This is archival data. This system was retired as of August 21, 2023 and the information on this page has not been updated since then. For current information, visit catalogs.umn.edu.
Requirements for this program are current for
Fall 2020
Required credits to graduate with this
degree: 120
Required credits within the major: 62
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
The BA in art history offers introductory and intermediate level courses in the history of western and non-western art from the pre-historic era to the present. The visual arts and architecture are studied in relation to aesthetic traditions, cultural values, and social experience. Museum internships are available through the Tweed Museum of Art.
Program Delivery
This program is available:
via classroom (the majority of instruction is face-to-face)
Students must meet all course and credit requirements of the departments and
colleges or schools in which they are enrolled including an advanced writing course. Students
seeking two degrees must fulfill the requirements of both degrees. However, two degrees cannot be
awarded for the same major.
Students must complete all requirements of the Liberal
Education Program or its approved equivalent.
Students must complete a minimum of 120 semester credits completed in
compliance with University of Minnesota Duluth academic policies with credit limits (e.g.,
Satisfactory/Non-Satisfactory Grading Policy, Credit for Prior Learning, etc).
At least 30 semester credits must be earned through UMD, and 15 of the last 30
credits earned immediately before graduation must be awarded by UMD.
At least half of upper-division (3xxx-level or higher) credits that satisfy
major requirements (major requirements includes all courses required for the major, including
courses in a subplan) through UMD.
If a minor is required, students must take at least three upper division
credits in their minor field from UMD.
For certificate programs, at least 3 upper-division credits that satisfy
requirements for the certificate must be taken through UMD. If the program does not require upper
division credits students must take at least one course from the certificate program from UMD.
The minimum cumulative University of Minnesota (UMN) GPA required for
graduation is 2.00 and includes only University of Minnesota coursework. A minimum UMN GPA of 2.00
is required in each UMD undergraduate major, minor, and certificate. No academic unit may impose a
higher GPA standard to graduate.
Diploma, transcripts, licensure, and certification will be withheld until all
financial obligations to the University have been met.
Program Requirements
Students are required to complete 3 semester(s) of
any second language.
with a grade of C-, or better, or S, or demonstrate proficiency in the language(s) as defined by the department
or college.
1. Minor or second major in another field of study.
2. Final Project: After completing most of the required art history courses required for the major, students are required to write a research paper. The paper may be one written previously for an art history class, an independent study in art history, or an entirely new project. It must be written or revised in consultation with one of the art history faculty, who reads and approves the final version. Check with department for details.
3. Attendance at two visual lectures per semester (fall and spring).
Three credits of any 1000-level or 2000-level fine arts course(s) from outside the student’s chosen major (Dance, Fine Arts, Music, or Theatre), provided that the student meets pre-requisites for the course(s). MU 15xx ensembles must be repeated once each semester for a total of 3 credits (may require audition). A 2-credit DN course may be substituted (Art or Music students only).
One Stop for tuition, course registration, financial aid, academic calendars, and more
UST 1000 - Learning in Community
Credits:
1.0
-2.0
[max 2.0]
Course Equivalencies:
EHS 1000/UST 1000/ ES 1000
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall & Spring
Facilitates the successful transition into college learning and student life at UMD.
Credit will not be granted if already received for EHS 1000.
ART 1010 - Drawing I
(FINE ARTS)
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall & Spring
Introduction to the drawing experience and problems concerned with translation of three-dimensional visual experience into two-dimensional form.
prereq: preArt or Art BA or Arts Admin BA or preArt Educ K-12 or Art Educ K-12 BFA or Art History BA or preGraphic Design or Graphic Design BFA or preStudio Art or Studio Art BFA or Theatre-Costume Design BFA or Art minor or instructor consent
ART 1011 - 2-D Design
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall & Spring
Introduction to two-dimensional design through study of design elements and principles, including visual organization and color theory and their application in various media.
prereq: preArt or Art BA or Art Admin BA or preArt Educ K-12 or Art Ed K-12 BFA or Art History BA or preGraphic Design or Graphic Design BFA or preStudio Art or Studio Art BFA or preMarketing & Graphic Design or Marketing & Graphic Design BBA or Art Min or instructor consent
ART 1012 - 3-D Design
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall & Spring
Introduction to basic concepts and materials of three-dimensional form and space.
