Expand the sections below to explore our Fall 2026 course descriptions.
Undergraduate Courses
CAS AH111: Pyramids to Cathedrals: An Introduction to Ancient and Medieval Art
A chronological examination of the fundamentals of art and architectural history, this course introduces students to major monuments and works of art from antiquity to the Middle Ages in their social, religious, and historical contexts.
Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
T|R 11:00-12:15 Martin / Kahn
plus a discussion section – see the academic planner on MyBU for section times
CAS AH114: Kongo to Cuba: Art, Exchange, and Self-Determination in Africa and Latin America
This course introduces the arts of Africa and Latin America. It explores the rich diversity of each continent’s artistic production and highlights the impact of their intertwining histories on visual expression in the wake of transcontinental exchange and globalization.
Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration, Critical Thinking.
Meets with CAS AA 114.
M|W|F 1:25-2:15 Becker / Reyes
CAS AH201: Understanding Architecture
Introduces a range of approaches to understanding architecture in an historical perspective. Learn how architects and others have interpreted meaning through rubrics of art, nature, and culture, focused upon European and American architecture from 1400 to the present.
Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Research and Information Literacy.
T|R 2:00-3:15 Abramson
CAS AH220: Islamic Art & Architecture
Examines key monuments of Islamic art and architecture within their historical and cultural context, and emphasizes the diversity within the visual cultures of the Islamic world. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Research and Information Literacy.
M|W|F 10:10-11:00 TBA
CAS AH284: Arts in America
A survey of art and visual culture made in North America between the early colonial period and World War I, exploring the ways that painters, sculptors, photographers, and graphic artists navigated major aesthetic debates, political conflicts, and economic crises. Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
M|W|F 9:05-9:55 Barrett
CAS AH324: Introduction to Art of the Caribbean
Introduces students to the art of the Caribbean region. The course is not a survey of the region’s art history, but rather introduces students to major themes that link this region. We begin by thinking through the Caribbean as a space/place that includes parts of Central and South America, as well as diasporas in North America and Europe, then proceed loosely chronologically from the autonomous period to the present day. We also consider the implications of insights from Caribbean Studies, postcolonial studies and Black studies for the field of art history.
Effective Fall 2026, this course fulfills a single requirement in the following BU HUB areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Research, Information Literacy.
T|R 11:00-12:15 Smythe-Johnson
CAS AH327: Arts of China
Explores major works of Chinese art, from bronze vessels, Buddhist caves, ink painting, to contemporary performance. Addresses constructions of monumentality, cultural exchange, displays of power, feminine space, and quests for modernization.
Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration, Research and Information Literacy.
M|W|F 10:10-11:00 Feng
CAS AH365: Baroque Arts: Northern Europe
Explores the vibrant artistic culture of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the northern (Dutch) and southern (Flemish) Netherlands. Emphasis on major artists such as Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, and Vermeer, and on viewing this art in global perspective.
Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
T|R 11:00-12:15 Zell
CAS AH367: Material Culture: Materializing Indigenous History
From wikhikon (birchbark maps) and petroglyphs to contemporary beadwork, studying Native American material culture provides a critical lens into histories of settler colonialism and Indigenous activism. This course traces histories of Native American material culture as tools of communication, expressive culture, and resistance, interrogating the creation, collection, and preservation of objects across Turtle Island. Students will also develop critical understandings of museums, archives, and other institutional repositories as sites of meaning-making and contestation, with a particular focus on Indigenous stewardship at tribal archives and museums.
Also offered as CAS AM 367
T|R 2:00-3:15 LaForge
CAS AH385: American Buildings and Landscapes
This class provides an introductory analytic survey of American buildings and landscapes within their historical and cultural contexts. Students examine forces which have shaped the American built environment. Topics range from Indian mounds to commercial strips; Spanish missions to skyscrapers.
Also offered as CAS AM 385
T|R 3:30-4:45 Moore
CAS AH393: Contemporary Art: 1980 to Now
Explores the terms of debate, key figures, and primary sites for the production and reception of contemporary art on a global scale since 1980. Painting, installation art, new media, performance, art criticism, and curatorial practice are discussed.
Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness.
T|R 3:30-4:45 Williams
CAS AH395: History of Photography
An introduction to the study of photographs. The history of the medium in Europe and America from its invention in 1839 to the present. After lectures on photographic theory and methodology, photographs are studied both as art objects and as historical artifacts.
Effective Fall 2018, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
T|R 11:00-12:15 Brown
Seminars for Undergraduate & Graduate Students
CAS AH520: The Museum and the Historical Agency
History, present realities, and future possibilities of museums and historical agencies, using Boston’s excellent examples. Issues and debates confronting museums today examined in the light of historical development and changing communities. Emphasis on collecting, display and interpretation.
R 12:30-3:15 Hall
CAS AH527 A1: Topics in Art & Society
American Art and the Environment
Employing a variety of “green” ecocritical approaches, this class explores the relationship between artistic practice and natural science, extractive industry, and environmental activism in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century United States.
