2024-2025 Catalog

Art History, BA

Degree Requirements - 126 credits

Students can earn a Bachelor of Arts degree with this major

Art History Major Requirements: 11 courses, 39-40 credits

Core Requirements (3 courses, 9 credits)

ARH-101Art History I

4

ARH-102Art History II

4

CAS-201College to Career: Explore Your Options and Find Your Path

1

CAS-H201Honors College to Career: Explore Your Options and Find Your Path

1

Students in the Honors Program have the option of completing the Honors version of a course.

Studio Art Requirement (1 course, 3 credits)

Choose one of the following:

  • Any Foundation studio course (ADF-S)

  • Any Fine Arts studio course (ADFA-S)

Art History Electives (7 courses, 27-28 credits)

Choose seven electives, one of which must be an ARH 400-level seminar or ARH-H555, Art History Honors Thesis. Electives must include at least one course in groups A, B, and C

A) Ancient Through 18th Century Art
ARH-303Art of the Early Renaissance in Italy

4

ARH-304Art in the Age of Michelangelo: The High and Late Renaissance in Italy

4

ARH-308Art of the Baroque and Rococo

4

ARH-312Art of the Northern Renaissance

4

B) 19th Century Through Contemporary Art
ARH-309Art of the 19th Century

4

ARH-310Modernism in Art

4

ARH-311American Art

4

ARH-316Contemporary Art

4

ARH-318Art and Museums Today

4

C) Non-Western Art
ARH-203Arts of Asia

4

ARH-206Global Cross-Cultural Perspectives in Art

4

Notes:

  • One elective course may be in related areas of visual culture such as the philosophy of art, photojournalism, advertising, and cinema. A relevant First-Year Seminar with a strong concentration in art history or visual culture may also count as an elective at the discretion of the program director:

ADPR-257Advertising I: Foundations

4

ARH-290Internship in Art History

4

CJN-152Visual Aesthetics

4

CJN-H152Honors Visual Aesthetics

4

CJN-218Photojournalism

4

  • Upper-level Art History courses taken at other institutions or through study abroad must be approved by the program director and must not overlap significantly with any other upper-level Art History course(s) counted toward the major.

  • AP credit cannot be applied toward the major.

Residency Requirement Policy: In the College of Arts and Sciences, a two-course (8 credit) residency requirement must be satisfied for completion of a minor and a four-course (16 credit) residency requirement must be satisfied for the completion of a major.

About the Art History Major

Learn more about the experiences and opportunities available within this major.

View the Program Page

 

Art History Major Learning Goals and Objectives

Learning goals and objectives reflect the educational outcomes achieved by students through the completion of this program. These transferable skills prepare Suffolk students for success in the workplace, in graduate school, and in their local and global communities.

Learning Goals Learning Objectives
Students will know/understand... Students will be able to...
The important roles that the visual arts have played in society - Demonstrate awareness of the multiple purposes visual arts have played in different cultures and periods
Appropriate methods for analyzing works of visual art - GENRE: know the traditional aims and conventions of the major types or genres of work produced in the historical and regional contexts covered by the course (e.g. Renaissance status portraits, Gothic cathedrals); and articulate how a given work or monument sustains, transforms, or breaks those conventions in the pursuit of its particular aims
- FORM/STYLE: thoroughly and accurately perceive the media, techniques, and formal elements of a given work (composition, texture, scale, etc.); use appropriate technical vocabulary for describing them (contrapposto, nave, painterly brushwork); and relate them to the contextual meaning/purpose and expressive content of the work
- CONTEXT: relate works to the ideas and practices of their original contexts (social, cultural, political, religious, etc.); and account for how a given work sought to affect or influence the ideas and practices of its original context
How learning experiences inside and outside the classroom are connected and interdependent - Analyze works of art seen in person at local museums and galleries using course-acquired knowledge and skills

About the Art History Major

Learn more about the experiences and opportunities available within this major.

View the Program Page