Art History
Are you interested in the meanings behind art and design? Art History can answer that!
The Department of Art & Design offers a strong art historical education for studio art and design students. You will learn how to analyze art, identify various styles and movements, and contextualize your own work within the history of art and design. Art History also supports a variety of minors, including the Museum Studies Minor and the Fine Art Photography Minor and may also be selected as one of the concentrations for the BIS in Integrated Studies.
You will gain important knowledge of art historical and critical debates as well as theories of art and design. Additionally, you will have an opportunity to use the Clara M. Eagle Gallery and the Wrather Western Kentucky Museum as an extended classroom through workshops with practicing contemporary artists and designers. This gives you the hands-on opportunity to study art objects, installation practices, etc. The Eagle Gallery also offers credit-earning internships for students seeking in-depth immersion in curatorial practice and collections management.
Courses cover a wide variety of traditions and media in the global history of art (for specific course offerings, see below). Art History courses cover a breadth of topics in small class environments that fosters student engagement. Art History professors often teach study abroad courses for students wanting to take their classes beyond Kentucky.
What career options will I have with an art degree?
Art history education supports students who want careers working as artists and designers in galleries, museums, and arts organizations. You can also work closely with Art History faculty to prepare for paths to graduate school in various fields like Design, Studio Art, Museum Studies, Art History, and Visual Culture.
“The Museum and Curatorial Studies class at MSU led me straight to a job on campus at Wrather West Kentucky Museum that awakened a passion I didn't know I had. I truly found my calling in this class and I feel it set a solid foundation for my work now to think critically about how audiences interact with what we put forth as curators.”
Facilities
- 2,752 square feet of space
- 2 lecture halls with auditorium seating
- High-resolution digital projectors
- 14 feet wide screen
Student Work
Courses Offered
- ART 121 Art and Visual Culture
- ART 123 A Survey of Visual Culture and Sciences
- ART 211 A Survey of Art from Antiquity to the Baroque
- ART 212 A Survey of Art from the Enlightenment to the Present
- ART 213 Art of Global Cultures
- ART 315 Greek and Roman Art
- ART 316 Medieval Art
- ART 318 Renaissance Art
- ART 319 Baroque Art
- ART 328 Nineteenth Century Art
- ART 329 Art from 1900 to 1960
- ART 358 History of Modern Design
- ART 389 Modern Italian Art and History
- ART 420 Special Topics in Art History
- ART 425 Arts of Africa and Asia
- ART 430 Art Since 1960
- ART 432 Museum and Curatorial Studies
- ART 491 Special Problems in Art History
- ART 691 Special Problems in Art History