Art History, Theory, & Criticism Undergraduate Studies

A group of students and an instructor discuss a sculpture at the AIC

Undergraduate Overview

Art History is a central part of all students’ education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). The Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism offers courses that examine how current and future practices are informed by the histories and theories of art.

From comprehensive surveys of modern and contemporary art at the introductory level to advanced undergraduate seminars, all courses prepare students to speak, write, and think about art and design. Classes address art of all media, design and architecture, visual and material cultures, and contemporary theories of art and culture. The international networks for contemporary art are an important part of the course offerings, and we offer a wide range of classes in Asian, African, Latin American, European, and North American Art.

Contemporary Practices Requirements

All Contemporary Practices students and transfer students must complete: ARTHI 1001, World Cultures and Civilizations: Pre-History-Nineteenth Century, and one other 1000-level Introductory Survey of Modern and Contemporary Art History course before taking more advanced courses within the department.

Bachelor of Arts in Art History

The BA in Art History draws on the depth and diversity of offerings in the scholarly study of art practices that only a major art school connected with a world-class museum can offer. Substantial coursework in Art History, supported by additional coursework in Liberal Arts and in studio departments define the course of study. In their first year, students complete the studio-intensive Contemporary Practices program and introductory Art History surveys as a foundation for beginning their advanced Art History coursework in their second year. In addition to a sequence of research, theory, and methods courses, BA in Art History students choose two (out of three possible) geographic-area pathways on which to focus (with at least three courses in each area).

The degree culminates in the fourth year with a significant research project written in the two-semester senior research methods capstone seminar. In addition to external applicants and transfer students, interested SAIC students from other degree programs may apply for admittance to the BA in Art History program, usually before the beginning of their junior year. Please refer to the BAAH Credit Worksheet.

To apply to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), you will need to fill out an application and submit your transcripts and letters of recommendation. And most importantly, we require a portfolio of your best and most recent work—work that will give us a sense of you, your interests, and your willingness to explore, experiment, and think beyond technical art, design, and writing skills.
In order to apply, we must have the following items:
Online application
Artist’s Statement
Transcripts
Letter of Recommendation
Portfolio
Test Scores
The BA in Art History program has a special application procedure for both external and internal candidates. All applicants must supply a writing sample (see below) to be considered.
Incoming First-Year Students
The application for incoming first-year students requires a five- to seven-page (1,250–1,750 words) writing sample, TOEFL scores when required (min. 96), letter of recommendation, a high school transcript (min unweighted GPA 3.0), a portfolio of five to 10 pieces of visual work, and a personal statement.
For their first year, BA in Art History students take primarily studio courses as part of the year-long Contemporary Practices program. These courses provide students with foundations in art practice and visual thinking that grounds advanced-level coursework in Art History, which begins in the sophomore year.
Transfer Students
The application for incoming transfer students requires a five- to seven-page (1,250–1,750 words) writing sample, TOEFL scores when required (min. 96), letter of recommendation, transcript of courses taken at other institutions (min. unweighted GPA 3.0), a portfolio of five to 10 pieces of visual work, and a personal statement. Transfer applicants are considered individually with regard to the acceptance of previous credit and studio requirements.
A minimum of 66 credit hours are required in residence at SAIC, so most transfer students will apply before their junior year. On admittance, transfer students may petition for Contemporary Practices studio courses to be substituted with other coursework. Most transfer students, however, will take at minimum the core and research studio courses designed for transfers by the Contemporary Practices department.
SAIC Students from Other Degree Programs
Internal applicants are also required to submit a writing sample five- to seven-page (1,250–1,750 words) writing sample, a personal statement, and a transcript of courses at SAIC in order to be considered for a degree change to the BA in Art History. In some cases, an interview may be required.
Because the BA in Art History is substantially different in its credit makeup than other programs at SAIC, most students will have applied for an internal transfer before the end of their sophomore year. Only in exceptional cases will junior-level students be considered for internal transfer.
Internal transfer applicants must submit a single PDF document with contact information, student ID number, personal statement, transcript of courses transferred into and taken at SAIC, and writing sample with illustrations. Unofficial transcripts from the registrar or academic advising are acceptable and should include all courses taken at SAIC as well as those transferred from other institutions. Screen shots or other lists will not be accepted. The transcript should be incorporated into your single application PDF after your cover page with identification, personal statement, and writing sample. This should be sent to the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism’s Undergraduate Coordinator (jlee241@saic.edu).
Writing Sample
The writing sample is one of the most important parts of the application and should demonstrate applicants' ability to express their ideas and knowledge in written form. Successful writing samples will demonstrate clarity of argument, facility with written language and grammar, and an ability to incorporate and cite research materials. Any expository essay that incorporates research will be considered, and a writing sample in art history is not required (though it is encouraged, especially for transfer applicants). Writing samples should be five to seven pages in length (1,250–1,750 words) for incoming first-year applicants and transfers at the freshman or sophomore level. Any student who wishes to apply for transfer into the BA in Art History program at the level of junior should submit a writing sample of at least seven to 10 pages (1,750–2,500 words). Relevant illustrations and bibliography should be included with the text but are not considered when calculating page limits.
Personal Statement
The personal statement is a short statement (around a page) explaining your curiosities, interests, and plans (in intellectual and/or career terms) and why you think the BAAH program would be a good fit for you.
Portfolio
External students must include a visual portfolio as part of their application. In addition to the writing sample, five to 10 pieces of your best and most recent work must be submitted as part of the portfolio. This collection should reflect your interests, skills, and willingness to explore, experiment, and express yourself.
The BA in Art History program incorporates studio practice as essential knowledge for work in art history, and all BA in Art History students take studio classes while at SAIC. Because the first-year studio foundations experience is shared with all SAIC BFA students, incoming applicants should expect to be immersed in visual and creative practices. While the writing sample and transcript are the most important parts of a BA in Art History application, applicants should use the portfolio to demonstrate their facility with visual making. In addition to conventional studio and design work, students may also submit alternative creative practices (for instance, video blogging, website design, or online curation). Transfer applicants with little experience in studio or design practices are encouraged to consider these alternatives. Questions about what can be part of the visual portfolio should be addressed to the Admissions office.
The Admissions office at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is dedicated to assisting you and your family through every step of the college selection process. We are interested in getting to know you—your work, your expectations for college, and your ambitions for the future. We seek students who wish to immerse themselves in an intense interdisciplinary environment, and we hope to challenge the very notion of what art means to you and to our society. SAIC provides a sophisticated education that hones your unique abilities as a contemporary thinker and maker in a global community.

Curriculum

Studio	18
CP 1010 Core Studio Practice I (3) CP 1011 Core Studio Practice II (3) CP 1020 Research Studio I (3) CP 1022 Research Studio II (3) Studio electives (6)
Art History, Theory, and Criticism	51
Foundations ARTHI 1001 Introduction to Art History: Ancient to Modern (3) ARTHI 1002+ Any Introduction to Art History: Modern and Contemporary (3) Research, Theory, and Methods SOPHSEM 2900 Sophomore Seminar in Art History (3) PROFPRAC 3900 Art History Junior Proseminar * (3) ARTHI 4899 Art History Research Methods I: Thesis Methodology Seminar (3) CAPSTONE 4900 Art History Research Methods II: Thesis Writing Seminar (3) Completion of written thesis Area Pathways * Two complete 9 credit hour (3 courses) sequences from three possible areas of focus: 1. Asia 2. Europe and America 3. Southern Continents (Africa and Latin America) Area Pathway I ARTHI 2000-level survey (3) ARTHI 3000-level intermediate course (3) ARTHI 4000-level advanced course (3) Pathway II ARTHI 2000-level survey (3) ARTHI 3000-level intermediate course (3) ARTHI 4000-level advanced course (3) Additional courses Art History courses in pre-modern topics, ARTHI 2000-4000 level* (6) Intermediate or Advanced Courses, ARTHI 3000-4000 level (9) PROFPRAC and CAPSTONE are now required for new incoming students beginning in the 2015-16 academic year. * A list of courses that fulfill this requirement is supplied by the Department. Each semester, the Department offers two smaller seminar-style courses focused on the application of research methods. These can be in any topic, but professors focus on the practice of research and writing with students in this smaller setting. BA in Art History students must take at least one of these courses in their Junior year, which will be designated on the course schedule as ARTHI 3900/PROFPRAC 3900. Courses fulfilling the Junior Proseminar requirement cannot also be used to fulfill the Area Pathways requirements. Students may, however, take more than one Junior Proseminar in their time at SAIC, and any additional proseminars may be used to fulfill other degree requirements.
Liberal Arts	39
ENGLISH 1001 First Year Seminar I (3) ENGLISH 1005 First Year Seminar II (3) Humanities (6) World History (6) Social Science (6) Natural Science (6) Foreign Language (6) Liberal Arts Electives (3)
General Electives	12
Advanced elective courses (2000–4000 level), any department In addition to courses in studio, Liberal Arts, of Art History, other opportunities such as internships taken through SAIC's Cooperative Education may count as electives.
Other Requirements BA in Art History students must complete at least 3 credit hours in a class designated as “off-campus study.” These credits can also fulfill any of the requirements listed above and be from any of the divisions (Art History, studio, Liberal Arts, or general electives).
Total Credit Hours	120

Minimum Residency Requirement for Transfer Students

The minimum number of credits required in residence at SAIC is 66 of the total 120 credit hours. Of those 66 required residence credits, transfer students must take, at minimum, the following at SAIC.