prereq: preArt or Art BA or Arts Admin BA or preArt Educ K-12 or Art Educ K-12 BFA or Art History BA or preGraphic Design or Graphic Design BFA or preStudio Art or Studio Art BFA or Art minor or instructor consent
ART 1013 - 2-D Digital Design
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall & Spring
Two-dimensional studio and graphic design concepts using the computer as a creative tool. Instruction presented only on the macOS.
prereq: preArt or Art BA or Art Admin BA or preArt Educ K-12 or Art Ed K-12 BFA or Art History BA or preGraphic Design or Graphic Design BFA or preStudio Art or Studio Art BFA or preMarketing & Graphic Design or Marketing & Graphic Design BBA or Art Min or Arts in Media Min or Photo Min or instructor consent
ARTH 1303 - History of World Art I
(LE CAT, HUMANITIES, GLOBAL PER)
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall
Development of world art and architecture from prehistory through Middle Ages.
ARTH 1304 - History of World Art II
(LE CAT, HUMANITIES)
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Spring
Development of world art and architecture from Renaissance to present.
ARTH 1305 - History of World Art III
(HUMANITIES, GLOBAL PER)
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall
Examines the arts and visual culture of the Americas, Asia and Africa. This course aims to develop a critical understanding of art forms from global cultures. We will examine a range of visual material including painting, sculpture, ceramics, and architecture, from prehistoric times to present. We will also examine the critical debates that frame the study of "non-Western" art.
ARTH 2300 - The City as a Work of Art
(LE CAT, HUMANITIES)
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F only
Typically offered:
Every Spring
The city as a work of art and center of culture. A study of artistic representations combined with references to primary texts. Use of case studies of particular urban centers to explore the rise of the city and the history of urban planning around the globe.
ARTH 2380 - A Global History of Contemporary Art
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Spring
This course maps the trajectories of art and design from the 1970's to the present, paying close attention to: global movements; the terrains of the category called contemporary art; the modes through which globalization affects and challenges this terrain; and the role of art in world politics.
ARTH 2390 - US Art and Visual Culture in the 20th Century
(LE CAT, LECD C, RACE JUST)
Credits:
3.0
[max 6.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall
This course offers an introduction to US art and visual culture - including architecture, painting, photography, sculpture, advertising, and performance art - from the 20th century, with some additional contextualization from the 19th century. More than simply offering a survey of stylistic changes over time, the class explores the social and political meanings of art. Students will acquire the tools necessary to analyze what art reveals about the nation's values and beliefs. While offering students exposure to a range of issues that are of critical concern to American society, the course will pay particular attention to questions surrounding gender, race, and ideology.
ARTH 3130 - Modern and Contemporary Mexican Art
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall
This course focuses on modern and contemporary visual culture of Mexico from approximately 1860 to the present. It examines the dominant art forms of late nineteenth and twentieth century Mexico: these include post-revolutionary muralism and social realism; movements, artists, and visual genre outside of the nationalist traditional; abstraction, surrealism, the international avant-garde, urban planning, photography, print culture, film, performance, and conceptual art.
ARTH 3150 - Contemporary Global Exhibition
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Spring
This class will examine the transformation of art worlds and urban spaces by the development of contemporary global exhibitions, such as various Art Biennales now held around the globe, Art Basel, Documenta, and the Sculpture Projects Munster. In particular, we will examine how such exhibitions, as well as globalization in general, have transformed the way art is created, distributed, and received.
ARTH 3330 - Renaissance Art & Architecture: Europe 1300 - 1550
(HUMANITIES)
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Spring Even Year
Explores the art and architecture of Europe between 1300 and 1550. Focuses on issues central to understanding the period: relationship between patrons and artists, the changing status of the artist; the intersection of art and polities; representations of religious beliefs; and critical approaches to the stud of artists and their oeuvre.
ARTH 3370 - Dreamworld and Catastrophe: Art and Visual Culture in the Cold War
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Spring
The Cold War marked a period of nearly five-decades of intense ideological, political, and economic division, which impacted all areas of the glove. This course examines art and visual culture across the period's two major world powers to demonstrate both fundamental discords as well as shared preoccupations. More than a study of the traditional geographies of the capitalist West and the communist East, this course offers insight into how the Cold War's globalization reached all ares of the glove, from the African continent to Latin America to Southeast Asia. A particular emphasis will be placed on experimental forms of culture, particularly in the late Cold War era.
