Department of Art History

The following list reflects the 2007/2008 faculty.

Chair Fred Kleiner

Associate Chair Michael Zell

Director of Graduate Studies Keith Morgan

Faculty

Qianshen Bai Associate Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, MA, Peking University (China); MA, Rutgers University; PhD, Yale University

Cynthia Becker Assistant Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, University of New Orleans; MA, PhD, Unviersity of Wisconsin–Madison

Clemency Coggins Professor of Art History and Archaeology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Wellesley College; MA, San Jose State University; MA, PhD, Harvard University

Jodi Cranston Associate Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Yale University; MA, MPhil, PhD, Columbia University

Emine Fetvaci Assistant Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Williams College; PhD, Harvard University

Melanie Hall Director of Museum Studies, Associate Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, University of Leeds (England)

Patricia Hills Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Stanford University; MA, City University of New York, Hunter College; PhD, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

Deborah Kahn Associate Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Sarah Lawrence College; MA, PhD, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London (England)

Fred S. Kleiner Chair of Art History; Professor of Art History and Archaeology, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, University of Pennsylvania; MA, PhD, Columbia University

Keith N. Morgan Director of Graduate Studies; Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, College of Wooster; MA, University of Delaware; PhD, Brown University

Bruce Redford University Professor; Professor of Art History and English, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Brown University; BA, University of Cambridge, King’s College, Cambridge (England); PhD, Princeton University

Jonathan P. Ribner Director of Graduate Admissions; Associate Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Middlebury College; MA, PhD, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

Paolo Scrivano Assistant Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, PhD, Polytechnical University (Turin, Italy)

Jessica Sewell Assistant Professor of American Material Culture, Art History Department and American & New England Studies Program, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Harvard College; PhD, University of California, Berkeley

Kim D. Sichel Associate Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. AB, Brown University; MA, MPhil, PhD, Yale University

Theodore E. Stebbins Jr. Adjunct Professor of Art History, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences; John Moors Cabot Curator of American Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. BA, Yale University; JD, Harvard Law School; MA, PhD, Harvard University

Alice Y. Tseng Assistant Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Columbia University; MA, PhD, Harvard University

Roye Elizabeth Wates Associate Professor of Art History and Humanities, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Birmingham-Southern College; PhD, Yale University

Hilda Westervelt Director of Undergraduate Studies; Assistant Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Colby College; PhD, Harvard University

Gregory Williams Assistant Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, Claremont McKenna College; MA, Tufts University; PhD, Graduate Center, City University of New York

James R. Wiseman Professor of Art History, Archaeology, and Classical Studies, College of Arts & Sciences; Director, Center for Archaeological Studies. AB, University of Missouri; AM, PhD, University of Chicago

Michael Zell Associate Chair of Art History; Associate Professor of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, McGill University (Canada); MPhil, University College (England); PhD, Harvard University

Emeriti

Alice F. Binion Professor Emerita of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. Dipl., University of Geneva (Switzerland); MA, Boston University; PhD, Columbia University

John T. Kirk Professor Emeritus of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. ASS, School for American Craftsmen; AB, Earlham College; MA, Yale University

Fred S. Licht Professor Emeritus of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BA, University of Wisconsin; PhD, University of Basel (Switzerland)

Naomi Miller Professor Emerita of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. BS, City University of New York, City College; MA, Columbia University; AM, PhD, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis Associate Professor Emerita of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. AB, Radcliffe University; AM, PhD, Harvard University

Hellmut Wohl Professor Emeritus of Art History, College of Arts & Sciences. AB, Harvard College; AM, PhD, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

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The Graduate Program

The Department of Art History offers programs of study leading to the MA and PhD degrees in art history, as well as a departmental certificate in museum studies.

Applicants may be admitted to the postbachelor’s MA or MA/PhD programs or to the post-master’s PhD program. Applicants admitted to the MA/PhD program must later make an internal application to the PhD program upon completion of the MA degree requirements. Applicants may also be admitted as nondegree candidates seeking only a certificate in museum studies if they have a master’s degree elsewhere.

