MA in Art History: Course Requirements

All students are required to complete 10 courses (30 points of credit), including:

  • The MA Methods Colloquium in their first semester. This course examines the methods employed by art historians for the interpretation of the visual arts, including iconography, social art history, feminism, gender studies, and post-colonialism. Through the critical reading of primary and secondary sources, students learn about the history and recent developments of the methods of art history, while attending to the concepts that have shaped the discipline.
  • The Practices of Art History Colloquium in their second semester. The premise of this course is that art historians and museum professionals work with objects that need to be preserved, researched, interpreted, and displayed. To engage with these aspects, students work directly with objects from the Columbia Art Properties collection, while also learning from leading art professionals invited to share their expertise.
  • 6 other courses at either the 8000, 6000, 5000- or 4000-level. Of these courses, no more than 2 should be taken for R credit. Students who wish to take courses at the 2000-level must get the instructor's approval to take them at the 5000-level, either for a letter grade (which commonly involves additional course assignments) or for R credit. Students may take up to two 2000-level courses at the 5000-level towards their course requirements, regardless of the grading option that they choose (letter grade or R credit).
  • 2 sections of the MA Thesis course in their final year in the program.


Distribution requirements

While there are no formal distribution requirements in the MA in Art History program, students are strongly encouraged to take during their coursework at least one course outside of their geographical and/or chronological field at the 4000 level or above.

Courses outside the Department

With the consent of their advisor, students may take courses in other departments relevant to their course of study.

Incompletes

To ensure permission to continue in the program, students are warned against the accumulation of Incompletes in the MA coursework.

Language requirement

Reading knowledge of one foreign language relevant to the field of study must be demonstrated in order to receive the MA degree. Students should consult with their advisor at the beginning of their first year to determine with which language they should fulfill this requirement.

For information about the fulfillment of the language requirement, please consult the MAAH Student Handbook.