Art History

  What is Art History?

Art historians are experts on the lives and works of artists and designers, and on the forms, traditions, meanings and cultural context of art, architecture and design. Experts in the fields of anthropology, languages, literature, music, sociology, philosophy and criticism depend upon art historians. Art works are likely to be the most authentic and accessible products of a culture, and as such, serve as indispensable guides to understanding that culture.

  Success Factors

People who are successful in the art history program have both visual and verbal learning styles. Art history is important to students who are passionate about art, enjoy learning, and believe in the value of a broad humanistic education. They study of the lives of and works of artists and designers and deal with questions about the forms, traditions, meanings and cultural context of works of art, architecture and design of both present and past.

  Career Possibilities

Art history students can prepare for employment as teachers, museum curators, commercial art gallery proprietors or staff, art conservators, art librarians, photographers, journalists, advertising professionals, television and film producers, and many other art-related occupations. Graduate study is necessary to advance in most of these fields. Many art history students enter graduate school immediately after graduation, while others enroll after some work experience has led to specialization in a particular area. As curators in museums, art historians are responsible for entire areas of a museum collection, including selection and maintenance of works of art, cataloging, exhibiting and publishing. Art historians are often the directors of educational programs in museums.

Teachers, especially college teachers, are usually expected to earn a doctoral degree. This requires five to seven years of graduate study in order to acquire both a comprehensive knowledge of art history and a highly developed specialization.

  Majoring in Art History

Art history students in UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) may focus on different cultures, various periods of time and particular forms of art, such as painting, sculpture, printmaking, architecture, design or the decorative arts. Many other fields of learning may be important to art historians, according to their individual interests.

Courses are offered in many areas including Renaissance, Baroque, Asian, Modern, African-American, and American art history and museum studies. Courses in ancient art and architecture are taught by members of the UC Classics Department. Many additional courses in the history of design, architecture and cities are offered in other programs of the college.

Research in associated fields such as art theory may be pursued through faculty-directed independent study. Students work as interns in local museums and galleries. Interdisciplinary work is encouraged. Distinguished visitors are regularly invited by the art history program and other programs in the college as lecturers and critics.

Students may elect to remain in the program an additional year to complete the required course work in art education, professional education and practicum experience to meet the state of Ohio and National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) standards for PK-12 visual-arts teacher certification and licensure.

  Minoring in Art History

While there is not a minor in art history, students may earn a certificate in fine arts. Please see the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning Bulletin at www.uc.edu/bulletins (http://www.uc.edu/bulletins) for further information.

  Curriculum

This curriculum information is intended as a general information guide for students considering enrollment in this program. These online tools are designed to assist you, but are not a substitute for planning with an academic or faculty advisor.

If you are currently confirmed or enrolled, you can check your degree requirements online (http://www.onestop.uc.edu/degree_audit.html). If you are considering transferring to this major from another school use the Course Applicability System (CAS) (https://oh.transfer.org/cas/) to see how credits you have earned will apply to this major at UC. For course descriptions by college, click here (http://www.uc.edu/courses). (http://www.uc.edu/DegreePrograms/Collage/documents/daap/uc_arth_prog_outline.pdf)

Art History Curriculum (http://www.uc.edu/DegreePrograms/Collage/documents/daap/uc_arth_prog_outline.pdf)

  UC Advantages and Special Opportunities

• The city of Cincinnati, once called the "Queen City of the West" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, provides an excellent array of cultural resources for students who intend to pursue a degree in the visual arts. It offers the energy and assets of a larger city, along with quiet neighborhoods steeped in rich traditions. Cincinnati offers live music venues that range from top-notch symphony and opera companies to a growing pop and rock community.    
  A small city, it is large enough for a strong support system among practicing artists and provides an audience to sustain it. When students do something important in their art work, it gets noticed here. The Ohio Arts Council, city and state arts grants, Summerfair, and a number of private foundations remain healthy funding sources for practicing artists. Cincinnati is situated within driving distance of Chicago, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and New York City, allowing DAAP students to take advantage of the rich cultural resources of these cities as well.

