Art History PhD

The Department of Art History offers programs leading to the master of arts and the doctor of philosophy in art history.Our faculty includes specialists in, to name a few: African and African Diaspora art; American art and architecture; American material culture; contemporary art and theory; Chinese art; curatorial studies; early modern European art; Islamic art and architecture; Japanese art; Medieval European and Byzantine art; print culture; photography, film, and video; vernacular architecture; Victorian art and materialculture; and visual studies and critical theory. The department encourages the study of the global history of art, and material and visual culture while investigating works in all media from a wide range of periods and a variety of world cultures.

Students enjoy close interaction with their mentors and profit from superb resources for interdisciplinary research. Faculty members have international reputations in their specialties, regularly receive prestigious awards, lecture widely, and serve on major professional boards. Graduates of the department teach at the postsecondary level or pursue careers in museum and curatorial professions, private galleries and auction houses, library or archival work, architecture and historical preservation, and conservation.

The department is housed in the Conrad A. Elvehjem Building with theChazen Museum of Art, which has a broad historical collection with several areas of particular strength, an active acquisitions program, and facilities to host major traveling exhibitions and exhibition courses. Graduate students use these collections for research and publishing projects. They may also have the opportunity to work on exhibitions in special classes or as project assistants. The building is also home to the Kohler Art Library, which contains an excellent collection of published materials and full range of periodicals. The department possesses a large image collection.

1. Shows professional-level mastery of the skills acquired at earlier stages (visual analysis, contextual interpretation, research methods, evaluation of arguments, application of varied theoretical perspectives).
2. Articulates research problems, potentials, and limits with respect to theory, knowledge, or practice within the field of art history (including visual culture and material culture).
3. Formulates ideas, concepts, designs, and/or techniques beyond the current boundaries of knowledge within the field of art history/visual culture/material culture.
4. Conducts research and produces scholarship that makes a substantive contribution to the field and to interdisciplinary enquiry.
5. Demonstrates breadth within their learning experiences.
6. Shows advanced skills in effective and impactful communication in both written and oral form in ways that acknowledge diverse audiences in an increasingly global society.
7. Fosters ethical and professional conduct.
8. Prepares to be an educator who uses the latest pedagogies such that one can compellingly and thoroughly teach, motivate, and shape the next generation of global citizens in the arts and sciences with a focus on the visual.
9. Foster skills in public engagement such that our students are able to effectively communicate complex ideas about art, visual culture and material culture to a lay public in written, oral, and digital form in keeping with the Wisconsin Idea.
10. Is able to prompt and participate in interdisciplinary dialogue with scholars and the public about the power of images and objects both historically and in the present‚ to persuade, critique, and even coerce.