Skip to main content
Department of Art History

Bachelor of Arts in Art History

Students on Summer 2021, Fall 2021, or Spring 2022 requirements ARTHBA

The Bachelor of Arts in Art History encompasses the history of major artistic periods and developments, the contributions of individual artists and artworks, and the cultural contexts for their commission, creation, and display of art in diverse settings. A major in art history gives students a comprehensive understanding of the artistic traditions, practices, and contexts that contribute to historical and contemporary visual culture.To complement studies in art history, students are encouraged to develop a reading knowledge of a foreign language and to earn a minor in the humanities.

Requirements

The major requires at least 33 credit hours, including the requirements listed below.
  1. Survey. Two (2) courses:
    • ARTH-A 101 Ancient and Medieval Art
    • ARTH-A 102 Renaissance through Modern Art
    • ARTH-A 160 Introduction to East Asian Art
    • ARTH-H 100 Introduction to Art History and Visual Culture for Non-Majors when taken Summer 2024 or later
    • ARTH-A 155 Introduction to African Art
  2. Area Requirements.
    1. Area Course Lists. Eight (8) courses from at least four (4) different Areas:
      • Ancient Art
        • ARTH-A 206 Classical Art and Archaeology
        • ARTH-A 210 Topics in Ancient Art
        • ARTH-A 214 Art and Life in Ancient Rome
        • ARTH-A 310 Topics in Ancient Art
        • ARTH-A 311 Art of the Classical Age of Greece
        • ARTH-A 312 Art of the Roman Empire
        • ARTH-A 313 Greek Pottery and Painting
        • ARTH-A 314 History of Greek Sculpture
        • ARTH-A 315 The Body in Classical Art
        • ARTH-A 316 Ancient Art from Alexander the Great to Augustus
        • ARTH-A 409 Hellenistic and Roman Portraits
        • ARTH-A 410 Topics in Ancient Art
        • ARTH-A 411 Art and Archaeology of Anatolia
        • ARTH-A 412 The Art and Archaeology of the Aegean
        • ARTH-A 413 The Art and Archaeology of Greece
        • ARTH-A 414 Art & Archaeology of the Roman World
        • ARTH-A 415 Roman Painting
        • ARTH-A 416 Greek Architecture
        • ARTH-A 417 Roman Sculpture
        • ARTH-A 418 Roman Architecture
      • Medieval Art
        • ARTH-A 224 The Gothic Cathedral
        • ARTH-A 226 Envisioning the Sacred: Survey of Medieval Art
        • ARTH-A 321 Romans and Barbarians: Early Medieval Art
        • ARTH-A 322 Romanesque and Gothic Art
        • ARTH-A 323 Illuminated Manuscripts in the Middle Ages: Form, Function, and Audience
        • ARTH-A 326 The Golden Age of Justinian: Art in the Sixth Century Mediterranean
        • ARTH-A 329 Topics in Medieval Art
        • ARTH-A 421 Pagans and Christians: Christian Art in the Roman Empire
        • ARTH-A 423 Romanesque Art
        • ARTH-A 425 Heaven on Earth: Art and the Church in Byzantium
        • ARTH-A 426 The Medieval City
      • Renaissance and Baroque Art
        • ARTH-A 205 Baroque Art in Europe: From Caravaggio to Rembrandt
        • ARTH-A 231 The Age of Giants: Art in the Time of Leonardo and Michelangelo
        • ARTH-A 233 Renaissance and Baroque Art in Italy 1250-1700
        • ARTH-A 234 Renaissance Florence
        • ARTH-A 303 The Art and Ideas of Eighteenth-Century Europe and America
        • ARTH-A 330 Art of Renaissance and Baroque