• Home to the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Taft Museum and the Contemporary Arts Center, the city also enjoys the presence of numerous art galleries and a strong support system among practicing artists. Cincinnati is situated within driving distance of Chicago, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and New York City, allowing DAAP students to take advantage of the rich cultural resources of these cities as well.
• The DAAP College Library has an outstanding collection of books, periodicals and visual resources supporting architecture, planning, design, art history and related subjects. Access to library holdings is provided by an automated online catalogue, UCLID, which provides access to the University of Cincinnati Library information database, and through OhioLINK, the holdings of other academic libraries throughout Ohio.
• The Computer Graphics Center is a state-of-the-art university facility with hardware that includes PCs, Apple computers and peripherals such as scanners, plotters and digital video-editing suites. Students have access to sophisticated graphics equipment and receive hands-on instruction to augment the use of laptops in the classroom. All computing equipment is linked by high-speed Ethernet to facilitate access across the campus.
• The college supports a Rapid Prototyping Center, which is the home of state-of-the-art equipment that allows students to create communication aids for their design projects. Using CAD (computer-aided design) models, students are able to create physical models using three basic methods: 3-D printing, large format laser-cutting and CNC (computer numeric control) devices, including a Kuomo CNC Router. This facility is intended for all DAAP students to use in creating large-scale design.

  Special Programs

• Computer Requirements: All undergraduate students entering the UC School of Art in the art history program are required to purchase a personal laptop computer. Each discipline has its own specific requirements for hardware and software. You can review the current requirements at www.daap.uc.edu/compreq (http://www.daap.uc.edu/compreq). Please note that these requirements may be slightly altered as equipment evolves. The requirements listed on the Web site will always be the most recent and accurate. Therefore, students new to DAAP are encouraged to delay their computer purchase until the summer prior to entering to make the most informed computer purchase. Many of our programs have additional technology requirements for students in the later years of study.

  Admission Requirements

Freshmen

Admission criteria for this program vary based on the relative strength of test scores, class rank and GPA. Please see the Freshman Class Profile for this major in the Quick Facts sidebar on this page for the range of academic credentials typically accepted into this program. Test scores in the lower range may be acceptable with higher class rank and/or GPA.

Freshmen applying to this program should also have completed the following college-preparatory subjects:

• 4 units of college prep English
• 3 units of college preparatory math
• 2 units of science
• 2 units in one language
• 2 units of social studies
• 1 unit of fne arts
• 2 additional college prep subjects
  

  Transferring to UC Requirements

Students seeking to transfer from another regionally accredited university or college must have at least a 2.5 cumulative grade point average in previous college work to be considered for admission.

  Changing Majors within UC Requirements

Students seeking to transfer from other colleges and programs at UC must have at least a 2.5 cumulative grade point average in previous college work to be considered for admission.

  Graduation Requirements

Students must complete a total of 192 credit hours for graduation (247 for the option with visual-arts teacher licensure). An academic concentration must be chosen from the following areas and at least 27 quarter credits must be completed in it: history, philosophy, classics, language, anthropology, English literature, fine arts, or a suitable substitute agreed to by the student and the advisor.

Students must obtain a minimum overall grade point average of 2.0 and, in addition, must have at least a 2.0 grade point average for the senior year to be eligible for graduation. In order to be eligible for graduation with honors, a student must have completed at least 90 credits in the college and have earned at least a 3.6 grade point average.

  Application Deadlines

Prospective high school students are advised to apply as soon as possible after September 1 of their senior year for assured consideration. Enrollment in the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning is controlled, and therefore admission is selective. Admission to art history is on a rolling (first-come, first-served) basis; once all the available seats are filled, the program is closed.

Students seeking transfer from another college or program at UC or another regionally accredited university or college should also apply early in the academic year.

  Accreditation

The University of Cincinnati is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

All programs in the School of Art are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).

More information about UC programs as online at www.uc.edu/programs