Art History

Two Area Pathways (18)
ARTHI Junior Proseminar (3)
Senior Thesis Course Sequence (ARTHI 4899 and CAPSTONE 4900) (6)
Intermediate or Advanced Courses, 3000-4000 level (12)

Studio

Studio Electives (3)

Bachelor of Fine Arts with Art History Thesis

The Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism newly offers SAIC BFA students the option to supplement their studio curriculum with an Art History Thesis. This BFA with Art History Thesis (BFAAHT) is not a distinct degree, but a variant of the BFA degree that students can opt into, enabling their immersion in the faculty and resources of the Art History Department's programs, including the well-known Master of Arts in Modern and Contemporary Art History (MAAH) and Dual-Degree Graduate Program in addition to our existing Bachelor of Arts in Art History (BAAH). BFAAHT students can expect to receive specialized, individual attention in intensive Art History seminars as they develop original thesis projects exploring questions and topics of their own devising. In their senior year, BFAAHT students will take the year-long Art History Senior Thesis seminar that culminates in the Undergraduate Art History Thesis Symposium.

Students who are interested in the BFA: Studio Art with Art History (AH) Thesis should complete the steps outlined below, ideally by the end of the spring semester of their freshman year or in fall semester of their sophomore year:
Step 1: Student confirms with an Academic Advisor that they have at least 12 credits of Art History and/or General Electives remaining to use for the thesis sequence.
Step 2: Student meets with the Art History, Theory, and Criticism Undergraduate Program Director by the end of their freshmen year or beginning of sophomore year.
Step 3: Student applies to the BFA AH Thesis Program by submitting to the AH Undergrad Program Director: 1) their SAIC transcript showing at least 12 credits of Art History and/General Electives remaining; 2) a writing sample that shows the student’s research, writing, and citation ability; and 3) a brief description (1 page) of the student’s proposed thesis topic.
Step 4: If the student is accepted into the program, they should enroll in:
ARTHI 2900 Sophomore Seminar in their sophomore year (3 credit hours)
ARTHI 3900 Junior Proseminar in their junior year (3 credit hours)
CAPSTONE 4899 AH Undergraduate Thesis Seminar I in fall of their senior year; as well as 4900 AH Undergraduate Thesis Seminar II in spring of their senior year (6 credit hours)
Step 5: Completion of thesis must be approved by both the Thesis II instructor and the AH Undergraduate Coordinator. Students are required to make a formal presentation and participate in the Undergraduate Art History Thesis Symposium in the senior year.

Curriculum

Research, Theory, and Methods: 12

SOPHSEM 2900 Sophomore Seminar in Art History (3)
PROFPRAC 3900 Art History Junior Proseminar* (3)
ARTHI 4899 Art History Research Methods 1: Thesis Methodology Seminar (3)
CAPSTONE 4900 Art History Research Methods II: Thesis Writing Seminar (3)
Completion of Written Thesis

