Art History

OVERVIEW OF DEGREE REQUIREMENTS

Minimum number of credits required to graduate: 120

Minimum Cumulative GPA required to graduate: 2.0

Minimum Grade requirements for courses to count toward major: A C- or higher is required in all major (ARH) courses.

Other GPA requirements to graduate: A minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 in the major.

Required Course(s) for fulfilling Capstone Experience: ARH 499 or HON 499 (Art History Thesis)

Contact Information: Andy Mauery,  Associate Professor, Chair, Department of Art, 107 Lord Hall, (207) 581-3245, andy.mauery@maine.edu

Art History students begin the program with introductory courses that survey historically significant objects and monuments, including paintings, graphics, drawings, sculptures, pottery, photographs, and architecture, from ancient times through the present. These courses consider form, content, function, and meaning of expressive works in light of their social, political, philosophical, and cultural contexts. The program stresses from its foundation courses through its highest upper-level seminars an awareness of how diverse methodological approaches frame our knowledge of each particular subject.

Advanced courses examining the world outlook of the cultures studied identify four traditions in the history of western art. Geography defines the older two: the Classical Tradition of the Mediterranean World and the Northern European Tradition, which parallel one another in time, running up to the end of the sixteenth century. Time separates the third and fourth traditions: the Enlightenment era studies the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, while the Modern era explores the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as well as contemporary practices. Two required upper-level seminars let students study the principal underpinnings of the field: its essential theories and its critical methods.

In addition to courses in Art History, the program requires students to take two Studio Art courses to provide insight into the working methods of artists, the creative processes which foster intuitive thinking, and non-verbal conceptualization and articulation. Also, students must take two modern language courses, to broaden their research capabilities in the field.  The major highly recommends that its students enroll in the Honors College.

With its focus on critical thinking in verbal and non-verbal forms of cognition, the Art History major prepares students for many options including continued study at the graduate level. It readies students for careers in museums, art galleries, arts administration, antiquities, communications, arts libraries, and arts criticism.  It also teaches the research, writing and analytic skills necessary for almost any career.