Department Website
Program Description
Once described by New York Times art critic John Russell as the best undergraduate department of art history in the country, the art history program at NYU was established to provide a rigorous and wide-ranging education in the many facets of the history and theory of art, a mission that its faculty continues to enthusiastically embrace. Students become familiar with global art from antiquity to the present. The department offers courses in ancient, medieval, Renaissance, baroque, modern, contemporary, East Asian, South Asian, Islamic, Latin American, African, Oceanic, Pre-Columbian, and Native American art, treating not only painting, sculpture, architecture, and photography but also graphic media, manuscript illumination, the decorative arts, and aspects of urban design. The department is one of the few undergraduate programs in the country with extensive offerings in conservation and museology. A myriad of museums, galleries, and local architectural sites make New York City the ideal place in which to study the visual arts on site and in the flesh. Beyond New York, art history courses are offered at NYU's study away sites, such as Berlin, Buenos Aires, Florence, London, Madrid, Paris, and Prague.
The department offers majors and minors in art history and in urban design and architecture studies. Since an education in the history of art can be enhanced by a firsthand understanding of its making, our majors are encouraged to minor in studio art through the Steinhardt School. The department publishes its own student journal (Ink & Image), and has an honors program which culminates in the writing and oral defense of a senior honors thesis.
Art history graduates have proven exceptionally successful in securing positions in museums, commercial galleries, auction houses, and nonprofit organizations. Those who go on to undertake graduate study typically pursue careers as curators, conservators, and academic art historians at the university and college level. Students majoring in urban design and architecture are well prepared for graduate study in architecture, urban planning, and historic preservation.
Minor Declaration
To request declaration of a minor, CAS students should visit the host department. To request declaration of a cross-school minor, CAS students should complete the online Minor Application available in their Albert Student Center. Students may also use the Minor Application in Albert to request cancellation of a CAS or cross-school minor.
Program Requirements
The minor requires the completion of 16 credits, comprised of the following:
Course List
| Course |
Title |
Credits |
| |
| 4 |
| 4 |
| 4 |
| 4 |
| Total Credits | 16 |
Courses in the College Core Curriculum
Students majoring or minoring in art history or urban design and architecture studies are exempt from the College Core Curriculum's Expressive Culture requirement. Students who wish to have a Core Expressive Culture course (CORE-UA 720 Expressive Cult: Images, CORE-UA 721 , or CORE-UA 722 Expressive Culture: Architecture in New York Field) count for credit toward either major must secure the permission of the director of undergraduate studies for art history or the director of the urban design and architecture studies program.
Policies
Policies Applying to Departmental Majors and Minors
Credit toward the art history and urban design major or minor is granted only for courses completed with a grade of C or higher. Courses graded Pass/Fail do not count.
In the art history major, students may use one course to satisfy both a chronological requirement and a cultural traditions requirement (for example, one course might fulfill the early modern art requirement as well as one of the two required courses in cultural traditions). Students who double-count courses toward major requirements in this fashion will need to take one or more additional electives to reach the major’s statutory minimum of nine 4-point courses.
The following courses satisfy either the early modern or modern art and architecture requirement in the art history major, not both: ARTH-UA 5, 316, 317, 511, 520, 531, 541.
In addition, the following courses may be used to satisfy only one of the ancient, early modern, or modern art and architecture requirements in the art history major: ARTH-UA 506, 507, 512.
Students cannot receive credit for both History of Western Art I (ARTH-UA 1) and Ancient Art (ARTH-UA 3) or Medieval Art (ARTH-UA 4); or for both History of Western Art II (ARTH-UA 2) and Renaissance and Baroque Art (ARTH-UA 5) or Modern Art (ARTH-UA 6), as their contents overlap.
Art history courses taken in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development may not be double-counted for credit toward an art history minor. However, for Steinhardt students taking a minor in art history, the two-semester Steinhardt survey Art and Contemporary Culture is the prerequisite for advanced Renaissance, baroque, and modern courses. Art and Contemporary Culture II may only serve as the prerequisite for advanced modern courses.
Advanced Standing Credit
A score of 5 on the Advanced Placement Art History examination, or a score of A on the Advanced Level History of Art examination, exempts students from Foundations of Art History (ARTH-UA 10) and counts as one course toward the major (i.e., the major can be completed with eight courses). Note that the Advanced Level exam awards 8 points; 4 are equivalent to ARTH-UA 10, and the other 4 are ARTH-UA elective points that count toward the baccalaureate degree but not the major.
Lower scores on AP and A Levels do not count toward the major or exempt students from ARTH-UA 10, although scores of 4 and B respectively do count as elective credit toward the baccalaureate degree.
Advanced standing credits cannot count toward the minor.
NYU Policies
University-wide policies can be found on the New York University Policy pages.
College of Arts and Science Policies
A full list of relevant academic policies can be found on the CAS Academic Policies page.