Art History MA at University of Wisconsin Madison

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 post-secondary 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 the Chazen 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. Mastery of techniques for visual analysis (examining features such as materials, proportion, light, color, form and narrative structure) of single images and for comparative analysis of multiple images and objects.
2. Advanced proficiency in interpreting images/objects in ways that take into account the historical contexts in which they were produced and received.
3. In-depth knowledge across a range of time and geography to reach an understanding of the ways in which art and its meaning are rooted in culture.
4. Advanced ability to locate and enlist research resources in both print and digital form and assess the strengths and weaknesses of various types of resources.
5. Advanced knowledge and skills necessary to interpret images/objects in ways that consider a variety of theoretical perspectives.
6. Ability to assess and critique complex scholarly arguments and evaluate the strength of the visual and textual evidence presented.
7. Advanced skills in effective and impactful communication in both written and oral form in ways that acknowledge diverse audiences in an increasingly global society.
8. Skills in public engagement such that our students are able to effectively communicate complex ideas to a lay public in written, oral, and digital form in keeping with the Wisconsin Idea.