Course Listing

Title	Catalog	Instructor	Schedule
World Cultures and Civilizations: Prehistory to the Nineteenth Century	1001 (002)	Artie Foster	Wed 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
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 1096	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 302
World Cultures and Civilizations: Prehistory to the Nineteenth Century	1001 (003)		Mon 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
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 1097	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 302
World Cultures and Civilizations: Prehistory to the Nineteenth Century	1001 (004)	Tamar Kharatishvili	Fri 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
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 1098	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 302
World Cultures and Civilizations: Prehistory to the Nineteenth Century	1001 (005)	Joana Konova	Tues 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
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 1100	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 302
World Cultures and Civilizations: Prehistory to the Nineteenth Century	1001 (006)	Daniel Merkle	Thurs 6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person
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 1101	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 302
World Cultures and Civilizations: Prehistory to the Nineteenth Century	1001 (007)	Rhoda Rosen	Tues 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
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 1125	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 1608
World Cultures and Civilizations: Prehistory to the Nineteenth Century	1001 (008)	Rhoda Rosen	Tues 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
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 2320	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 1608
World Cultures and Civilizations: Prehistory to the Nineteenth Century	1001 (009)	Rhoda Rosen	Tues 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
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 2321	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 1608
World Cultures and Civilizations: Prehistory to the Nineteenth Century	1001 (010)		Thurs 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
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 2446	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 1608
Adv Hist World Art:Prehst-1850	1001 (01S)	James Elkins	Tues 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
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 1095	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 302
Survey of Modern to Contemporary Art and Architecture	1002 (001)		Thurs 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
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 1102	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 302
Survey of Modern to Contemporary Art and Architecture	1002 (002)	Mik Czerwinski	Mon 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
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 1103	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 302
Survey of Modern to Contemporary Art and Architecture	1002 (003)	Tamar Kharatishvili	Fri 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
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 1104	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 302
Survey of Modern to Contemporary Art and Architecture	1002 (004)	Mik Czerwinski	Tues 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
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 1105	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 302
Survey of Modern to Contemporary Art and Architecture	1002 (005)		Wed 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
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 2447	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 302
Survey of Design History: Between Object and Ephemera	1015 (001)	Lara Allison	Thurs 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
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 1133	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 302
Modern and Contemporary Moving Image	1016 (001)	Jason Nebergall	Wed 6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person
Description In this course, students will learn the basics of film language, cover the evolution of various stylistic and ideological trends throughout the medium, and gain a core understanding of how to critically analyze film and other media forms from formal, historical, and cultural theoretical perspectives. While the specific films screened may vary, course screenings and readings generally cover the development of Hollywood and studio-based filmmaking practices, diasporic and exilic models of filmmaking, European New Waves, televisual practices of media making, and topics in new media. Students will complete quizzes and a comprehensive final exam to demonstrate their understanding of course terminology, concepts, and themes, as well as a number of short written analyses to exhibit their competency and skill in constructing original scholarly argumentation.	Class Number 1106	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 1608
Discussion Section for Advanced Survey of World Art Prehistory to 1850	1101 (01S)		Tues 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM In Person
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 1121	Credits 0	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 206
Discussion Section for Advanced Survey of World Art Prehistory to 1850	1101 (02S)		Thurs 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM In Person
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 1122	Credits 0	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 206
Discussion Section for Advanced Survey of World Art Prehistory to 1850	1101 (03S)		Fri 9:45 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
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 2330	Credits 0	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location 280 Building Rm 120
Discussion Section for Advanced Survey of World Art Prehistory to 1850	1101 (04S)		Wed 9:45 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
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 2331	Credits 0	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 206
Issues in Visual Critical Studies	2001 (001)	Joshua Rios	Tues 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
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 1107	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Theory Location Lakeview - 203
Issues in Visual Critical Studies	2001 (002)	Patrick Durgin	Mon 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
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 1142	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Theory Location Lakeview - 203
Surveying the Shadows	2014 (001)	Simon Anderson	Thurs 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
Description Since the Exposition des arts incoherents in 1882, the orthodox story of art has been pre-figured, parodied, or echoed by ideas and activities which are less well-known but nevertheless informative about the state of the arts through modernism to today. Including Hydropaths, `pataphysicians and members of groups called Lettrisme or Neoism, propagating ideas ranging from transmental to pandrogenic, this course identifies and contextualizes some of the salient adventures of those who ignore convention to create and play before the vanguard and behind the canon. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 2258	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 707
20,000 Years of Clay	2022 (001)	Emily Schroeder Willis	Wed 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
Description This course surveys the history and production of clay and ceramics, from one of the earliest ceramic objects known, dating back some 20,000 years, to the present use of clay in contemporary art, design and craft. The course will take us through every continent and be looking at the use of ceramic in different cultures at different times though history. Attention will be given to the role clay and ceramic plays in our human development both as ritualistic, artistic and functional handmade and mass-produced objects. From ceramic in an ancient caves to NASA and the use of ceramic in space and everything in between. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 1187	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location 280 Building Rm 120
Introduction to African American Art	2065 (001)	Melanie Herzog	Fri 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
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 1181	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Class, Race, Ethnicity, Economic Inequality & Class Location MacLean 620
Beautiful Books: Architectural Prints, Drawings, and Paintings	2146 (001)	Shiben Banerji	Thurs 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description This seminar examines inter-related practices of bookmaking, drawing, painting, and printmaking from Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Renaissance Venice, Safavid Isfahan, Mughal Delhi, Ottoman Jerusalem, colonial Ireland, Baroque Rome, Qing Wutaishan, and Tokugawa Edo. We scrutinize octavos, folios, codices, and albums. We look at how graphite, ink, watercolor, and engraving tools were used to embellish images, and alter the boundaries separating prints, drawings, and paintings. Writing assignments emphasize close looking, close reading, and careful revision. Class discussions focus on representations of architecture, paying particular attention to innovations in visual form and their cultural and political meanings. Students are expected to write and revise short essays responding to texts and images produced by architects. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 2278	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Books and Publishing Location Lakeview - 203
History Of Architecture & Design I	2191 (001)	Joseph Socki	Tues 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
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 1108	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 202
Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art	2206 (001)	Deanna Ledezma	Mon 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
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 1134	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 707
Beyond Oriental: 20th Century Asian American Art	2385 (001)	Larry Lee	Thurs 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
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 1162	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Class, Race, Ethnicity Location MacLean 920
History of Korean Art	2460 (001)	Yeonsoo Chee	Fri 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
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 1164	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 608
Origins of Modern Architecture	2500 (001)	Timothy Wittman	Tues 6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person
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 1109	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 707
History of Dress	2566 (001)	Sandra Adams	Thurs 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
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 1110	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Costume Design Location Lakeview - 203
Film Analysis	2583 (001)	Jason Nebergall	Wed 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
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 2280	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 1307
Propaganda&Counterculture-Cinema from Eur to Asia	2588 (001)	Mechtild Widrich, Jennifer Dorothy Lee	Tues 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM In Person
Description This seminar is part of the 'Global Cinema Histories' film series at the Gene Siskel Film Centre, where we will meet to watch films and discuss them. The term propaganda, originally used for religious purposes to “propagate” faith, has historically been seen as a neutral or even positive tool to disseminate information, and is characterized by forceful messages and aesthetics. For both politicians and activists, propaganda has practical uses. More often than not, today the term elicits strong responses of wariness and dubious denial. The focus of this course is on the filmic output related to propaganda in the 20th and 21st centuries, when new technologies and the use of reproductive media met mass movements and big political shifts. We will cover Italian Fascism and German National Socialism’s “aestheticization of politics”, as Walter Benjamin described it. We will address Eastern European Socialist Aesthetics, revolutionary cinema in China and Hong Kong, the White Terror years in Taiwan, the pop culture of a divided Korea, and the revolutions in South America. We will explore the relationship of propaganda to colonialism, imperialism, and globalization. We will consider official politics, grassroots movements, and the blurred lines distinguishing these realms. Writing short reflections and reviews, some reading, and lots of time for discussion will structure the course. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 2272	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Theory Location Gene Siskel Film Center 203
Propaganda&Counterculture-Cinema from Eur to Asia	2588 (001)	Mechtild Widrich, Jennifer Dorothy Lee	Tues 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM In Person