The art history faculty offers graduate courses in all areas of Western art and in Asian, African, and pre-Columbian art. Courses are also offered by adjunct and/or visiting faculty members. Some departmental courses are given at the Boston University Art Gallery, at the Museum of Fine Arts, and other area museums. Internships for credit (practica) may also be arranged. Cross-registration agreements exist with Boston College, Brandeis University, and Tufts University. All courses taken outside Boston University must have the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies and must be taken for a letter grade.

Graduate study in art history at Boston University thus exposes the student not only to the faculty and facilities of the University itself, but also to the faculty, curators, and artistic treasures of the many universities, colleges, museums, and historical agencies in Boston and New England. Applicants should also consult the descriptions of related programs of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, i.e., American & New England Studies and the Department of Archaeology, as courses in these programs are open to qualified art history students.

Graduate students may enroll in four types of courses: colloquia, seminars, practica, and directed studies.

Each graduate colloquium, though a course in its own right, is related to an undergraduate lecture in the same subject. Graduate students enrolled in colloquia are required to audit the lectures in the related undergraduate courses. Graduate colloquia function as workshops and discussion groups. Students are introduced to the bibliographical and methodological tools of the subject so that they may deal with it on a professional level.

Graduate seminars investigate specific topics or problems in depth and from various points of view.

The practicum is an internship designed to enhance the student’s overall development and to provide direct experience with art historical work in a professional setting.

Directed studies may be taken as reading courses in areas in which no colloquia or seminars are being offered, or to work on research projects usually (but not necessarily) related to the PhD dissertation. Admission to directed studies should be sought on the basis of well-founded, clearly formulated proposals submitted to the instructor with whom the student wishes to work.

Address all requests for admission applications and related materials, or general inquiries concerning the program, to the Administrative Secretary, Department of Art History, Boston University, 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 302, Boston, MA 02215; 617-353-2520; e-mail: ahdept@bu.edu. All applicants are required to submit their scores from the Graduate Record Examination. Application deadlines are October 15 for January admission and January 15 for September admission. September admissions are preferred for program continuity.

MA candidates may receive transfer credit for up to two courses taken outside of Boston University, provided that they have been taken at the graduate level. Applicable coursework for transfer must be reviewed formally by the Graduate Studies Committee. No transfer credit for courses taken outside of Boston University is granted to post-master’s PhD candidates.

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Financial Aid

In addition to the University fellowships and other forms of financial aid described under Financial Aid in the Financial Information section of this website, the Department of Art History annually awards a number of teaching fellowships and graduate assistantships (tuition assistantship in return for work per week). Graduate assistants are usually assigned to the Boston University Art Gallery, the Visual Resources Collection, the Photographic Resource Center, or they work as assistants for departmental projects. During the past several years, research assistantships have also been available at area museums and art institutions. Successful completion of the PhD qualifying examination and approval of the dissertation proposal are normally prerequisites for the award of dissertation grants. In addition, small awards are available for graduate students to travel to conferences, workshops, archives, and collections through a fund set up by the Art History Graduate Alumni Association. Applications for funding for research, travel, and special projects may be submitted to the department’s Chair and/or Graduate Studies Committee at any time during the academic year.

Grants in the Field of American Art In spring 1997, the Henry R. Luce Foundation began making funds available for dissertation grants in the field of American art; and in 1998, the Beaze and Harry Adelson Research Fellowship began supporting research travel for dissertations on American art.

History of Photography Grants A discretionary fund for the support and encouragement of doctoral studies in the History of Photography has been given to the department by Kate and Hall Peterson.

Fellowship in Asian Art History In 1998, Dr. Ralph C. Marcove established a fellowship for graduate students in the history of Asian art. The first grants were awarded in 1999.

Henry C. Luce Grant in Asian Art: In the fall of 2000, the Henry Luce Foundation made a grant to the Art History Department to support students pursuing a master’s degree in Asian Art History in addition to the Certificate in Museum Studies.

Museum Internships

Several paid internships in area museums are usually available each year. For current information, contact the Director of Museum Studies.

MA in Art History

Prerequisites Applicants must have completed two years of college work or the equivalent in French, German, Italian, or Spanish and must have an adequate undergraduate background in art history. An “adequate background” is defined as a two-semester survey course and three additional courses in art history. Applicants with deficient backgrounds may be requested to take makeup courses before admission to the MA program.

