Programs by Campus

Bloomington

Art History

Courses

Curriculum
Courses
Faculty

Ancient
  • ARTH-A 501 Topics in Ancient Art (3 cr.) Special topics in the history and study of Ancient Art. May be repeated with different topics.
  • ARTH-A 514 History of Greek Sculpture (3 cr.) Survey of Greek Sculpture (1000 B.C.-50 B.C.) Students will become familiar with the extant mounments, the various phases of development from Geometric over Archaic, Classical to Hellenistic. Problems of interpretation, style and placement will be dealt with in each period, from Athens over Asia Minor to Southern Italy.
  • ARTH-A 516 Ancient Art from Alexander the Great to Augustus (3 cr.) Introduction to the art and architecture of the ancient Mediterranean world during the Hellenistic and Roman Republic periods.
  • ARTH-A 518 Roman Sculpture (3 cr.) Critical analysis of historical reliefs, portraiture, and sarcophagi.
  • ARTH-A 615 Problems in Greek Painting (4 cr.) Special topics in Greek painting.
  • ARTH-A 616 Problems in Roman Art (4 cr.) Graduate seminar in the history of Roman art with a focus on the particular problems associated with its study including collection, acquisition, restoration, display, and interpretation of the works of classical antiquity in both their original and more modern contexts.
Medieval
  • ARTH-A 520 Topics in Medieval Art (3 cr.) Various topics offered in Medieval Art.
  • ARTH-A 521 Pagans & Christians: Christian Art in the Roman Empire (3 cr.) Christian Art as it developed in its first centuries within the Roman Empire (200-600).
  • ARTH-A 525 Heaven on Earth: Art and the Church in Byzantium (3 cr.) Art and architecture in the Byzantine Empire (600-1500).
  • ARTH-A 533 Romanesque Art (3 cr.) Survey of the most important art historical monuments of the 11 th and 12th centuries and their religious and social contexts.
  • ARTH-A 621 Problems in Early Christian Art (4 cr.) Selected topics in early Christian art.
  • ARTH-A 624 Problems in Early Gothic Art (4 cr.) This graduate seminar focuses on the art and architecture created during the early gothic period, their context and history, and the art historical problems associated with the study of these art objects.
  • ARTH-A 626 Problems in Byzantine Art (3cr.) Special topics in Byzantine art.
Renaissance and Baroque
  • ARTH-A 635 Problems in Italian Art of the Seventeenth Century (3cr.) Special topics in the problems of the art historical study of Italian Art of the 17th Century.
  • ARTH-A 637 Problems in Early Netherlandish Painting (4cr.) Topics in this seminar address the cultural functions of sight in Fifteenth-century England, France, and Germany.
  • ARTH-A 638 Problems in Sixteenth-Century Art outside Italy (4cr.) Graduate seminar on the art of the 16th-century outside of Italy. This seminar will focus on 16th-cenutry art and artists and the problems associated with their study.
Modern
  • ARTH-A 540 Topics in Modern Art (3 cr.) Special topics in the history and study of nineteenth- and twentieth-century European and American Art. May be repeated twice for credit when topic varies.
  • ARTH-A 543 History of Twentieth-Century Photography (3cr.) Surveys twentieth-century photography as a medium of art and communication. Considers portraiture, landscape, still life, the nude, conceptual photography, the social documentary tradition, the magazine picture story, fashion, advertising and war photography. Examines the impact of post-modern theories on photographic practice and the understanding of photography.
  • ARTH-A 558 American Art, 1865-1945 (3 cr.) History of Art in the United States from the end of the Civil War to World War II.
  • ARTH-A 569 Installation Art (3 cr.) This course looks at the historical roots and development of installation art.
  • ARTH-A 576 Print and the Origins of the Modern Medium (3 cr.) Examines the cultural and political impacts of print in Europe and the Americas from 1375-2000. Discusses various types of printmaking, as well as how these reshaped social interaction, reconfigured text and image relationships, and transformed the values we assign to visual expression, especially concerning the very idea of a “medium.” 
  • ARTH-A 584 Experience/Experiment: Modern and Contemporary Intersections of Art and Science This course examines how the scientific study of human experience has influenced artistic practice since the modernist era.
  • ARTH-A 640 Problems in Modern Art (3cr.) Special topics in the prob­lems in modern art. May be repeated with a different topic for a total of 8 credit hours.