Description This seminar is part of the 'Global Cinema Histories' film series at the Gene Siskel Film Centre, where we will meet to watch films and discuss them. The term propaganda, originally used for religious purposes to “propagate” faith, has historically been seen as a neutral or even positive tool to disseminate information, and is characterized by forceful messages and aesthetics. For both politicians and activists, propaganda has practical uses. More often than not, today the term elicits strong responses of wariness and dubious denial. The focus of this course is on the filmic output related to propaganda in the 20th and 21st centuries, when new technologies and the use of reproductive media met mass movements and big political shifts. We will cover Italian Fascism and German National Socialism’s “aestheticization of politics”, as Walter Benjamin described it. We will address Eastern European Socialist Aesthetics, revolutionary cinema in China and Hong Kong, the White Terror years in Taiwan, the pop culture of a divided Korea, and the revolutions in South America. We will explore the relationship of propaganda to colonialism, imperialism, and globalization. We will consider official politics, grassroots movements, and the blurred lines distinguishing these realms. Writing short reflections and reviews, some reading, and lots of time for discussion will structure the course. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 2272	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Theory Location Gene Siskel Film Center 203
19th Century Photography	2621 (001)	Alice Maggie Hazard	Tues 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
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 1128	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 202
20th Century Photography	2622 (001)	Giovanni Aloi	Tues 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
Description In 1839 a new means of visual representation was announced to a startled world: photography. Although the medium was immediately and enthusiastically embraced by the public at large, photographers spent decades experimenting with techniques and debating the representational nature of this new invention. This course focuses on the more recent history of this revolutionary medium. From the technological advancements that characterized the rise of photography in the commercial world during the 20th century, and the acknowledgement of photography as an artistic medium in its own right, to the digital revolution and its social media applications, we will consider the technological, economic, political, and artistic histories of photography through selected works of art and seminal critical texts. This course considers photography in a global context. We focus on seminal texts and images in order to explore ethical, commercial, artistic, and political issues that make photography essentially important to our contemporary visual culture. The course explores broad range of photographic practices, techniques, and approaches including the work of Hannah Hoch, Martha Rosler, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Dawoud Bey, Gordon Parks, Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, William Eggleston, Shirin Neshat, Wolfgang Tillmans and many more. We regularly visit the collections of AIC and MCoP to enrich our class discussions with private print viewings and exhibition critiques. Students are expected to share an image of their choice in response to the assigned weekly reading. These images are used in class discussion. There also is a final paper, a final presentation, and an in-class test. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 2334	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location 280 Building Rm 120
History Of Sonic Art	2660 (001)	Seth Kim-Cohen	Wed 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
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 1192	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 202
Introduction to Video Art	2670 (001)		Mon 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
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 1129	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Digital Communication Location MacLean 1307
History of Modern Graphic Design	2730 (002)	Michael Golec	Wed 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description This general survey of graphic design between the 19th and 20th centuries maps the relationships between graphic design and various commercial and cultural institutions under the broad category of the modern. Students study the issues and problems that faced designers, their clients, and their audiences, in the negotiation of commercial and social changes. Through lectures, readings, discussions, and museum visits, the course examines the cultural, social, economic, political, industrial, and technological forces that have influenced the history of graphic design. Course work includes object analysis assignments, research paper, and mid-term and final exams. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 1157	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Graphic Design Location Lakeview - 1608
Interwar Art: Notions of Beauty	2865 (001)	Mark Krisco	Thurs 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
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 2261	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 1608
Medieval Secular Arts	3131 (001)	Nancy Feldman	Wed 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
Description This course examines secular art of Europe and the Mediterranean cultures. The traditions of epic story telling, fabliaux writings, popular and courtly narratives and political commentary are examined by looking at medieval tapestries, ceramic tiles, glass, wood sculpture, woven and embroidered textiles, enamels, ivories, metalwork, wall paintings, architecture and articles of dress. Students look at how the world of visual satire invades the sacred space of church and religious manuscripts and how the narrative image, public and private, religious and profane acts as text in a time before the printed book. The course includes two field trips to local museums. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 2262	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 1608
War: Art and Photography in the 20th Century	3133 (001)	Conor Lauesen	Fri 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
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 1169	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Art/Design and Politics, Class, Race, Ethnicity, Public Space, Site, Landscape Location MacLean 620
The Italian Renaissance	3150 (001)	Joana Konova	Wed 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
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 1160	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 920
History of Manga	3173 (001)	Ryan Holmberg	Mon 6:45 PM - 9:30 PM All Online
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 1145	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Books and Publishing, Comics and Graphic Novels, Illustration Location Online
Abstract Art	3302 (001)	Conor Lauesen	Thurs 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
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 1170	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 608
Modern and Contemporary Japanese Prints	3311 (001)	Mami Hatayama	Fri 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
Description This course surveys the history of Japanese prints of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Beginning from the last phase of the ukiyo-e woodblock prints, we will examine the two major art movements, shin hanga and sosaku hanga, and also some contemporary prints. The variety of expressions were cultivated by artists reviving and renewing traditional prints, reflecting social cultural changes, individual interests and styles, as well as by refining printing techniques. Alongside gaining understanding of historical developments, the course considers the wide array of ideas on what the print medium can characteristically express. The works we will examine range from the traditional print subjects such as landscapes or figures to completely abstract subjects such as emotions. Examples of the artists who might be studied include Hashiguchi Goyo, Ito Shinsui, Kawase Hasui, Kasamatsu Shiro, Yoshida Hiroshi, Yamamoto Kanae, Onchi Koshiro, Kawakami Sumio, Azechi Umetaro, Munakata Shiko, Hamaguchi Yozo, Saito Kiyoshi, Komai Tetsuro, Ikeda Masuo, and many others. Individuals, some artists' groups, and art magazines that were important to the development of the print history will be reviewed. There will be visits to the AIC to view the actual print examples of the artists we will study in the classes. Course work will vary but typically includes weekly reading, two writing assignments, presentation, and one exam. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 2277	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 920
American Art: 1913-1945	3341 (001)	Conor Lauesen	Mon 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
Description Beginning with the Armory Show in 1913, this course examines the arts in America from the time of the Stieglitz circle's modernist views through the various strains of Regionalism leading up to the emergence of the first generation of Abstract Expressionists in the early 1940s. The artistic developments are considered in the context of the complex social and political issues of the period. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 1159	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 205
Modern and Contemporary Native American Art	3382 (001)	Risa Puleo	Mon 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
Description In this course, we will explore the ways in which the idea of persistence might be said to characterize modern and contemporary Native American and Indigenous arts practices--including performance, film, video, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and photography, among others. The artists we will examine employ a range of tactics to engage social, cultural, economic, and political relationships as they occupy and articulate Indigenous worldviews and systems of knowledge that are often incommensurable with Settler structures and ideologies. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 1154	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Class, Race, Ethnicity, Economic Inequality & Class Location Lakeview - 203
African-American Art: A History of Exhibitions	3427 (001)	Romi N Crawford	Tues 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description This course explores African American art through a study of significant museum and gallery shows from the 1920s to the present. The course offers a survey of African American art through an examination of the institutions and also the conceptual contexts (or ideological framings) that have supported its presentation over the past 90 years. Exhibits such as 'Harlem on My Mind'; 'Freestyle'; 'Frequency'; 'Only Skin Deep'; and 'Let Your Motto Be Resistance,' among others, provide a context through culture. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 2288	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Class, Race, Ethnicity Location MacLean 920
Design Between Wars: 1920-1940	3543 (001)	Lara Allison	Fri 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description This course surveys decorative and industrial arts and design in Europe and America from 1920 to 1949, in cities including Paris, London, Berlin, Munich, Prague, Budapest, Milan, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Styles ranging from Art Deco to Art Moderne are covered, with special focus on the impact of the Bauhaus and Cranbrook, as well as on the contributions of Mies van der Rohe, Gropius, Saarinen, Wright, and Loewy, et al. Textiles, furniture, ceramics, glass, interiors, and automobiles are among the topics discussed. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 1158	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 707
American Design Culture in the 20th Century	3551 (001)	Mik Czerwinski	Fri 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description The U.S. gained status as a significant site of design culture in the 20th century due to factors including its industrial strength, an influx of immigrants bringing global influences, and its export of consumer culture and propaganda during and after the Cold War. This course covers key developments of an American design culture, with an emphasis on using local collections of architecture, furniture, products, graphic design, and fashion. Design movements and topics we will cover include: industrialization and the survival of craft (Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Chicago's Columbian Exposition); the home as a site for technology and style (Christine Frederick, Le Corbusier, Bauhaus Dessau/Bauhaus Chicago); gender and race as represented in design (Bronzeville, Case Study Houses); activism within design and changing senses of design?s role in society (Buckminster Fuller, Victor Papanek, Robert Venturi/Denise Scott Brown). Assignments include research, writing, and class presentations on an object of design history in a Chicago collection (such as the Art Institute, Flaxman Special Collections, Fashion Resource Center, or a local significant building), and brief reading responses. The final project asks, ?what is 21st Century American Design Culture?? and asks students to compare a work from the turn of the millennium to a comparable object of today. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 1144	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 920
