Art History Curriculum

The Art History Major

Art History, as Donald Preziosi has written, makes "the visible legible." Over the course of their college careers, students of art history are equipped to think and write with precision about art, architecture and visual culture.  Attuned to perceptual process and alert to the power of images and objects, students reason with the evidence and investigate theoretical lenses, imagining and analyzing the intertwining of form, context and content.

Art History majors can double-major in either Architecture or Visual Arts. While individual courses can count for two majors, a total of 48 upper-division units are required between the two majors. Interested students should meet with an academic advisor to plan a course of study. 

Art History majors choose one of four emphases: 

1. History of Art and Architecture

2. Museum and Curatorial Practice

3. History and Theory of Architecture and the City

4. History and Theory of the Moving Image and Media Art

All four emphases share Preparation for the Major, as well as Methods and Capstone sequences of courses:

Preparation for the Major

History of Art and Architecture

This path offers students a robust background in the history of art and architecture, with an emphasis on modern and contemporary work. Students have the opportunity to study objects and buildings firsthand; many take up internships in USD's University Galleries and Print Study Collection, as well as in the museums and artists' spaces of San Diego. 

Equipped to look critically and contextually at works of art, students are prepared to take on the onslaught of images that have come to frame our understanding of the world. Students go on to graduate programs in art history; careers in museums, artists' spaces and galleries; law school; work in art-related organizations, foundations and non-profits.  Students concentrating on the History of Art and Architecture draw on the expansive and focused resources of the Department of Art, Architecture + Art History, with its compelling faculty in all three fields.

Students must complete 28 upper-division units in Art History (ARTH), including the Methods and Capstone Sequence:

Please note that some courses are cross-listed and may be taken under either subject code: ARTH 144/FILM 101, ARTH 321/ARCH 321, ARTH 322/ARCH 322, ARTH 323/ARCH 323, ARTH 340/ARCH 340.

Museum and Curatorial Practice

This path prepares students to think critically and proactively about the ways that art is positioned—in the museum and in the larger arena of public space—shaping viewers' perceptions of the past and sense of the future. Mindful of the politics of representation and display, students will examine the shifting ground that reaches from the early museums of the mid-eighteenth century to the urban interventions and cyber-exhibitions of the twenty-first century. 

This concentration prepares students to pursue graduate work and careers in museums, galleries, artists' spaces, art in public places programs, and emerging online venues. Enlisting the robust resources of San Diego, students gather first-hand experience through internships in USD's Hoehn Print Study Collection and University Galleries, together with the city's major museums and public art programs. Recent student internships have included: Hoehn Print Study Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego Museum of Art, Timken Museum, New Children's Museum, and Quint Contemporary Art. Internships further afield have included: Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC; Freer Gallery, Washington, DC; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY.

Prerequisites are as in the major. Students must complete 28 upper-division units in Art History (ARTH), including:

Students are encouraged to meet with their advisor to select pertinent electives from such fields as Communication, Ethnic Studies, Sociology, Business, and Leadership.

History and Theory of Architecture and the City

This path encourages students to address contemporary social/cultural circumstances in the light of a historically grounded sense of visual expression and material culture. Courses in the history and theory of architecture and the city will be augmented by studies in other fields appropriate to each student’s interests.  History and Theory of Architecture and the City is conceived for students who intend to move into fields such as architecture, architectural history and historic preservation, city planning, or public arts programs, and who will work toward creative strategies of urban intervention.

Prerequisites are as in the major.  Students must complete 28 upper-division units in Art History (ARTH), including:

Please note that a number of courses are cross-listed and may be taken under either subject code.

History and Theory of the Moving Image and Media Art

This path focuses on time-based artistic practices, with emphasis on work made since 1960. Courses delve into experimental performance and video work; confront moving images that range from the painstaking hand-crafted animation of William Kentridge to the LED declamations of Jenny Holzer; and consider the ways that artists have operated within carefully calibrated parameters of time and space (as in the works of Ja'Tovia Gary and Ragnar Kjartannson). Students will be equipped to think critically and contextually about the moving images that have come to envelop us in the 21st century.

This emphasis prepares students to pursue graduate studies and careers in museums, galleries, artists' spaces and emerging online venues. Art history students focusing on History and Theory of the Moving Image and Media Art draw on the expansive resources of the Department of Art, Architecture + Art History and its interdisciplinary Visual Arts concentration in Film, Performance + Media Art.

Prerequisites are as in the major, but students in this emphasis must take ARTH 101 Introduction to the History of Art and ARTH 144/FILM 101 Introduction to Cinema; and their Visual Arts courses must include two of: ARTV 104: Introduction to Animation, ARTV 108: Introduction to Film/Video, MUSC/ARTH 109: Introduction to Sonic Arts, ARTV 308: Virtual Reality and 3-D Studio, ARTV 320: Topics in Film/Video, ARTV 323: Film and the Female Gender, ARTV 324: Intermediate/Advanced Film/Video, ARTV 355: Architecture, Film & Media: The Space of the Screen. Students must complete 28 upper-division units in Art History (ARTH) and Film (FILM), including:

Art History Study Abroad

No more than a total of two study abroad courses can be counted toward Art History major credit.

Honors Courses

Honors Seminars focused on the history of art and architecture are open to all Art History majors as space allows, and count toward the major. Topics have included several team-taught courses: Trash: Modernity and Evacuation, Images of Enlightenment, Modern Palestinian Art and Literature, and Modern Latin American Art and Literature.

Double Majoring in Art History and Architecture or Art History and Visual Arts

Students are allowed to double count units toward two majors within the Department of Art, Architecture + Art History in a limited manner: they must complete a total of at least 48 upper-division units in the two majors while fulfilling all of the requirements for both majors.