Art history is the exploration of art and architecture from ancient to contemporary times, in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. It’s museum studies, historiography, iconology, art criticism, connoisseurship, and research. It’s studying aesthetics, and the context, form, and social significance of art throughout time and place. Art history relates visual images back to questions of religion, politics, society, gender, economics, philosophy, and culture.
A minor in art history will provide you with a broad introduction to the history of art, as well as the opportunity for more specialized study in one or two fields. Specialized study – developed with the advice of your minor adviser – may concentrate upon a region of the world (e.g. India) or a time period (e.g. Renaissance).
By studying of art history, you will develops your visual acuity and gain critical understanding of visual culture in a diversity of societies around the world. You will learn to understand art within the contexts of religion, politics, philosophy, culture, technology, society, and gender. A minor in Art History can be of particular interest if you are pursuing careers in art, art education, history, anthropology, archaeology, classics, English, foreign language/literature, cultural studies, international business, design disciplines, or arts administration.
Does this sound like you?
- You are fascinated by art, architecture, and visual materials from prehistoric times to the present.
- Visual images make your mind light up with a hundred questions that all relate to “Who? Where? When? How?”
If you can’t wait to get to the business of answering these questions, art history might be the minor for you!
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