Course Requirements Eight courses are required. Five of these eight courses must be distributed among the following ten areas of concentration, including at least one Western and one non-Western course, and including at least one colloquium and one graduate seminar: Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and 18th Century, American, Modern, Asian, African, Islamic or other non-Western.

Of the three other courses, two may be in areas other than art history with the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies.

Language Requirements Reading knowledge of one modern foreign language is required for the master’s program in art history. Language proficiency can be demonstrated either through the language examination offered by this department or successful completion of the reading courses sponsored by the Graduate School. The departmental- or Graduate School-sponsored examination must be taken before the end of the second semester of residence and passed before taking the comprehensive examination. The language will be determined by the faculty advisor and approved by the Director of Graduate Studies. French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, or Japanese are the recommended languages. All students specializing in Asian art must acquire proficiency in modern Chinese or modern Japanese. Language proficiency in Asian languages can be demonstrated either through the language examination offered by this department or successful completion of third-year modern Chinese or modern Japanese in the Modern Languages & Comparative Literature Department. In the case that the student is specializing in a field of Asian art that is not Chinese or Japanese, the Director of Graduate Studies will determine the language requirement in consultation with the student’s advisor.

Comprehensive Examination The Comprehensive Examination may not be taken until the student has satisfied all Incompletes. (Exception to this rule can be made only with prior approval of the Graduate Studies Committee.) It consists of five one-hour essays in at least four of the following nine fields: 1) Ancient, 2) Medieval, 3) Renaissance, 4) Baroque & 18th-Century, 5) American, 6) Modern, 7) Asian, 8)  African, 9) Islamic

Master’s Paper The candidate must submit a scholarly paper, usually one written for an art history course that has been revised according to professional standards of presentation.

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PhD in Art History

Prerequisites The candidate in art history must have an MA or an acceptable equivalent.

Applicants from the MA program in art history at Boston University must fill out a Program Change form, available in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, and submit to the department an internal application for admission to the PhD program in art history. This application is available from the department. Admission of these students is conditional on a review of their overall performance. This includes a student’s coursework, goals, comprehensive exam and scholarly paper, and ability to do independent research. An interview with the Graduate Studies Committee is also part of the process. Procedural information is provided to all incoming graduate students in the Art History Department’s Graduate Policy Manual including deadlines for MA/PhD students related to the review process.

Applicants from outside Boston University deemed by the Graduate Studies Committee to be without strong art history backgrounds will be provisionally admitted for two courses. In order to remain in the program they must earn grades of at least B+ in these courses, and may be asked to take the portion of the MA comprehensive examination that is a slide examination on the general history of art. Applicants without evidence of reading competence in French, German, Italian, or Spanish must pass an examination in one of those languages by the end of their first semester.

Course Requirements Eight semester courses (32 credits). It is recommended that two be in fields other than art history; approval of the Director of Graduate Studies or the student’s official faculty advisor is necessary before registering for non-art history courses. Two of the art history courses must be graduate seminars.

Language Examination A second language is required for the doctoral program in art history. The language will be determined by the faculty advisor and approved by the Director of Graduate Studies. It may be necessary in some areas of specialization for the student to pass an examination in a third language, determined by the advisor and approved by the DGS. Students specializing in African art history must successfully complete four semesters of an African language as their second language. Students specializing in Islamic art history are expected to have the proficiency level of three years in Persian, Arabic, or Turkish. For students specializing in Asian art, in addition to proficiency in modern Chinese or modern Japanese (depending on the chosen field of specialization), students must acquire reading knowledge in a second language. The second language can be either an Asian or European language, as decided in consultation with the student’s advisor. To meet the requirement for reading knowledge of a second, students can take the language examination offered by this department, successfully complete the reading course offered by the Graduate School, or enroll in language courses in the Romance Studies and Modern Languages & Comparative Literature Departments. In the case of an Asian language, successful completion of second-year modern Chinese, Japanese, or Korean satisfies the department language requirement. The requirement for a second language for all students must be met by the end of the second semester of residence. A student may not take the qualifying examination until the language examination has been fulfilled.