F 11:15-2:00 Barrett
CAS AH527 B1: Topics in Art & Society
The Mount Auburn Cemetery
An exploration of remembrance, and the invention, appropriation, and development of imagery and landscape for commemorative monuments. Much of this seminar takes place on site in the Mount Auburn Cemetery and in regional early burying grounds. Many outdoor site visits during class time are required.
W 2:30-5:15 Kahn
CAS AH527 C1: Topics in Art & Society
The Silk Road Seminar
This course explores the arts of the Silk Road. Focusing on objects and sites along land-bound and maritime trade routes, from jewelry, ceramics, silk, to Buddhist caves and port cities, the course explores important questions of cultural exchange, trade, diplomacy, faith, and gender.
F 2:30-5:15 Feng
CAS AH533: Greek Architecture
A of study classical architecture broadly conceived, from the origins of monumental stone architecture in Greece, including the emergence of the Doric and Ionic orders, to the use of architecture in sanctuaries, the form of houses, and construction techniques. Meets with CASAR 533.
Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Writing-Intensive Course, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Research and Information Literacy.
Undergraduate prerequisites: 1) first-year writing seminar (e.g., WR 100 or WR 120) or equivalent. 2) either AH111, AH233, AH331, AH333 or permission of instructor.
R 3:30-6:15 Martin
CAS AH543: Latin American Art and the Cold War
Covers key aspects of the history, theory, and practice of historic preservation. The interdisciplinary practice of preservation is discussed in the context of cultural history and the changing relationship between buildings and landscapes and attitudes toward history, memory, and place.
F 2:30-5:15 Reyes
CAS AH546: Places of Memory: Historic Preservation Theory and Practice
Covers key aspects of the history, theory, and practice of historic preservation. Preservation is discussed in the context of cultural history and the changing relationship between existing buildings and landscapes and attitudes toward history, memory, invented tradition, and place.
Also offered as CAS AM 546 and CAS HI 546
T 3:30-6:15 White
CAS AH548: Global Heritage Conservation
Examining global approaches towards heritage conservation through a study of concepts, charters and case studies, using themes such as world heritage, cultural tourism, historic towns, new design, intangible heritage, authenticity, integrity, recent past, historic landscapes, conflict, disasters, revitalization and reconstruction.
Also offered as CAS AM 548.
R 3:30-6:15 Haenraets
CAS AH554: Boston Architectural and Community History Workshop
Focuses on class readings, lectures, and research on a single neighborhood or community in Boston (or Greater Boston). Greatest emphasis is on using primary sources– land titles and deeds, building permits, fire insurance atlases and other maps. Explores places and sources that help assess and narrate the rich history of architectural and urban development.
Also offered as CASAM 555 and CASHI 569.
F 11:15-2:00 Stevenson
CAS AH557: High Renaissance and Mannerist Art in Italy
This course will examine the ways in which prevailing ideas about women and gender shaped visual imagery, and how these images, in turn, influenced ideas concerning women from the Renaissance.
Effective Fall 2026, this course fulfills a single requirement in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Writing-Intensive Course.
T 12:30-3:15 Cranston
CAS AH571: Problems of African Diaspora Art History
This course examines the African Diaspora in art history, addressing debates on its definition and study. It challenges students to explore diaspora’s impact on artistic and scholarly practice, introducing key debates shaping the sub-field of African Diaspora Art History.
Also offered as CAS AA 571
W 2:30-5:15 Smythe-Johnson
CAS AH582: Historic Houses
Studies the preservation of historic homes as museums in Boston and beyond. This year, the course focuses on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Considers its place in debates about Romantic nationalism, and the house museum as an expression of its owner’s vision past and present. Topics include: invented traditions, group memory; curation, authenticity, conservation, and the problems of caring for a static collection. At least 4 sessions held in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum with its curatorial team.
W 2:30-5:15 Hall
Graduate Courses
GRS AH791: Midcentury Modernisms
Examines different conceptions of modernism and modernity that developed around the world during the mid-20th century. Assesses recent scholarship challenging long-dominant narratives of modern art written by European and North American curators and art historians before and after WWII.
T 1:30-3:15 Williams
GRS AH863: Baroque Art and Architecture
Explores the so-called “Golden Age” of Dutch art from the perspectives of the recent global and material turns in art history. Classes are conducted at the MFA and focus partly on the exhibition “Rachel Ruysch: Nature into Art.”
R 3:30-5:15 Zell
GRS AH867: Material Culture
Introduction to the theory and practice of the interdisciplinary study of material culture, which includes everything we make and use, from food and clothing to art and buildings. Explores contemporary scholarship from a range of disciplines.
Also offered as CAS AM 867.
R 12:30-3:15 Moore
Fall 2025 Registration Dates
Registration for Fall 2026 opens based on your academic class standing.
Details about specific registration dates and times can be found at https://www.bu.edu/reg/calendars/registration/