History & Technique of The Old Masters' Drawings	3554 (001)	Mark Krisco	Thurs 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
Description This class surveys the development of draftsmanship as the key element of workshop practice. This class exploring in-depth all the major drawing materials and their formulation; all of which are still used today. This class then looks at which major artists chose each of these media as an example to illuminate how students should also search for the proper drawing materials to express their own individual visions. Aspects of drawing such as history of caricature and self portrayal are also analyzed. Major artists are explored from post medieval age i.e. Jan Van Eyck to Renaissance masters such as Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael especially in regards to drawing materials, techniques and anatomy. Contemporary artists as diverse as David Hockney, and Jim Dine, William Kentridge are also examined through documentary films and discussed in relation to former art techniques. This class making the student aware of the ongoing impulse of mankind to draw and yet also makes the student highly aware how the discipline of drawing is key to a whole range of artists from fine artists, to architects to animators. There are weekly reading fromm a book on Old Master Drawings mostly in regards to materials, techniques and anatomy. But equally are many trips to the Art Institute museum to establish through discussions the learning of connoisseurship. Two papers: a mid-term and a final are written about specific drawing of a specific artist of the student's choice; one of which must be a class presentation. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 1111	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 112
Documentary: Photo/Film/Video	3598 (001)	Thomas Comerford	Fri 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description The documentary, once regarded a vehicle for the heroic confrontation of artist and society, has been questioned in recent years. This course studies readings and selected documentaries that illustrate certain key issues: 1) truth claims: Does the documentary seek to validate its claim to truth or does it problematize such claims? 2) the authority of the documentaries: By what right do the makers speak for the subject of the documentary? How are subjects allowed or made to speak for themselves? How is the authority of the maker of documentaries undercut? and, 3) construction of the audience: Do the documentaries or their subjects seek to address or ignore the beholder/audience? How does it try to move its audience to action or participation? Recent feature-length works have included Yance Ford's 'Strong Island'; Kirsten Johnson's 'Cameraperson'; and works by Harvard University's Sensory-Ethnography Lab. Short works have included videos, photos and installations by Sky Hopinka, Beatriz Santiago-Mu?oz, Hito Steyerl, Kevin Lee, Shengze Tzu, Laura Huertas-Millan, Oli Rodriguez and Martine Syms. Student read large portions of Bill Nichols' 'Introduction to Documentary' in addition to a number of interviews with the artists to prepare for each class meeting. In addition to completing preparatory readings and participating in discussions during classtime, students will be required to complete 3 essay-form take-home exams, each 3-5 pages in length, in response to prompts about the course materials. Students may also be asked to make revisions on the exams. Some students may get approval to complete a 10-12 page research paper in lieu of exams 2 and 3. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 2151	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 1307
Seminar:Manifestations- Public or Private	3805 (001)	Simon Anderson	Wed 6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person
Description What is the value of a manifesto? This course examines the difference between published proclamations by artists and the work they produce. Using contemporary and current criticism, the course will scrutinize, compare, and contrast a limited number of texts, objects, and activities within and since the Modern era. Students will not only learn more of the perceived-or misperceived-aims of given artists or movements, they will also learn more about the continuing conversation between theory and practice. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 2266	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 707
Foreigners Everywhere: The Aesthetics of Migration	3823 (001)	Tamar Kharatishvili	Tues 6:45 PM - 9:30 PM In Person
Description In 2015, migration leapt into the headlines, becoming a topic of contemporary discussion like never before. From the plight of refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean into Western Europe to 'illegal immigration' as a campaign issue in the last U.S. elections, the world's attention is focused on people on the move, often in quite desperate situations. Yet migration has been with us for a long time-- some would say, for much of human history-- and it has not always been linked to crisis. Migrants have included intellectuals who have exported ideas from country to country, as well as today's nomadic artists who journey around the world to exhibit and develop their practices. Starting from the era of World War II, this course investigates connections between artistic practice and migration over time, integrating historical case studies with critical theory to evaluate how contemporary art might continue to engage this topic in the 21st century. We will consider and differentiate different types of subjects on the move, among them migrant, nomad, emigre, exile, refugee, tourist, expatriate, and guest worker, and consider the implicit hierarchies that can subject them to drastically different institutional responses. At the center of our discussions will be questions of the personal and the affective. How might we responsibly address migration as contemporary subject-matter, and how might our own migration stories be made relevant for others? Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 1176	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Class, Race, Ethnicity, Politics and Activisms Location MacLean 920
Junior Proseminar: Topics in Art History Methods	3900 (001)	Margaret MacNamidhe	Thurs 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description These courses use case studies and themes as a context for examining the role of methodology and the practice of writing in the history of art. The topics of these writing-intensive seminar vary according to the instructor. These courses fulfill the Junior Proseminar requirement for the Bachelor of Arts in Art History. Prerequisites Prerequisite: 2900 course	Class Number 1156	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 617
Asian Identity in Film	3982 (001)	Tatsu Aoki	Tues 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
Description This course looks at America's perceptions of Asians through their portrayal in American mainstream media in contrast to those made in Asia by Asian filmmakers. By comparing films made by Asians and those produced by the American mainstream, we find major differences in their perspectives and approaches. In doing this, we investigate issues of representation and misrepresentation in mass culture stereotypes of Asians to show how they have been rooted in confusions surrounding cultural differences between Asians and Asian Americans. The course presents Hollywood films, mainstream Asian films, as well as independent works from both the Asian and Asian American communities. Weekly readings and short journal. One Midterm and One final Paper Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement	Class Number 1120	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Class, Race, Ethnicity Location MacLean 1307
Nation and Narration : Modern and Contemporary Indian Art	4017 (001)	Arshiya Lokhandwala	Tues 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM All Online
Description This survey class of Modern and Contemporary Indian art from the 20th century to date examines the rich and complex art practices which emerged from pre-independent India to its transition as an independent nation in 1947. We will discuss the works of the most significant Indian artists and unpack the concepts of tradition/ modern, nationalism/internationalism and, globalization, to investigate the same through the writings of eminent postcolonial scholars such as Geeta Kapur, Homi Bhabha, Partha Mitter, Gayatri Spivak, and Saloni Mathur to name a few. The course gives a critical insight into India as a nation, the challenges it faces including the socio-political climate that is reflected in the artist's work and practices that make Indian art distinct. The class examines Indian art from the early 20th century including the works of Raja Ravi Varma and Amrita Sher-Gil to the currently contemporary emerging avant-garde art practices today. This includes the work of the Progressive Artist Group; such as Maqbool Fida Husain, Syed Haider Raza, and Francis Newton Souza amongst others, to other prominent artists such as K. G. Subramanyan and Bhupen Khakhar. We will examine the first wave of the feminist artist's as Nalini Malani, Nilima Sheikh, Arpita Singh, and Madhvi Parikh, moving to the more contemporary art practices such as Subodh Gupta, Anita Dube, Bharti Kher, Jitish Kallat, Nikhil Chopra, Mithu Sen, and Shilpa Gupta to name a few. The course work will include weekly readings a mid- term paper and a final paper. Class participation and discussion is encouraged. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1141	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Art/Design and Politics, Exhibition and Curatorial Studies, Museum Studies Location Online
Alt-Manga: Experimental and Literary Comics in Japan	4025 (001)	Ryan Holmberg	Tues 6:45 PM - 9:30 PM All Online
Description This course will offer a focused exploration of 'alternative manga,' looking at Japanese comic book artists working outside the mainstream publishing industry in Japan. Topics to be discussed include crossovers between contemporary art and manga, wordless and audiovisual experiments, the advent of 'literariness' in manga, and comics grappling with contentious social and political issues. Comparisons with underground and art comics outside of Japan will also be explored. Among the major artists to be considered in this course are Tatsumi Yoshihiro, Tsuge Yoshiharu, Hayashi Seiichi, Tsurita Kuniko, Maruo Suehiro, and Yokoyama Yuichi. Major works of comics theory will also be assigned. Students will be required to complete weekly readings, comprising manga and historical and theoretical essays, all of which will be in English. In addition to a final research project, regular seminar presentations about course readings will also be required. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1163	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Comics and Graphic Novels Location Online
Ars Domestica: Clothing Cooking Caring	4029 (001)	Bess Williamson, Caroline Marie Bellios	Mon 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
Description This class plots domestic histories of design in pursuit of inclusive design and community. Readings, writings, and collective experiments in sewing, cooking, organizing, and caregiving explore the pleasures and constraints of domestic life; adaptation of commercial designs and DIY kits; and plotting design justice futures. Making and writing options are introduced throughout the course and are flexible to students of all skill levels. This course combines making with research to shape our field of study. Historical materials include sewing patterns, feminist housekeeping critiques, and Flaxman Library’s extensive collection of cookbooks. Making projects (no skills/experience required) focus on DIY learning, learning through verbal and visual cues rather than written ones, and collective “stitch-n-bitch” models. Readings include theories of the family and queer domesticity; disability and illness as a part of home design and adaptation; and feminist and anti-racist critiques of household labor and proposals for liberatory alternatives. All students in this class will make things, engage with a variety of writing modes, and combine traditional research methods with the knowledge gained through making. Reading responses and papers will accompany their practice-based material culture study. Final projects will include a choice of formats incorporating historical research. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1153	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 202
Ars Domestica: Clothing Cooking Caring	4029 (001)	Bess Williamson, Caroline Marie Bellios	Mon 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
