Art History

Return to: USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Art history combines the study of art with the study of culture more broadly. The undergraduate major receives sound training in the history of art and visual culture and also gains a basis in other humanistic disciplines. The curriculum is designed to guarantee students a general knowledge of art – western, eastern, and global – and to offer a variety of upper-division courses in specialized areas. Majors are exposed to a diversity of theoretical approaches and encouraged to sharpen their powers of visual analysis, their critical and conceptual thinking, and their writing and speaking skills. This foundation has enabled many art history graduates to pursue advanced degrees in nationally recognized programs, to enter diverse fields, including law or business, and to pursue careers in the arts. A special feature of the undergraduate program is the apprenticeship, which affords upper-division students the opportunity to work in the professional art world in return for elective credit. Students gain valuable job skills in local museums, galleries, auction houses and art foundations. The department is firmly committed to equity and diversity, both in practice, and when it comes to our objects of study.

Taper Hall (THH) 355
(213) 740-4552
FAX: (213) 740-8971
Email: arthist@dornsife.usc.edu
dornsife.usc.edu/ahis

Chair: Kate Flint, PhD

Faculty

University Professor and Leo S. Bing Chair in English and American Literature and Professor of English, Art History and History: Leo Braudy, PhD* (English)

Provost Professor of Art History and English: Kate Flint*, PhD

USC Associates Professor in Art History and Professor of Art History: John Pollini, PhD*

Professors: Daniela Bleichmar, PhD*; Diane Ghirardo, PhD (Architecture); Amelia Jones, PhD (Fine Arts); Carolyn M. Malone, PhD; Amy Ogata, PhD; Lisa Pon, PhD; Vanessa Schwartz, PhD*

Associate Professors: Susanna Berger, PhD; Vittoria Di Palma, PhD (Architecture); Suzanne Hudson, PhD; Sonya Lee, PhD; Megan Luke*, PhD; Amy K. Powell, PhD; Ann Marie Yasin, PhD

Associate Professor (Teaching): Hector Reyes, PhD

Lecturer: Samantha Burton, PhD

Adjunct Associate Professor (Teaching) of the Practice: Miya Mizuta Lippit (East Asian Languages and Cultures)

*Recipient of university-wide or school teaching award.

Undergraduate Degree

Art History Honors Program

Candidates for the BA in the Department of Art History can earn a designation on their transcripts of departmental honors. Admission to the Honors Program is required.

Prerequisites: 3.5 overall GPA, 3.5 major GPA or better, completion of at least three upper-division art history courses at the time of admission, submission of an application form to the undergraduate faculty adviser.

Required for departmental honors: maintain GPA requirements stated above and complete AHIS 495a and AHIS 495b Undergraduate Honors Thesis.

Interdisciplinary Minor in Early Modern Studies

This minor brings together the resources of the departments of English, History and Art History to study the literatures and cultures of Europe and the Americas from the late medieval period to 1800. For complete listing of requirements, see the Department of English .

Graduate Degrees

Graduate students in art history pursue a wide range of subject matter, using a variety of methodologies and techniques. Graduates may also pursue parallel interests by taking courses in outside departments such as history, classics, East Asian languages and cultures, Slavic languages and literatures, French, German, Italian and others. Graduate students are encouraged to participate in annual conferences and symposia. Travel grants are available through the department. In addition to image databases, electronic access to university library catalogues, courtesy privileges and cross-registration of course work at UCLA, our graduate students have access to numerous research opportunities in and around Southern California at institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, the Archives of American Art, the Institute for Modern Russian Culture, the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the USC Pacific Asia Museum.

Admission

Admission to all programs is granted through the Graduate School in conjunction with the Department of Art History; all applicants must meet the requirements of both. Interviews are strongly encouraged.

All applicants must complete the department’s supplemental application form.

Complete details for all graduate programs can be found in the Guidelines for Graduate Studies in Art History, obtainable upon admission.

Areas of Concentration

Greek and Roman Art and Archaeology, Roman/Late Roman and Early Byzantine Art and Architecture, Medieval Art and Archaeology, Renaissance Art, Baroque Art, 18th and 19th Century European Art, 19th and 20th Century British and Transatlantic Studies, American Art and Visual Culture, Modern and Contemporary Art, Modern European and American Architecture, Design and Material Culture, Art and Architecture of China and Central Asia, Japanese Art, Latin American Art, Art of the Ancient Americas, Modern Visual Culture, and History of Photography.

Programs

Bachelor’s Degree

• Art History (BA)

Minor

Master’s Degree

• Art History (MA)

Graduate Certificate

Doctoral Degree

• Art History (PhD)

Courses

Art History

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