  • ARTH-A 643 Problems in American Art (3 cr.) Graduate seminar exploring American art: its creation, exhibition, historical context, and the visual culture of which it was part and contributed to.
  • ARTH-A 646 Problems in Twentieth-Century European Art (4 cr.) Variable topics in the history of 20th Century European Art.
  • ARTH-A 647 Problems in Contemporary European and American Art (4cr.) Special topics in European and American contemporary art.
Islamic
  • ARTH-A 589 Topics in Islamic Art (3cr.) Special topics in the history and study of Islamic art. May be repeated with a different topic for a total of 8 credit hours.
  • ARTH-A 667 Problems in Islamic Art (4cr.) Special topics in the history and study of Islamic art in various centuries.
Asian
  • ARTH-A 566 Early Chinese Painting (3cr.) Chinese painting and picto­rial art from the Six Dynasties through the Song dynasty (ca. 200-1300 A.D.). Topics include figure and narrative painting; the culture of landscape, from mountains to gardens; the ico­nography of flowers, birds, and other small motifs drawn from nature; institutional and private patronage; and the relation­ships between painting, poetry, and calligraphy.
  • ARTH-A 662 Problems in Chinese Painting (3cr.) This graduate seminar focuses on the art historical study of Chinese painting: its history, context, and the art and artists which fall under this purview.
Art of Africa, Oceania, and Pre-Columbian America
  • ARTH-A 551 Art of the South Pacific (3 cr.)
  • ARTH-A 552 Art of Eastern and Southern Africa (3 cr.) Survey o f visual arts traditions of eastern and southern Africa, examining architecture, personal arts of the body and household, religious arts, and contemporary painting and sculpture, emphasis on the 19 th and 20th centuries, but some earlier traditions, such as Ethiopian Christian art and Swahili architecture, are also discussed.
  • ARTH-A 555 Art, Craft, and Technology in Sub-Saharan Africa (3 cr.) History of arts of utility, with emphasis on their technological and contextual setting.
  • ARTH-A 650 Problems in African Art (4 cr.)
General
  • ARTH-A 500 Historiography of Western Art (3 cr.) Study of the many methodological traditions that shaped the discipline of art history from the ancient world to the twentieth century.
  • ARTH-A 510 Critical Theories and Methods in Art History, Ca 1900-Present (3 cr.) This course is designed to afford graduate students in the History of Art the opportunity to examine methodologies in the discipline, as well as their development, since its efflorescence as a modern discipline in the late 19th century. Through readings, discussion, and individual research, students will develop an understanding of how critical theory has shaped art historical practice, both from within and without the discipline. They will also have the chance to gauge the potential applicability of important theoretical models for their own research interests.
  • ARTH-A 580 Topics in Art History (3 cr.) Special topics in the history and study of Art History in various centuries. May be repeated four times with different topics.
  • ARTH-A 590 Museum Studies (3 cr.) Designed to utilize the resources of the Eskenazi Museum of Art for academic research. Topics vary and include cataloging, technical examination, and organizing exhibitions. May be repeated for credit when topic varies.
  • ARTH-A 595 Master’s Essay Research (1-4 cr.) Readings and research for the M.A. essay in the history of art.
  • ARTH-A 690 Burke Seminar in the History of Art (1-4 cr.) A seminar conducted by a visiting professor in conjunction with a member of the art history faculty. The topic, format, and length of the seminar will vary. May be repeated, with different topics, for a maximum of 8 credits.
  • ARTH-A 775 Advanced Readings and Research (1-8 cr.)
  • ARTH-A 779 Directed Field Work (arr. cr.) Specialized research in museums and libraries or archaeological sites, in fields closely related to student’s doctoral dissertation. May be repeated for a total of 16 credit hours.
  • ARTH-A 879 Doctoral Dissertation (arr. cr.)

  • ARTH-G 599 Thesis Research (0 cr.) Master’s students who have enrolled in 30 or more hours of graduate course work applicable to the degree and who have completed all other requirements for the degree except the thesis may enroll in G599. Requires section authorization.
  • ARTH-G 901 Advanced Research (6 cr.) Dissertation hours (6semesters, 6 credits each, for a total of 36 hours).

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