Description This class plots domestic histories of design in pursuit of inclusive design and community. Readings, writings, and collective experiments in sewing, cooking, organizing, and caregiving explore the pleasures and constraints of domestic life; adaptation of commercial designs and DIY kits; and plotting design justice futures. Making and writing options are introduced throughout the course and are flexible to students of all skill levels. This course combines making with research to shape our field of study. Historical materials include sewing patterns, feminist housekeeping critiques, and Flaxman Library’s extensive collection of cookbooks. Making projects (no skills/experience required) focus on DIY learning, learning through verbal and visual cues rather than written ones, and collective “stitch-n-bitch” models. Readings include theories of the family and queer domesticity; disability and illness as a part of home design and adaptation; and feminist and anti-racist critiques of household labor and proposals for liberatory alternatives. All students in this class will make things, engage with a variety of writing modes, and combine traditional research methods with the knowledge gained through making. Reading responses and papers will accompany their practice-based material culture study. Final projects will include a choice of formats incorporating historical research. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1153	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 202
Terrorists In the Library: Experimental Research in Contemporary Art	4032 (001)	Ruslana Lichtzier	Tues 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
Description Answering Duchamp’s explosive question, “[how] can one make works that are not ‘of art’?' this class will center on experimental, research-driven contemporary art practices that work against the world as it is now. We will focus on works that manage (albeit mostly partially) to escape the global capitalist structures of meaning-making while pointing towards the horizons of liberation. De-centering the division between the first and third world, the class will analyze contemporary artistic practices that insist on the making of utopias across the globe. The class will examine a wide array of works and practices, such as Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Forensic Architecture, Jumana Manna, Jesse Chun, Joseph Grigely, Devin Mays, Grupa Spomenik, Laura Henno, Lydia Ourahmane, and others. The practice of writing and constructing 'speculative' art history will be examined via scholars such as Hannah Feldman, Kristine Khouri, and Krista Thompson. Experimental curatorial practices will include those of Marcel Duchamp, Lucy Lippard, The Guerrilla Art Action Group (GAAG), Strike MOMA, and others. Course work will vary but will include weekly reading responses and a final research-based project which may take the form of an art, curatorial, performance, or archival project, or a research paper. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1161	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Art/Design and Politics, Community & Social Engagement, Exhibition and Curatorial Studies Location MacLean 920
Postmodern Design: From Ambivalence to Permissiveness	4040 (001)	Michael Golec	Thurs 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description This course will focus on what has been provocatively defined as the 'postmodern condition,' an the acknowledgment of uncertainties arising from modernity's internal complexities and contradictions. Ranging between antagonism and accommodation, postmodern design and theory (roughly between 1970s and 1990s) has sought to interrogate modernity and its effects. This course seeks to better understand postmodern discourses as they relate to design, broadly understood, by asking: To what extent is modernity’s ongoing project thwarted by key themes such as permissiveness and ambivalence? Is postmodern design best understood as enacting a break with modernism and its limiting orthodoxies? And/or, can postmodern design be understood as providing object lessons for an appreciation of complex relationships? Through readings and discussions, this course will address, but is not limited to, such themes as ambivalence (or suspended judgement), anaesthetic, anti-formalism, consumption regimes, distraction, endings, hyperreality, genealogies, kitsch, lateness, linguistic turns, ornament, pastiche, permissiveness, symbolism, symptom. Some of the theorists and designers we will study include, but are not limited to, Reyner Banham, Roland Barthes, Jean Baudrillard, Martine Bedin, Denise Scott Brown, Cheryl Buckley, Michel de Certeau, Mike Davis, Enrique Dussel, Luce Irigaray, Frederick Jameson, Shiro Kuramata, Francois Lyotard, Katherine McCoy, Edward Said, Peter Shire, Ettore Sottsass, Jan van Toorn, and Cornell West. Course work will require students to participate in class discussion, and submit reading outlines and reading responses. Additionally, a final research presentation and paper will complete the course requirements. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 2275	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Graphic Design, Product Design Location MacLean 920
Entangled Bodies and Media Ecologies	4042 (001)	Lisa M Zaher	Tues 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM All Online
Description This course explores new possibilities for understanding the materiality and agency of media: its bodiliness, liveness, and performative interactions in/with space and time. Extending our investigation to the lived body, the course will embrace new corporealities, unconfined by normative limits of form, language, or social construct. We will investigate performative utterances and gestures through their technological recordings and playback to account for how various technologies convert/convey energy, power, breath, thought and action. Drawing upon texts in performance, dance, music, cinema and media studies, philosophy and science, with an emphasis on readings in phenomenology and new materialism, we will encounter big questions about our Being, in bodies, with others, in spaces and places, along with media ontologies and their shared entanglements with planetary forces and elements. Readings will include texts by Lucretius, N. Katherine Hayles, Mark Hansen, Gilbert Simondon, Emmanuel Levinas, Martin Heidegger, José Gil, Vivian Sobchack, Walter Benjamin, Béla Balázs, Giuliana Bruno, Ara Osterweil, Laura Marks, Delinda Collier, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Tim Ingold, Donna Haraway, Karen Barad, Erin Manning, Brian Massumi, Michael Taussig, Luce Irigaray, Fred Moten, Gernot Böhme, Philip Auslander, and Erika Fischer-Lichte, among others. The course will include works by Eadweard Muybridge, Etienne-Jules Marey, Loie Fuller, Maya Deren, Yvonne Rainer, Trisha Brown, Merce Cunningham, OpenEndedGroup, Nam June Paik, John Cage, Alvin Lucier, Gordon Mumma, Halim El-Dabh, Onyx Ashanti, Patrick Clancy, Hollis Frampton, Anthony McCall, Chris Welsby, Ana Mendieta, David Rodowick, Leighton Pierce, Wu Tsang/boychild, Vito Acconci, Bruce Nauman, William Kentridge, Ethan Osman, Steina and Woody Vasulka, Lynn Marie Kirby, Dawn Roe, Liz Deschenes, and Hiroshi Sugimoto, Carolee Schneemann, Aria Dean, and many more! Course work will include weekly reading responses that may be experimental in nature, plus a final research paper including an abstract and annotated bibliography. Students will present their research to the class at the end of the semester.	Class Number 2274	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Gender and Sexuality, Digital Imaging, Art and Science Location Online
Decolonizing the 19th Century	4111 (001)	Margaret MacNamidhe	Fri 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description This course will examine some of the ways in which the forces of late imperialism justified their campaigns of subjugation and the multi-layered ways in which those subjugated came to resist colonial rule. We will consider changes across the 19th century, including those in central Africa (Congo; especially the development of minkisi), Cameroon (particularly the distinctive architecture of Bamun), Ivory Coast (paying special attention to the sculptor Kuakudili) before moving onto Oceania (e.g., New Guinea, Australia, Tahiti), east and south-east Asia, and the Americas (among the highlights here are the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Kiowa books of ledger drawings). The arts of 19th-century Europe will not be neglected, but they will be seen through the lens of the distortions and refractions that colonialism produced. Each study-intensive week, we will paying close attention to readings that take us from Walter Mignolo to Joaquín Barriendos Rodriguez. Frequent visits to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum with their global collections are a particular feature of this course, and we will make use of the valuable teaching resources offered by other institutions in the Chicago area, including some lesser-known destinations such as the Africa International House and Evanston’s Mitchell Museum of the American Indian. This course privileges the practice of writing assignments and actively supports a multi-phased approach to a final submission by offering students a series of late-semester workshops that takes the research findings of the first part of the semester and translates them into polished and lucid discussions. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 2276	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Class, Race, Ethnicity, Economic Inequality & Class, Public Space, Site, Landscape Location Lakeview - 1608
Art and Technology: 1900 to Now	4152 (001)	Edward Kac	Tues 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM All Online
Description This course examines the impact of new technologies on the aesthetics of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Issues explored in the course include the structure of synthetic pictorial spaces, creating art in a global scale, responding to images of pure light, the aesthetics of motion, behavior in virtual environments and the experience of interactive artworks. In some cases the emphasis is on a particular new medium and the multiple artistic approaches to it; in other cases, the emphasis is on particular artists and their experimental work. Main lecture topics include: Moholy-Nagy's work, early radio and the impact of auditory images, kinetic art, robotic art, telecommunication art, computer art, digital photography, virtual reality, telepresence, holographic art, and bio art Readings include texts by featured artists and historians including Dieter Daniels, Rudolf Frieling, Philip Auslander, as well as original texts by the instructor. Course work will include weekly reading assignments, in-class discussions, a midterm research proposal, a 15-page research paper, and a final presentation. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1135	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Interaction and Participation, Art and Science Location Online
Post-Nature: Art in the Age of the Anthropocene	4181 (001)	Giovanni Aloi	Tues 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description This seminar considers past and present histories of 'visual culture' (a spectrum of representation including painting, photography, film, installation, performance, geological and geographical mapping, data processing, and journalism) which focus on the specific challenges posed by current political, ecological, and cultural crises. What new roles can art play in mapping and critically addressing the interconnectedness of the ever-so-fragile ecologies we inhabit? From the construction of posthuman identities through new and old media to the fragmentation of post-photography, the new reconfigurations of nature and culture, and the urgency posed by climate change and unprecedented diasporas, this seminar focuses on new conceptions of art as a political tool capable of outlining new trajectories in the absence of cultural certainties. The course will focus on the key intersections of art and science from the 1700s through to today considering important philosophical traditions like Cartesianism and Kantian philosophy, thereafter moving on to explore issues of colonialism and decolonization of nature. The course focuses on the work of contemporary artists and scholars who have actively engaged in the definition of the anbthropocene and its new aesthetic models designed to reimagine our relationship with the non-human through new perspectives on gender, race, and interconnectedness. Coursework will involve weekly reading responses in the form of Canvas discussions that will be elaborated in class and a final major project. Readings include: Haraway, D. J. (1984) `Teddy bear patriarchy: Taxidermy in the Garden of Eden, in Social Text, n. 11, Winter, pp.20-64 Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1137	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Community & Social Engagement, Economic Inequality & Class, Art and Science Location MacLean 620
FVNM Sem:Queer Pictures	4225 (001)	John D Neff	Wed 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description This seminar explores questions of cinema and television in relation to the larger issues concerning visual representations and definitions of sexuality and gender. Themes and approaches include theories of spectatorship, in particular, feminist, postcolonial, and queer theories of looking as related to sexuality and gender; stereotypes and social roles; and the interplay between unconscious processes and forms of representation. The course consists of weekly discussions based on screenings of moving image work, as well as critical and theoretical texts that, from a variety of perspectives, address these issues. Some of the scholars and artists we will study include Jose Mu?oz, B. Ruby Rich, Leotine Sagan, Jean Genet, Kenneth Anger, Shu Lea Cheang, Barbara Hammer, Frederic Moffet, Gregg Bordowitz, Cassils, David Getsy, Liz Rosenfeld, Marlon Riggs, Judith Butler, Vaginal Davis, Dee Rees, Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, Cheryl Dunye, Richard Fung, George Kuchar Course work will include in-class discussions, screening/reading responses, a midterm critical response essay, and a final research paper Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1112	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Gender and Sexuality, Theory Location MacLean 1307