Qualifying Examination The PhD qualifying examination is the prerequisite for writing a dissertation. It is designed to reveal a mastery of a field of specialization and a comprehensive knowledge of a minor area. Each field will include painting, sculpture, and architecture. Where relevant, the decorative arts, photography, and art criticism and theory will be included.

The examination is divided into two parts: an oral examination and a written examination. The oral examination lasts two hours. There will be at least three examiners, with at least one Department of Art History faculty member who is a specialist in the major field. The written examination is designed to demonstrate the student’s facility in carrying out research in the chosen field of expertise. After the oral examination, the examiners will present the student with a topic for a scholarly paper. Within two weeks, the student must produce a research paper of approximately 15–20 pages, plus footnotes and bibliography, on one of these topics. A standardized Qualifying Examination prospectus form is available in the department office. After conferring with advisors about the areas of concentration, the dates of the exams, and the names of the examiners, the student will submit the signed prospectus to the Graduate Studies Committee for approval. No qualifying exams may be taken and no dissertation prospectus may be presented until all incompletes have been removed from the student’s record.

Dissertation A dissertation prospectus signed by the first and second readers must be submitted to the Graduate Studies Committee within three months, or at the end of the summer following the qualifying examination. The prospectus is presented to the Graduate Studies Committee and, upon acceptance, is filed with the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

Upon approval by the first and second readers of a completed draft containing a set of photographs of the illustrations, the candidate must make arrangements to defend the dissertation before a committee of five persons, including the first and second readers, selected by the Graduate Studies Committee. Graduate School procedures regarding abstracts must be followed. One copy of the final draft submitted to the Graduate School must have black-and-white photographs of all illustrations. The other copy may have photocopies. In all other respects the form of the two copies of the final draft will follow A Guide to the Writers of Dissertations and Theses and current supplements, available in the office of the Graduate School.

Museum Studies Certificate Program

In order to qualify for this certificate, students must complete four courses. Three of the following are required: CAS AH 501 or 502, 520, and 521. The fourth course is an elective which shall be chosen with the specific approval of the Director of Museum Studies. Possibilities include CAS AH 501, AH 502, AH 524, AH 576, and AH 803/AH 804 (when it is a conservation seminar) or a number of other classes, including courses from other departments and the Metropolitan College’s graduate program in Arts Administration. These courses may be taken either as a part of, or in addition to, the courses required for the MA or PhD degrees. (A combined MA plus a certificate in Museum Studies requires a total of nine courses.)

All students must be enrolled in a master’s program or have completed a master’s degree. Applicants from other institutions seeking only a certificate must make their application through the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences as nondegree students.

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Courses

All courses are 4 credits unless otherwise noted.

CAS AH 501, 502 Practicum in Museum Studies

CAS AH 520 The Museum and Historical Agency

CAS AH 521 Curatorship: Exhibition Development

CAS AH 524 The Object and the Museum: Acquisitions, Collections Care, and Educational Policies at the Museum of Fine Arts

CAS AH 527/UNI HU 527 Art & Society: Art & Biology

CAS AH 528 Studies in Mesoamerican Art and Archaeology

CAS AH 529 Seminar: 20th Century Chinese Art

CAS AH 530 Chinese and Japanese Calligraphy: History, Theory, and Practice

CAS AH 531 Modern Asian Art in a Global Context

CAS AH 532 Japanese Prints

CAS AH 534 Seminar: Roman Art

CAS AH 540 Europe and the Islamic World: Medieval and Early-Modern Cultural Exhange

CAS AH 547 Gothic Art

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CAS AH/AR 555 Ancient American Writing Systems

CAS AH 557 High Renaissance and Mannerist Art in Italy

CAS AH 563 Alliance of Art and Power in the Baroque

CAS AH 570 Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century American Architecture

CAS AH 571 African American Art

CAS AH 572 Gilded Age America: Visual Culture from 1865–1900

CAS AH/AR 576 Collections: Ancient and Historical in Modern Context

CAS AH 582 Historic Houses

CAS AH 583 English Country Houses and America’s Cottages

CAS AH 584 Greater Boston: Architecture and Planning

CAS AH 585 Twentieth-Century Architecture

CAS AH 586 Early Modern America: Visual Culture, 1900–1930

CAS AH 592 Twentieth-Century Painting and Sculpture

CAS AH 593 Atonality and Abstraction

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CAS AH 595/EN 594/UNI HU 595 English Country House

