Click here for a printer friendly version.
Program One: History of Art
Prerequisites: Any two courses in the Department of Art and Archaeology
Course Requirements: A total of ten courses in the Department of Art and Archaeology, including at least one 400- (or 500-) level seminar and Art 400/401 (Junior Seminar). Students must also take at least one course from each of the following five distribution areas: Far Eastern; ancient Mediterranean; medieval/early Islamic; Renaissance/baroque/late Islamic; and modern. In choosing courses to satisfy the distribution requirement, students are encouraged to explore a variety of media (architecture, sculpture, film/photography, printmaking, painting). Thematic courses or courses that span more than one area or culture will be allocated to a distribution area on a case by case basis. Art 100, Art 101, and Art 102 count as departmentals but not as distribution courses.
Cognates: Of the required ten departmental courses, one or two may be cognate courses taken in other departments. Students wishing to count a cognate course must submit a syllabus to the departmental representative for approval. Courses cross-listed with the Department of Art and Archaeology automatically count as departmentals.
Junior Seminar: During the fall of the junior year, all majors must take the junior seminar (Art 400 for general majors; Art 401 for majors interested in archaeology). The course introduces students to the various methodologies used by art historians and prepares them for writing the junior and senior independent work. Students who are abroad during the fall of the junior year can complete the junior seminar during the fall semester of the senior year.
Junior Independent Work: The fall junior independent work consists of a paper of approximately twenty pages addressing the state of the literature and various methodologies appropriate to a particular subject selected by the student. This paper is written under and graded by the supervisor of the student’s Junior Seminar. During the spring term, students will write a second research paper (approximately 25 pages/ 7,500 words) with a departmental adviser of their choice. Students must complete the JP/Senior Thesis Adviser Form by early February of the spring semester and return it to the departmental representative for approval.
Senior Independent Work: The senior independent work consists of a year-long project culminating in a thesis of approximately 60-80 pages. The student should select a faculty adviser in the spring of the junior year and no later than early October of the senior year. The student and adviser must sign the JP/Senior Thesis Adviser Form and return it to the departmental representative for approval. See the Guidelines for the Senior Thesis for details on the presentation and writing of the thesis. The grade for the senior thesis is an average of the grades given by the adviser and an outside faculty reader.
Senior Departmental Examination: The Senior departmental examination consists of an oral examination conducted by three faculty members (including the adviser and second reader of the senior thesis and one additional faculty member). The student should be prepared to speak on three objects and three themes based on six courses taken in the Department. The committee will select from the six proposed topics and engage the student in a discussion for approximately one hour. The grade on the senior departmental exam is the average of the grades given independently by the three faculty examiners.