The Modern House	4514 (001)	Joseph Socki	Thurs 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
Description This reading-intensive course surveys the development of residential architecture and interiors in Europe and the United States from the middle of the nineteenth century to the onset of Postmodernism. It concentrates on individuals and movements that helped shape the history of modern housing and interior architecture, with a focus on the pioneering work of designers beginning with the British Arts & Crafts Movement and culminating in Mid-Century Modern. Students are introduced to a wide array of primary and secondary sources, and numerous methodological approaches, in order to understand and appreciate the meaning of ?The Modern House.? Through weekly readings this course will introduce students to the ideas of several architects, designers and movements, including the Arts & Crafts Movement?s Wm. Morris and Greene & Greene; the Art Nouveau designs of Horta, Hoffmann and Gaudi; the Prairie School work of Frank Lloyd Wright; the abstract designs of Rietveld and Tatlin; the Bauhaus work of Gropius, Breuer and Mies van der Rohe; Le Corbusier?s l?Esprit Nouveau and International Style designs; Art Deco architecture and design; Alvar Aalto?s architecture in Finland; and the mid-Century work of Eero Saarinen and Charles and Ray Eames. Students write weekly response essays and two take-home exams, and complete a final research paper with annotated bibliography on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1171	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 203
Defining Contemporary Dress: History, Exhibition and Literature	4560 (001)	Gillion Carrara	Fri 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description This course is a chronological inquiry into fashion and dress and their relationship to a legacy of visual arts and literature. Content begins with the life and work of nineteenth-century dressmaker Charles Frederick Worth in Paris, and continues through to the modern radical designers of 1960s Paris. Students should expect to learn about art, decorative arts, literature, and the lives, times and oeuvre of designers. Visits to various libraries are included in the syllabus. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1113	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Costume Design Location MacLean 111
Alternative Animation: 1960-Present	4580 (001)	Christopher Sullivan	Tues 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
Description This class is a survey of alternative animation, primarily from the United States, Canada and Europe, with some work from Asia. We look at this work in relationship to experimental work in film, video, performance and installation, Painting. This course also discusses the political landscape that made animation an important political tool, particularly for eastern Europe . The main Goal of The class is to introduce you to this amazing body of work. Students are exposed to a world of cinema that is vital though often ignored in discussions of contemporary Cinema. We will see works by, Tony Oursler, Robert Breer, Piotr Dumala, Susan Pitt, Jan Svankmajor, Caroline Leaf, Janie Gieser and William Kentridge, David O'rielly, Susie Templeten, Ruth Lingford, to name a few. Readings for the class address ideas about manipulation of sculptural objects, puppetry, narrative and allegory, the real and the unreal. text for the Class are Unsung Heroes of Animation, Understanding Animation, and Animation of the Unconscious. Students attend all classes, read weekly assignments, and participate in discussion, There are two papers for the class - one at midterm and a final Paper. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1139	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Animation Location MacLean 1307
The Philosophy of Modernism	4703 (001)	Christopher Cutrone	Fri 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
Description Several questions are paradigmatic for the study of 19th and 20th (and now 21st) century art, including: How might we understand and explain modern art?s increasingly radical practices? How does subjectivity become the critical object of diverse artistic practices? How does ?art? itself emerge as a specifically modern and critical category of aesthetics? Readings range from late 18th to early 19th century philosophers Kant, Schiller and Hegel, through Nietzsche?s criticism of the values of social and aesthetic modernity (for which the opposition of Bizet?s Carmen to Wagner?s Parsifal reveals the crisis and bad faith), to 20th century critics of modern art and society Lukacs and Adorno, as attempts to grasp the emergence of modernism in art, the peculiarities of modern artistic practices and the critical possibilities of their subjectivity to the present. Poetry by Wordsworth and Paul Celan provide framing and contrasting (early 19th and late 20th Century) examples for considering the subjectivity for modern art. Course assignments include in-class team presentations on the readings, a midterm paper and a final paper. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1126	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 202
Art, Activism & Response	4823 (001)	Rebecca Keller	Thurs 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description What is the relationship between artists, arts, institutions and the body politic? This class looks at how artists respond to political moments, and how those moments are in turn shaped by artists. The course provides an overview of activist and protest art from the early twentieth century until today, and also focuses on the political and institutional responses engendered: raising issues of censorship, identity, public funding, community, and the role of art and artists in society at large. Beginning with pioneers like Kathe Kollwitz and Jacob Lawrence, we look at a wide range of 20th C artists and how they responded to the issues of their day (topics include War, Propaganda, McCarthyism, Feminism, ACT-UP, the 90's Culture Wars, etc,) and continuing to 21st Century artists and exhibitions engaging political and social concerns. The class links historic developments and artist's responses, including artworks and exhibitions on the front lines of institutional and cultural change. Major assignments : Students prepare a 20-25 minute presentation with a bibliography and write a research paper. Graduate students will write an additional essay Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1179	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Area of Study Art/Design and Politics Location MacLean 608
Feminist Film Theory Seminar	4843 (001)	Patricia Erens	Thurs 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description Feminist Film Theory will cover four areas of study: the historic contributions of women to the development of the film industry; the rise of several generations of female auteurs (including Agnes Varda, Jane Campion, Chantal Akerman and Julie Dash); the emergence of new voices in the 21st century (many from previously marginalized groups); and the development of theoretical texts which informed film production and spectatorship, as well as influencing other art forms. Beginning with Laura Mulvey’s seminal essay on the “male gaze,” the class will critique the ways in which feminist film theory continues to be reassessed and reformulated. In addition, the class will focus on newer issues and agendas relating to race, class, ethnicity and sexuality deriving from the contribution of women of color and the LGBTQ community. The class will run as a seminar in which students meet in small discussion groups to share and debate ideas from their readings, screenings and response papers. Students will also present original research drawn from their own fields of interest. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement OR Graduate Student	Class Number 1183	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 1428
Senior Thesis I	4899 (001)	David Raskin	Mon 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM In Person
Description Senior Thesis I is designed to guide senior BA in Art History (BAAH) students through the first half of their yearlong capstone project: a senior thesis. This course will equip students with the skills to develop an advanced art historical research project. Students will evaluate possible topics and methodologies via research questions. They will then draft, revise and submit a project proposal, outline, annotated bibliography, and research plan, and turn in 10 or more pages of the thesis as the final assignment. The course will also hone their abilities as interlocutors of the work of their fellow students, as students will regularly present to the rest of the class on their progress while participating in group reviews of their colleagues. There will also be individual mentoring sessions with the professor at junctures throughout the term that will orient students toward more individualized research and writing in the Spring term and second half of Senior Thesis. Prerequisites: Art History Survey requirement; ARTHI 2900, 'Sophomore Seminar: Writing Art History'; student must be enrolled in the BAAH or BFAAH program. Prerequisites Prerequisite: Art History Survey requirement. Student must be enrolled in the BAAH or BFA w/ Art History Thesis program.	Class Number 1130	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Lakeview - 206
Utopias and Provocations	5002 (001)	Chris Reeves	Mon 12:15 PM - 3:00 PM In Person
Description This section surveys select moments throughout art history in which artists aimed to agitate for social, political, or artistic change. In this collaborative and interdisciplinary course will explore such topics as the political satire of Meiji era Japan; William Morris' socialist utopia of the 19th century in conversation with Lizzie Borden's in the 20th Century; significant South American artistic dissent from the Grupo de Artists de Vanguardia and Tropicalia movements of the 1960s; Post WWII Japanese experimental groups such as Hi Red Center and Gutai; Benjamin Patterson, Robert Filliou, and George Brecht inside and outside of Fluxus; The Guerrilla Television movement of the 1970s-80s relative to YouTube culture of today; and many other minor gestures that continue to have major power today. The work, ideas, movements, and artists discussed in this course are potent reminders of art's potential and desire to not just manage the system we are all in, but to actively work to transform it. Prerequisites This course is primarily for incoming MFA students, and students should only take this survey once.	Class Number 1114	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 920
The Image, Power and Difference	5002 (002)	Lisa M Zaher	Thurs 8:30 AM - 11:15 AM All Online
Description Moving from the 19th to the 21st centuries, this course explores various social, political, and cultural uses of visual media in the construction of categories of difference and normativity, with an emphasis on photographic media and moving images more broadly, while presenting an array of creative strategies devised to evade and subvert these exercises of power. The course explores the ways in which visual media is complicit in the production of a wide array of forms of difference, and to the normalization of oppression and inequality. Highlighting key moments in the history of art and visual culture, we will confront head-on the intersecting violences of white supremacy, heteronormativity, misogyny, racism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, ableism, and the many other ideologies of oppression, exclusion, and devaluation. Prerequisites This course is primarily for incoming MFA students, and students should only take this survey once.	Class Number 1115	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location Online
Contact Zones	5002 (003)		Thurs 3:30 PM - 6:15 PM In Person
Description This course aims to recontextualize modern and contemporary art and design in relation to long-neglected histories of colonialism, slavery and global Blackness. Simply put, the 'new' in art and design never happens in a vacuum, but via 'contact zones' with asymmetrical relationships of power, innovation and representation. We will place particular emphasis on both lived and constructed experiences of race; the phenomenological research of Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and abstract artists before and after World War II; the materiality of collage, readymades, actions, and other revolutionary strategies of historical and neo-avant-gardes; the urgent messaging of decolonial struggles, new nations and third-worldism; ‘60s and ‘70s critiques of mediation; and post-medium, “antagonistic” and radically empathic examples of contemporary art. This class includes consistent visits to the Art Institute of Chicago to experience and discuss relevant works of art in person. Prerequisites This course is primarily for incoming MFA students, and students should only take this survey once.	Class Number 1180	Credits 3	Department Art History, Theory, and Criticism Location MacLean 707