        • ARTH-A 331 Fourteenth- and Fifteenth-Century Art in Italy
        • ARTH-A 332 Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Art in Southern Europe
        • ARTH-A 333 From Van Eyck to Vermeer
        • ARTH-A 335 Baroque Art in Italy, 1580-1700
        • ARTH-A 337 Age of Rubens and Rembrandt
        • ARTH-A 432 Italian Art of the Sixteenth Century
        • ARTH-A 436 Italian Art of the Fifteenth Century
        • ARTH-A 437 Playing with Pictures in the Fifteenth-Century Netherlands
        • ARTH-A 482 Sixteenth-Century Visual Culture in Northern Europe
        • ARTH-A 486 Spanish Art of the Golden Age
      • Modern and Contemporary Art
        • ARTH-A 203 Machine Age Modern: European Modernism, 1848-1939
        • ARTH-A 207 Introduction to Contemporary Art and Its Discontents, 1960 to the Present
        • ARTH-A 220 American Arts/American Identities, 1776-1945
        • ARTH-A 240 Rococo, Revolution, Romance
        • ARTH-A 243 History of Photography: An Introduction
        • ARTH-A 260 1968 and Its Material Legacies
        • ARTH-A 280 The Art of the Comic Strip
        • ARTH-A 282 The Art of the Comic Book
        • ARTH-A 304 Made in Barcelona: From Gaudi to Dali and Everything in Between
        • ARTH-A 336 The Graphic Novel
        • ARTH-A 340 Topics in Modern Art
        • ARTH-A 341 Nineteenth-Century European Art
        • ARTH-A 342 Twentieth-Century Art
        • ARTH-A 345 American Art to 1913
        • ARTH-A 347 Picasso
        • ARTH-A 348 American Architecture
        • ARTH-A 349 Dada and Surrealism
        • ARTH-A 353 Art in America: 1945 to the Present
        • ARTH-A 354 Contemporary Art: 1960 to the Present
        • ARTH-A 404 Imaging Race: Photography and the Archive
        • ARTH-A 428 Comics and the Art World
        • ARTH-A 434 Visual Culture of the Interwar Years
        • ARTH-A 440 Nineteenth-Century Painting I
        • ARTH-A 441 Nineteenth-Century Painting II
        • ARTH-A 442 Twentieth-Century Art, 1900-1945
        • ARTH-A 443 History of Twentieth-Century Photography
        • ARTH-A 445 American Art to 1865
        • ARTH-A 446 American Art, 1865-1945
        • ARTH-A 447 Modernism and Anti-Modernism in American Art, 1900-1945
        • ARTH-A 449 Twentieth-Century Art, 1925-Present
        • ARTH-A 450 History of Photography
        • ARTH-A 455 Modern Architecture and Design
        • ARTH-A 456 The Arabesque from Kant to Comics
        • ARTH-A 469 Installation Art
        • ARTH-A 480 Russian Art
        • ARTH-A 484 Experience/Experiment: Modern and Contemporary Intersections of Art and Science
        • ARTH-A 487 Caribbean and Latin American Art: Empire, Identity, and Society
      • Islamic Art
        • ARTH-A 281 Introduction to Islamic Art and Visual Culture
        • ARTH-A 327 Survey of Modern and Contemporary Islamic Art
        • ARTH-A 435 Beyond Kitsch and Colonialism: Islamic Art in the Nineteenth Century
        • ARTH-A 459 The Painted Image in the Islamic World
        • ARTH-A 489 Topics in Islamic Art
      • Asian Art
        • ARTH-A 204 Buddha and Beyond: Keywords for the Study of East Asian Buddhist Art
        • ARTH-A 262 Introduction to Japanese Art and Culture
        • ARTH-A 360 Topics in East Asian Art
        • ARTH-A 361 Japanese Woodblock Prints
        • ARTH-A 464 Art and Archaeology of Early China
        • ARTH-A 465 Later Chinese Art
        • ARTH-A 466 Early Chinese Painting
