BA in Art History
Degree Program Description
Art History combines the study of art, artifacts, and the built environment with the study of culture. By developing skills in visual literacy, critical thinking and writing, and historical research, students learn to situate objects and structures within their cultural contexts and explore how they fashion, preserve, and challenge beliefs and values. The discipline of art history offers a unique perspective on the past since it considers the places history was made as well as the images, objects, and documents that recorded it. Moreover, art history’s attention to the lives of objects–their production, use, and reception–makes it inherently cross-cultural and interdisciplinary. Students are encouraged to draw on other subjects of study, including archaeology, anthropology, business, gender studies, literature, music, religion, science, and technology, and to transfer that knowledge to their understanding of art history and visual studies. The wide range of skills acquired in the BA program prepares students for a variety of employment opportunities in the creative economy. Recent graduates are employed by museums, galleries, non-profit arts organizations, government agencies, libraries, schools, and businesses across the nation and around the world. They curate exhibitions, edit publications, develop educational programming, manage community outreach projects, teach students of all ages, and work to preserve the nation’s architectural and cultural heritage. They also participate in strategic development, human resource and operations management, and long-term planning for private and public companies. Finally, many students continue their studies at the graduate level in art and architectural history, art conservation, education, law, library science, and museum studies.
Major Program Requirements
In addition to University, general education, and College of Arts and Science requirements, students must also meet the following major program requirements. All major requirements in the College of Arts and Science must be completed with grades of C- or higher unless otherwise indicated.
Course requirements
- Students must take ARH_VS 1130 and ARH_VS 2850W. (Students who have taken one or both halves of the traditional survey may apply them here.)
- Or the General Honors Humanities Sequence (GN_HON 2111H, GN_HON 2112H, GN_HON 2113H, GN_HON 2114H).
- Four ARH_VS courses at the 3000 level or above, 12 credit hours with at least one course in three out of four distribution areas: Ancient, Medieval-Renaissance, Early Modern, Modern & Contemporary. Courses listed below.
- Two courses at the 4000 level.
- Three electives in the SVS at any level, at least two of which must be in other areas other than Art History (Art, Film Studies, Digital Storytelling).
- Students must take ARH_VS 4970.
| Ancient | ||
| AMS 3210 | Near Eastern and Egyptian Art and Archaeology | 3 |
| AMS 3310 | Greek Art and Archaeology | 3 |
| AMS 3410 | Roman Art and Archaeology | 3 |
| AMS 3775 | The Ancient World on Film | 3 |
| AMS 4320 | Archaeology of the Aegean Bronze Age | 3 |
| AMS 4340 | Greek Cities and Sanctuaries | 3 |
| AMS 4350 | Greek Pottery | 3 |
| AMS 4360 | Greek Sculpture | 3 |
| AMS 4420 | Minor Arts of Antiquity | 3 |
| AMS 4440 | Roman Architecture | 3 |
| AMS 4460 | Roman Sculpture | 3 |
| AMS 4490 | Late Antique Art and Archaeology | 3 |
| Medieval-Renaissance | ||
| AMS 3510 | Byzantine and Islamic Art and Archaeology | 3 |
| AMS 3520 | Early Medieval Art and Archaeology | 3 |
| ARH_VS 3530 | Medieval Art | 3 |
| ARH_VS 3620 | Italian Renaissance Art | 3 |
| ARH_VS 3630 | Northern Renaissance Art | 3 |
| ARH_VS 3640 | Baroque Art | 3 |
| AMS 4510 | Byzantine Art and Archaeology | 3 |
| AMS 4520 | Art and Archaeology of Early Medieval Europe | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4530 | Romanesque Art and Architecture | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4540 | Gothic Art and Architecture | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4630 | The Renaissance Artist | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4640 | Renaissance and Baroque Architecture | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4660 | Art and Ideas in the Northern Renaissance | 3 |
| Early Modern | ||
| ARH_VS 3830 | American Art and Culture, 1500-1820 | 3 |
| ARH_VS 3850 | American Art and Culture, 1913-Present | 3 |
| ARH_VS 3730 | Eighteenth Century European Art | 3 |
| ARH_VS 3740 | Nineteenth-Century European Art | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4120 | Gender and the Arts | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4160 | Global Encounters in Art History | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4710 | The Arts of the Rococo | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4720 | Revolution and Romanticism: Art C. 1800 | 3 |
| Modern & Contemporary | ||
| ARH_VS 3750 | Modern Art in Europe and America | 3 |
| ARH_VS 3760 | Contemporary Art | 3 |
| ARH_VS 3780 | Architecture in Film | 3 |
| ARH_VS 3785 | Arts and Artists on Film | 3 |
| ARH_VS 3790 | Indian Cinema | 3 |
| ARH_VS 3850 | American Art and Culture, 1913-Present | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4740 | Modern Architecture | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4750 | Contemporary World Architecture | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4760 | Modern Sculpture | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4780 | Advanced Course in Contemporary Art | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4820 | American Material Culture | 3 |
| ARH_VS 4840 | American Architecture | 3 |
Language Requirement
The Art History major requires study through the reading level (i.e. 12 or 13 credits) in one modern language, such as French, German, Italian, or Spanish. Students who plan to attend graduate school are strongly urged to begin study of one or more languages.