CAS AH 597 Baroque

CAS AH 598/EN 598/UNI HU 541 Sister Arts

GRS AH 699 Teaching College Art History I

GRS AH 716 Colloquium in African Art

GRS AH 725 Colloquium in the Arts of Asia

GRS AH 726 Colloquium in Japanese Art

GRS AH 727 Colloquium in Chinese Art

GRS AH 731 Colloquium in the Art of Archaic Greece

GRS AH 733 Colloquium in Greek Art and Architecture

GRS AH 734 Colloquium in Roman Art and Architecture

GRS AH 742 Colloquium in Medieval Art and Religion

GRS AH 745 Colloquium in Early Medieval and Romanesque Art

GRS AH 747 Colloquium in Gothic Art

GRS AH 750 Colloquium in Early Renaissance

GRS AH 751 Colloquium in High Renaissance Art

GRS AH 753 Colloquium in Renaissance Architecture and Theory

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GRS AH 757 Colloquium in Renaissance Art: Art Theory in the Renaissance

GRS AH 758 Colloquium in Michelangelo

GRS AH 759 Colloquium in Northern Renaissance Painting

GRS AH 761 Colloquium in Southern Baroque Art

GRS AH 762 Colloquium in Venice and its Arts

GRS AH 765 Colloquium in Baroque Art in Northern Europe

GRS AH 766 Colloquium in Eighteenth-Century Art

GRS AH 767 Material Culture

GRS AH 777 Colloquium in American Furniture and Allied Arts, 1630 –1830

GRS AH 779 Visual Culture in the Nineteenth-Century United States

GRS AH 782 Colloquium in Nineteenth-Century Architecture in Europe and America

GRS AH 783 Colloquium in American Architecture

GRS AH 784 Colloquium in American Art

GRS AH 785 Colloquium in American Painting Until 1900

GRS AH 786 Colloquium in Twentieth-Century American Painting

GRS AH 790 Colloquium in Nineteenth-Century Painting and Sculpture

GRS AH 791 Colloquium in Twentieth-Century Painting and Sculpture

GRS AH 792 Colloquium in Contemporary Painting and Sculpture

GRS AH 795 Colloquium in the History and Criticism of Photography

GRS AH 798 Colloquium in Twentieth-Century Architecture

Seminars

GRS AH 802 Seminar: The Theory and Method of Art—Historical Writing

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GRS AH 803, 804 Seminar at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

GRS AH 812 Seminar: Portraiture

GRS AH 822 Seminar: African Art

GRS AH 830 Seminar: Ancient Art

GRS AH 833 Seminar: Classical Greek Art

GRS AH 834 Seminar: Roman Art and Architecture

GRS AH 837 Seminar: Greek and Roman Art

GRS AH 844 Seminar: Medieval Art and Architecture

GRS AH 846 Seminar: Romanesque and Gothic Art—Early Medieval Art in England

GRS AH 851 Seminar: Fifteenth-Century Italian Painting and Sculpture

GRS AH 853 Seminar: Renaissance Art and Architecture

GRS AH 854 Seminar: Sixteenth-Century Italian Painting

GRS AH 863 Seminar: Baroque Art and Architecture

GRS AH 864 Seminar: Southern Baroque Art and Architecture

GRS AH 867 Material Culture

GRS AH 884 Seminar: Nineteenth-Century Architecture: Suburbs

GRS AH 886 Seminar: American Painting

GRS AH 887 Seminar: American Art

GRS AH 888 Seminar: Twentieth-Century American Painting

GRS AH 889 Seminar: Nineteenth-Century Art

GRS AH 891 Seminar: Documentary Photography

GRS AH 893 Seminar: Twentieth-Century Architecture

GRS AH 895 Seminar: Contemporary Art

GRS AH 901, 902 Directed Studies

Additional Courses

See courses listed in the American & New England Studies Program, the Department of Archaeology, and the Department of Classical Studies sections of this site.

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Published by Trustees of Boston University
One Silber Way
Boston, MA 02215

9 January 2009
Boston University
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