FAQs

Students only begin taking advanced Art History courses in their second year at SAIC. For the first year, BA in Art History students share the campus-wide, first-year student curriculum, which includes intensive foundational training in studio and in visual thinking, composition-based writing courses, and two introductory surveys in art history. The SAIC BA in Art History is unlike conventional majors at liberal arts colleges in its extensive art history requirements (at least 18 courses) and in its solid grounding in knowledge of studio practices. An understanding in how art is made is an essential part of its historical study. While BA in Art History students’ coursework is identical to BFA students in their first year, they will also be included in events organized for all BA in Art History students. All BA in Art History students are advised by a faculty member from the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism.
The BA in Art History program has significantly different degree requirements than SAIC’s other, studio- and design-based degrees. Because of this, there are no automatic degree transfers, and every case must be weighed individually with regard to applicable credits and research and writing skills. There are two deadlines for internal transfers every year: October 15 and March 15. Applications are only considered at these times.
No. SAIC does not have majors. The BA in Art History is a full-fledged degree in Art History, and it is the first nonstudio undergraduate degree at SAIC. It requires a minimum of 41 percent of credits (18 courses) to be taken in the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism—far more than a conventional major within a liberal arts degree (usually around 10 courses). Beyond that, the degree is made up of a minimum of 16 percent studio courses, which we believe to be an integral part of study of histories and theories of art.
The BA in Art History is designed to provide students with training in research and writing skills, and at least one class per year will focus on this area of study. A Sophomore Seminar, a Junior Proseminar, and the Senior Thesis Sequence are all required of BA in Art History students.
Sophomore Seminars are required courses for all SAIC undergraduates. They focus on preparing students to embrace a specific direction in their scholarship or in their studio practice. The seminars offer intensive faculty mentoring sessions that help students design a curricular pathway for the final two years of study at SAIC. Most departments at the institution offer Sophomore Seminars. BA in Art History students take the Sophomore Seminar designed by the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism to provide research skills in Art History and to train students to examine the role of art’s histories in light of current practices. Students from programs other than the BA in Art History may also take the Art History Sophomore Seminar.
Each semester, the department offers at least two smaller seminar-style courses focused on the application of research methods. These can be in any topic, but professors focus on the practice of research and writing with students in this smaller setting. BA in Art History students must take at least one of these courses in their junior year. Courses fulfilling the Junior Proseminar requirement cannot also be used to fulfill the Area Pathways requirements.
Students may, however, take more than one Junior Proseminar in their time at SAIC, and any additional Proseminars may be used to fulfill other degree requirements. The Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism distributes a list of Junior Proseminars each semester.
The Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism offers more than 200 courses a year, from introductory surveys to graduate seminars. Most of the course offerings are generally divided into three major geographic areas, which correspond to three area pathways in the curriculum:
• Asia
• Europe and America
• Southern Continents (Africa and Latin America)
BA in Art History students choose two of these areas on which to focus. In both of these two area pathways, students must complete a three-course sequence of 2000-, 3000-, and 4000-level courses. Students develop their thesis topic as the culmination of one of these two area pathways of study and pursue it during the Senior Thesis Sequence in their final year. Each pathway requires three courses (9 credit hours).
For instance, a student who chooses a pathway in Asian art might fulfill its requirements by taking Survey of Asian Art (ARTHI 2450), Buddhist Ideas in South and Southeast Asian Art (ARTHI 3473), and Asian Art Now (ARTHI 4496). Once a pathway is completed, students may continue to take courses in that area with their art history elective credits. A list of courses in each pathway is distributed by the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism to BA in Art History students.
The Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism focuses on modern and contemporary art in a global framework. While the majority of its offerings focus on art of the last 150 years, it also has a significant number of courses that address the longer histories of art. BA in Art History students are required to take at least six credit hours of courses that focus on topics before the mid-19th century in addition to ARTHI 1001: Introduction to Art History: Ancient to Modern. The Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism distributes a list of premodern courses each semester.
In order to graduate with a BA in Art History, all students must complete a written thesis developed over the course of the fall-spring Senior Thesis Sequence. In the fall of their senior year, students take ARTHI 4011: Senior Thesis Methodology Seminar that focuses on advanced writing and research skills as well as topic development. In the spring, BA in Art History students work closely with a faculty member in ARTHI 4012: Senior Thesis Writing Seminar to complete and submit the written document. These classes cannot be taken out of sequence or substituted. They are only offered each once a year.
Any student who anticipates graduating mid-year should plan to take the Senior Thesis Sequence in preceding academic year. In other words, two of the three of a BA in Art History student’s last three semesters must be taken over a full academic year at SAIC.
Theses are generally 35 to 50 pages in length and should demonstrate the student’s deep knowledge on a topic in art history of their choosing. They should include all relevant images and be formatted according to established guidelines. All theses are due by the last day of the spring semester in order for the student to graduate.
Once admitted, all BA in Art History students will be advised by the Director of Undergraduate Programs in Art History or another faculty member from the department. BA in Art History students should meet each semester with their Art History adviser to determine course selections and discuss the development of their research interests. In addition, BA in Art History students are also encouraged to take advantage of SAIC’s Office of Academic Advising for any assistance with school-wide curricular requirements and credit audits. There will also be possibilities for graduate student mentors for advanced BA in Art History students.
Courses designated in the SAIC curriculum as “off-campus study” can be found in studio, Liberal Arts, and Art History. These credits can be taken in one of the many study abroad trips organized by SAIC each winter and summer term, in a designated class during the regular semesters that has a substantial off-campus component or be fulfilled through internships coordinated by SAIC’s Cooperative Education Program. BA in Art History students are required to take three of their credit hours in off-campus courses. These credits may come from any division and may also be used to meet other degree requirements.
SAIC is a non-grading institution, and students in the BA in Art History program will not receive traditional grades for coursework. Students may request written evaluations for each class, but this is the responsibility of the student to solicit and maintain these records. Any students applying for graduate school, internships, or other opportunities may request from the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism a statement of principle about its non-grading philosophy. Students who intend to make such applications are encouraged to keep copies of their research papers and exams for further information about their success at SAIC.
Existing students who are pursuing an exchange semester or summer courses abroad may petition Academic Advising to have foreign language courses transferred to SAIC to meet the 9-credit-hour language requirement. Final approval to take language classes off-campus is determined by the Department of Liberal Arts. During the semesters, students may also petition to take advanced foreign languages and foreign languages not offered by SAIC at nearby Roosevelt University. (Those students should contact the Study Abroad Office.)
No. The foreign language requirement is in place to insure that students have basic ability to engage with research materials in other languages. Consequently, only study in written languages fulfills this requirement.

Take the Next Step

For questions about applications for first-year and transfer students, visit the undergraduate admissions web page or contact SAIC's Office of Admissions at admiss@saic.edu or 800.232.7242. Current SAIC students should contact arthistoryba@saic.edu.

Upcoming Admissions Events

Jul27

Summer at SAIC

We invite you to join us on campus for an informative and fun day featuring our "Art School 101" presentation, one-on-one meetings with our faculty and admissions counselors, a guided tour of our state-of-the-art campus and our loft-style residence halls, and a Chicago style lunch for you and your guests!

Saturday, July 27 10:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. CDT at 280 South Columbus Drive Chicago, IL 60603

Undergraduate Overview

Undergraduate Overview

Bachelor of Arts in Art History

Bachelor of Fine Arts with Art History Thesis

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