Art History, M.A.

Learning Outcomes

• MA Art History students evidence knowledge of major movements in Western art by successfully passing a timed, written proficiency exam during their first semester in order to progress within the program. The exam tests their skills at identifying a select number of individual works of art and architecture from Antiquity to the present, their ability to describe and discuss the historical significance of those works and their creators, and their comprehension of the larger historical, social, political, and cultural contexts surrounding the works and their creation.
• MA Art History students demonstrate measurable knowledge of art historical literature and methodologies, including formal analysis, connoisseurship, iconography, iconology, social content (Marxist, Feminist, Postcolonial, and Psychoanalytical approaches) and syntactical analysis (Semiotics/Structuralism, Poststructuralism/Deconstructivism) through the incorporation of such in their own research and writing of term papers, essays, and theses.
• MA Art History students orally and cursively communicate the breadth of their art historical knowledge, research findings, and individual ideas in one of four program concentrations.
• MA Art History students research, write and defend an art history thesis on a student/faculty approved thesis topic.