Art History

The history of art explores the meanings, values, and purposes of the visual arts within the historical cultures that create them. Works of fine and applied arts are understood not merely as aesthetic forms, but as expressions of the social, economic, scientific, religious, and political contexts that gave rise to them. The study of art history thus effectively serves the high purposes of a liberal education by equipping students with an understanding of world cultures and their histories from multiple disciplinary perspectives, and by encouraging the development of critical thinking, reading, research, and writing skills.  

The art history program has a uniquely flexible curricular design in that it permits students to pursue art history as either a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree. The BA degree is intended for students wishing to become professional art historians or who wish to supplement the art history curriculum with other courses leading to a specific career path. The BS degree is designed to allow students to combine the art history major with another major or to tailor the curriculum to their specific interests and aspirations. Both the BA and BS degrees require a total of 181.0 credit hours.

Bachelor of Arts

The BA degree requires 60.0 credit hours of art history, 75.0 credit hours of General Education courses, and 46.0 credit hours of Free Electives. The BA degree requires a strong component of Arts and Humanities courses in order to prepare students to enter the professional world of art historians by exposing them to critical reasoning, philosophy, anthropology, literature, world cultures, and foreign languages. The 46.0 credit hours of Free Electives can be used under faculty advisement to take additional art history courses, develop special competencies and areas of interest (e.g., race and gender studies; the histories of technology, science and philosophy; Asian or Africana studies; writing, literature, and criticism; design history; museum studies, etc.), or gain competencies in various applied or technical areas. This BA program requires two 3-month co-ops.

More information about the Bachelor of Science in Art History is available.

Co-op Opportunities

Drexel's enviable geographical location in the northeast corridor of the United States provides a distinct advantage for an art history program because of the proximity of many important Museums, galleries, and auction houses. The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Barnes Foundation, Rodin Museum, Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Penn Museum of Archeology and Anthropology are all local and easily accessible. Museums, galleries and auction houses in New York, Washington, Baltimore and other east coast centers are all within a reasonable distance by train, bus, or car. These institutions will offer students an abundance of opportunities for first-hand study of the major collections of art, architecture, and design. Proximity to these institutions can also provide for many choice opportunities for cooperative education experiences.

Some possibilities include:

• Barnes  Foundation
• Philadelphia Museum of Art
• Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
• American Philosophical Society
• Moderne Gallery
• Calderwood Gallery
• RagoArts Auction House, Lambertville, NJ
• Twelve Gates Gallery for Contemporary South Asian Art
• Newark Museum, NJ
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Brooklyn Museum
• Mural Arts Program
• Asia Society NY
• Christie's NY

Career Opportunities

A major in art history can prepare students for a wide variety of careers, as well as preparation for graduate school.

Possible career paths:

• Museum Administrator
• Gallery Director
• Curator
• Museum Registrar
• Museum Educator
• Art Consultant
• Art Librarian
• Editor
• Art and/or Intellectual Property Law
• Artist Representative
• Non-profit and governmental organizations
• Teacher (K-12)
• Teacher/Researcher (college and university)

As a particularly broad humanities discipline, art history serves as an outstanding pre-professional degree, providing excellent preparation for a wide variety of professions, such as law, medicine, education and library science.

Visit the Drexel Steinbright Career Development Center page for more detailed information on co-op and post-graduate opportunities.