Requirements
Art History
Art History Major
The art history major consists of ten courses.
Code | Title | Credits |
---|---|---|
Required Courses | ||
Select one introductory ARTH course (numbered 1100–1999). | 1 | |
Select one of the following: | 1 | |
One ARTH course numbered 1100-1999 | ||
One ARTH first year writing seminar (1000-1049) | ||
One Visual Arts (VART) course | ||
Select one course in African, Asian, or Ancient American Art History numbered 2000-2969. | 1 | |
ARTH 2650 | Culture and Crisis in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Art | |
ARTH 2655 | From Empire to Nation-State: Modern Chinese Art | |
ARTH 2660 | From Mao to Now: Contemporary Chinese Art | |
ARTH 2710 | Cosmographies and Ecologies in Chinese Art | |
Select one course from Ancient and Medieval European Art History numbered 2000-2969: | 1 | |
ARTH 2090/ARCH 1101 | Greek Archaeology | |
ARTH 2100/ARCH 1102 | Roman Archaeology | |
ARTH 2130 Art of Three Faiths: Christian, Jewish, and Islamic Art and Architecture, Third to Twelfth Centuries | ||
ARTH 2310 | The Gothic World | |
ARTH 2315 | Illuminated Manuscripts and Early Printed Books | |
ARTH 2325 | Northern European Art of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries | |
Select one course from Renaissance and Baroque European Art History numbered 2000-2969: | 1 | |
ARTH 2230 | The Arts of Venice | |
ARTH 2400 | The Medici's Italy: Art, Politics, and Religion, 1300-1600 | |
ARTH 2405 | Monstrosity and Elegance: Mannerism in European Court Art, 1500-1600. | |
ARTH 2415 | Art in the Age of Velazquez, Rembrandt, and Caravaggio | |
Select one course from Modern and Contemporary European and American Art History numbered 2000-2969: | 1 | |
ARTH 2410 Sugar, Tobacco, Rice, and Rum: Art and Identity in Atlantic World, 1620–1812 | ||
ARTH 2420 Realism and Its Discontents: European Art, 1839-1900 | ||
ARTH 2755 | American Art from the Civil War to 1945 | |
ARTH 2765 | Shoot, Snap, Instagram: A History of Photography in America | |
ARTH 2770 | The Art of Making and Meaning | |
ARTH 2865 | Modern Art | |
ARTH 2870 | Contemporary Art | |
Select two additional ARTH courses numbered 2000 or higher. | 2 | |
Select two advanced ARTH seminars (numbered 3000–3999). | 2 |
Art History Minor
Code | Title | Credits |
---|---|---|
Required Courses | ||
Select one introductory ARTH course (numbered 1100-1999). | 1 | |
Select two intermediate ARTH courses (numbered 2000–2999). | 2 | |
Select one advanced ARTH course (numbered 3000–3999). | 1 | |
Select one additional ARTH course at any level. a | 1 |
- a
A first year writing seminar in ARTH or an independent study may be used to satisfy this requirement.
Courses that count toward the major and minor must be taken for regular letter grades (not Credit/D/Fail), and students must earn grades of C- or better in these courses.
Seminars in Art History
The seminars are intended to utilize the scholarly interests of members of the department and provide an opportunity for advanced work for selected students who have successfully completed enough of the regular courses to possess a sufficient background. The department does not expect to give all, or in some cases any, seminars each semester. As the seminars are varied, a given topic may be offered only once, or its form changed considerably from time to time.
Interdisciplinary Majors
Art history participates in interdisciplinary programs in art history and archaeology, and in art history and visual arts. Art history majors may pursue a coordinate major with digital and computational studies, environmental studies, or education. See the Interdisciplinary Majors.
Additional Information and Department Policies
Art History
- Students who received a minimum score of four on the Art History Advanced Placement exam may replace one introductory art history course (numbered 1100–1999) with any upper-level course for the art history major and art history minor. In order to receive credit for Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate work, students must have their scores officially reported to the Office of the Registrar by the end of their sophomore year at Bowdoin.
- Majors and minors in art history may double-count one course with another major or minor as long as the course is cross-listed with art history.
- Art history majors are also encouraged to take courses in foreign languages and literature, history, philosophy, religion, and the other arts.
- A maximum of two courses for one semester of study from another college or university may count toward the major in art history with departmental approval of that transfer credit. If a student studies away for a full academic year, three courses from another college or university may count toward their art history major with departmental approval.
- Only one course for one semester of study from another college or university may count toward a student’s art history minor with departmental approval.
Information for Incoming Students: Art History
Art history offers ways to understand our world and our histories through the visual arts. We look at the ways people have expressed their ideas, responded to their experiences, and created the world they lived in through paintings, sculptures, buildings, furniture, jewelry, stained glass, and much more. By teaching you how to look closely, art history provides you with new ways to think about the images and objects around you.
Art history is offering two first-year writing seminars this fall: ARTH 1028 Art and Race from the Crusades to Colonization and ARTH 1038 Living in a Material World: Thinking and Writing with Art and Architecture. First-year students are also welcome to join all our 1000- and 2000- level courses. The 1000-level courses for this fall are ARTH 1305 Making Medieval Art and ARTH 1605 Introduction to Art History: The Body in East Asian Art. The 2000-level courses allow students to dive more deeply into specific topics and periods, but there is no expectation that students have any previous experience with art history: ARTH 2315 Illuminated Manuscripts and Early Printed Books, ARTH 2650 Culture and Crisis in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Art, ARTH 2755 American Art from the Civil War to 1945, and ARTH 2860 Women, Gender, And Sexuality in Western European and American Art, 1500 to Present.
This is an excerpt from the official Bowdoin College Catalogue and Academic Handbook. View the Catalogue