam, though challenging, will encourage students to truly engage with the material at hand--learning and memorizing and critically thinking that goes beyond rote knowledge.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1002

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Class, Race, Ethnicity, Public Space, Site, Landscape, Art/Design and Politics

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

This course will survey a broad range of objects and settings, and attempt to familiarize students with relevant media and techniques, as well as important intellectual, social, and political developments that informed the production and reception of art in Italy from the 15th through the early 17th centuries. Students will gain exposure to original works through appropriate use of relevant collections. They will hone their skills in visual analysis and their ability to engage art and express positions and observations about art orally and in writing. The major assignments for the class will include a formal analysis paper, an object presentation, and an object response. Introductory context readings will be complemented by selected original readings (in translation) and exemplary art historical scholarship on the period. All readings will be available on Canvas.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1079

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 920

Description

This course offers a survey of the history of manga (Japanese comics) from its premodern predecessors to the present. Beginning with narrative picture scrolls in the medieval period, it will touch on forms of humor and political cartooning in the 19th and early 20th centuries, before moving onto multi-page stories, serials, and standalone books within the serially paneled comics medium. Related developments in non-Japanese comics and media like film, animation, illustration, and painting will also be considered.

Among the major artists to be considered in this course are: Hokusai, Tagawa Suiho, Tezuka Osamu, Tatsumi Yoshihiro, Shirato Sanpei, Tsuge Yoshiharu, Hagio Moto, Otomo Katsuhiro, Takahashi Rumiko, and Tagame Gengoro.

Students will be required to complete weekly readings, including translated manga and historical/interpretive essays, in addition to occasional reading responses, a research paper, and a final exam.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1072

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Illustration, Comics and Graphic Novels, Books and Publishing

Location

Online

Description

This course investigates the international art movements of the 1920s and 1930s such as Constructivism, Purism, the Bauhaus, De Stijl, Neoplasticism, and other movements that favored a nonobjective mode. After its initial development before World War I, how did nonobjective art develop, justify itself, change, and find new roles in the troubled period of the Roaring Twenties and the Fascist Thirties? These questions are explored in lectures and discussion.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1084

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 301

Take the Next Step

Visit the graduate admissions website or contact the graduate admissions office at 312.629.6100, 800.232.7242 or gradmiss@saic.edu. 

 

Wide shot of a large, classical library

MA Dual Degree Graduate Brochure

View