ARTH 3140 - Women in Art/Visual Culture in Latin America
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Fall Even Year
This course focuses on representations of women and by women in the art and visual culture of Mexico and other Latin American countries, examining the many ways in which the image of female body in Latin America has been used to construct and typify regional understandings of gender, class, racial, and national identities. Distinguishing between women as subject matter and women as producers of art, we will also look to female artists in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries to investigate how they might be engaging with and/or critiquing traditional iconographical representations.
ARTH 3110 - Art of the Ancient Americas
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Fall Odd Year
A selective visual introduction to the Americas before the Spanish Conquest, focusing on the form, function, and symbolism of Ancient American art and architecture and its role in the construction and maintenance of political power, religious belief and practice, concepts of space, and bodily performance.
ARTH 3331 - European Architecture and its Legacy
(HUMANITIES)
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Fall Even Year
Studies the history of architecture and the built environment in Europe from antiquity through 1800 by focusing on theoretical writings and representative building. In addition, the course will explore theories of spatial analysis and the legacy of western architecture into the present day.
ARTH 3340 - Baroque and Rococo: European Art & Architecture 1550 - 1750
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Fall Odd Year
Explores the art and architecture produced in Europe during the Early Modern Period c. 1550 - c. 1750 (periods often referred to as the Baroque and Rococo). IOncludes study of canonical works and the artists that produced them; analysis of primary and secondary source materials, introduction to art historical methodologies; and consideration of the regional variations of the "baroque."
ARTH 3360 - Art and Social Change in Europe, Russia, and the United States
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Spring
What is the relationship between artistic practice and polities? How do artists and their audiences engage with the visual in times of great social change? How do art and visual culture help us to engage with, understand, and change the world? This seminar offers weekly units that offer close examinations of major cultural moments of the modern and contemporary era, and range from the experimental and autonomous to the coervice and fascist. Topics will traverse Europe, Russia, and the United States from the 19th and into the 21st centuries. The exact content of the seminar may vary annually.
ARTH 3361 - Being and Becoming Modern: European Art 1855 - 1955
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Fall Even Year
This seminar traces a history of art practice from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century across the European continent. It follows key movements and figures of modern art, while emphasizing the social, political, and philosophical events that inform them. Beginning with Realism, and ending at the beginning of the Cold War, this course is bracketed by important questions pertaining to the role of the artist in reflecting upon, critiquing, and influencing national and global culture, writ large. Throughout the term we will also look beyond the limited scope of the fine arts canon to the larger visual cultures that inform and disrupt its boundaries. The exact content of the seminar, including its time period, may vary annually.
ARTH 4330 - Methods and Theories of Art History and Visual Studies
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Fall Odd Year
This seminar, an exit requirement for all Art History majors, introduces major issues of method and critique in the study of art and visual culture. It focuses on understanding disciplinary and critical modes of scholarly inquiry in the visual arts, including the role of historical research. The course emphasizes intensive reading, discussion, and writing.
pre-req: ARTH 3370 and Art History major
ARTH 4999 - Senior Paper Art History
Credits:
1.0
[max 1.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall & Spring
Students write and/or revise a final paper demonstrating their competency in art historical research and writing.
prereq: Major in ArtH with 90 credits, instructor consent, no grad credit
WRIT 3100 - Advanced Writing: Language and Literature
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Study of writing for those invested in the disciplines involving language and literature. Exploration of academic and professional rhetorical situations. Practice with research methods, document design, editing, effective collaboration, and ethical issues in the production of documents in multiple genres for multiple audiences.
pre-req: 1) WRIT 1120 or MNTC or AA completed 2) minimum 60 credits earned or in progress
WRIT 3110 - Advanced Writing: Arts and Letters
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F or Aud
Typically offered:
Every Fall, Spring & Summer
Study of writing for those invested in the disciplines of art, design, and performing arts. Exploration of academic and professional rhetorical situations. Practice with research methods, document design, editing, effective collaboration, and ethical issues in the production of documents in multiple genres for multiple audiences.
pre-req: 1) WRIT 1120 or MNTC or AA completed 2) minimum 60 credits earned or in progress
WRIT 4200 - Writing and Cultures
Credits:
3.0
[max 3.0]
Grading Basis:
A-F only
Typically offered:
Spring Odd Year
Through historical, theoretical and applied lenses, examines the dialectic between writing and culture, that is, how writing shapes culture and, conversely, how culture shapes writing. Specific concepts (access, agency, community, identity and power) relevant to understanding how cultures and the social relations that constitute them are constructed and maintained will be examined in detail.
prereq: 1120, minimum 60 cr