Courses Recommended for a Well-Rounded Degree
Art History students should take additional courses in the Humanities, including anthropology, classical humanities, film studies, history, literature, religious studies, and philosophy.
Semester Plan
Below is a sample plan of study, semester by semester. A student's actual plan may vary based on course choices where options are available.
| First Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| ARH_VS 1130 | 3 | Visual Studies elective (non-Art History) | 3 |
| ENGLSH 1000 | 3 | Humanities, First Writing Intensive | 3 |
| Second Language Requirement | 4 | Math and Quantitative Reasoning | 3 |
| Missouri State Law Requirement, Social Science from Arts and Science | 3 | Second Language Requirement | 4 |
| Humanities from Arts and Science | 3 | ||
| 16 | 13 | ||
| Second Year | |||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| Art History Distribution Area course | 3 | Art History Distribution Area course | 3 |
| Second Language Requirement | 4 | Biological or Physical Science lab | 3 |
| Behavioral Science from Arts and Science | 3 | Behavioral Science, 2000+ level | 3 |
| Visual Studies elective (non-Art History) | 3 | Humanities | 3 |
| Second major, minor, certificate, or elective | 3 | Visual Studies elective (non-Art History) | 3 |
| 16 | 15 | ||
| Third Year | |||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| Art History Distribution Area course | 3 | ARH_VS 3820W | 3 |
| Biological, Physical, or Mathematical Science | 3 | Biological, Physical, or Mathematical Science | 3 |
| Humanities, 2000+ level | 3 | Humanities, 2000+ level | 3 |
| Social Science | 3 | Internship or Undergraduate Research | 3 |
| Second major, minor, certificate, or elective | 3 | Second major, minor, certificate, or elective | 3 |
| 15 | 15 | ||
| Fourth Year | |||
| Fall | Credits | Spring | Credits |
| Art History Distribution Area course | 3 | Art History course, 4000 level | 3 |
| Art History course, 4000 level | 3 | ARH_VS 4970 | 1 |
| Social Science | 3 | Visual Studies elective | 3 |
| Internship or Undergraduate Research | 3 | Internship or Undergraduate Research | 3 |
| Second major, minor, certificate, or elective | 3 | Second major, minor, certificate, or elective | 5 |
| 15 | 15 | ||
| Total Credits: 120 | |||
Degree Audit
The degree audit is an automated report reflecting a student’s academic progress toward the completion of a degree.
MU students can request a degree audit by logging in to myDegreePlanner. Students may also access myDegreePlanner via myZou, in the Student Center, click on the Academic Progress Tile, then select Request Degree Audit. The audit automatically pulls in the student’s MU course work, transfer courses and courses in progress. This is available to current students, admitted students, and those who last attended less than three terms ago.
Past MU students can request a degree audit by contacting the Academic Advising Unit of the division in which they were last enrolled at MU. For contact information, go to https://advising.missouri.edu/contact/.
Prospective students, can access a preliminary MU degree audit via https://www.transferology.com. Information on the college credits already earned will have to be manually entered before it can be evaluated against current degree requirements.
For additional details on degree audits, go to https://registrar.missouri.edu/degrees-audits/degree-audits/.
Major and Career Exploration
The University of Missouri has many resources to assist you in exploring majors and career possibilities. For guidance, visit the Majors and Careers website or view specific resources below.
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If you are considering a change of major or are exploring multiple majors, schedule an appointment with an advisor in the Discovery Center by calling (573)884-9700 or through MU Connect Discovery Center service in you success network.
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If you have decided on a major, visit an academic advisor in the School or College that you are interested in to discuss the process of declaring the major.
- If you would like to learn more about your career interests, abilities, values and talents, visit the MU Career Center. No Appointment is necessary to explore career options with one of our staff members.
- If you would like information about MU majors and degree programs, visit:
- the Degrees, Majors (Degree Programs), Emphasis Areas, Minors and Certificates page in the catalog,
- the MU Majors website.
For additional major and career exploration resources, visit Major & Career Exploration in the catalog.