        • ARTH-A 467 Later Chinese Painting
      • African/Oceanic/Pre-Columbian Art
        • ARTH-A 156 Introduction to Art of the African Diaspora
        • ARTH-A 255 Topics in African Art History
        • ARTH-A 350 Topics in African, Oceanic, and Pre-Columbian American Art
        • ARTH-A 351 Art of the South Pacific
        • ARTH-A 352 Art of Eastern and Southern Africa
        • ARTH-A 355 Art, Craft, and Technology in Sub-Saharan Africa
        • ARTH-A 356 Art of Central Africa
        • ARTH-A 452 Art of Pre-Columbian America
        • ARTH-A 453 Art of Sub-Saharan Africa I: Arts of Africa's Western Sudan
        • ARTH-A 454 Art of Sub-Saharan Africa II: Arts of the West African Coast
        • ARTH-A 458 Topics in the Ethnographic Arts
      • Thematic Topics in Art History
        • ARTH-A 200 Topics in Art History
        • ARTH-A 201 Art and Culture of Southern Italy
        • ARTH-A 245 Jewish Art
        • ARTH-A 276 Eye of the Beholder: Art and Perception
        • ARTH-A 290 How Architecture Works: The University as Machine
        • ARTH-A 300 Topics in Art History
        • ARTH-A 358 Women Artists
        • ARTH-A 372 History of Portraiture
        • ARTH-A 375 Topics in Art Theory
        • ARTH-A 390 Museum Studies I: Methods, History, Issues
        • ARTH-A 391 Museum Studies II: Museum Exhibitions
        • ARTH-A 393 Museums: The Display of Culture
        • ARTH-A 396 Foreign Study in History of Art
        • ARTH-A 400 Senior Seminar
        • ARTH-A 439 The Art Historian as Sherlock Holmes: Objects and Materiality in the Digital Age
        • ARTH-A 456 The Arabesque from Kant to Comics
        • ARTH-A 476 Print and the Origins of the Modern Medium
        • ARTH-A 480 Russian Art
        • ARTH-A 481 The Worlds of Art History: Academic, Museum, Commercial
        • ARTH-A 483 Visual and Material Cultures of Play
        • ARTH-A 490 Topics in Art History
        • ARTH-A 499 Senior Honors Thesis
        • ARTH-X 491 Readings and Research in Art History
        • CHEM-C 100 The World as Chemistry (Approved topics: "CHEMISTRY IN ART" (TPC 6))
        • CHEM-C 114 Chemistry of Art
    2. 400–499 Level Requirement. Six (6) credit hours:
      • ARTH-A 400 Senior Seminar
      • ARTH-A 404 Imaging Race: Photography and the Archive
      • ARTH-A 409 Hellenistic and Roman Portraits
      • ARTH-A 410 Topics in Ancient Art
      • ARTH-A 411 Art and Archaeology of Anatolia
      • ARTH-A 412 The Art and Archaeology of the Aegean
      • ARTH-A 413 The Art and Archaeology of Greece
      • ARTH-A 414 Art & Archaeology of the Roman World
      • ARTH-A 415 Roman Painting
      • ARTH-A 416 Greek Architecture
      • ARTH-A 417 Roman Sculpture
      • ARTH-A 418 Roman Architecture
      • ARTH-A 421 Pagans and Christians: Christian Art in the Roman Empire
      • ARTH-A 423 Romanesque Art
      • ARTH-A 425 Heaven on Earth: Art and the Church in Byzantium
      • ARTH-A 426 The Medieval City
      • ARTH-A 428 Comics and the Art World
      • ARTH-A 432 Italian Art of the Sixteenth Century
      • ARTH-A 434 Visual Culture of the Interwar Years
      • ARTH-A 435 Beyond Kitsch and Colonialism: Islamic Art in the Nineteenth Century
      • ARTH-A 436 Italian Art of the Fifteenth Century
      • ARTH-A 437 Playing with Pictures in the Fifteenth-Century Netherlands
      • ARTH-A 439 The Art Historian as Sherlock Holmes: Objects and Materiality in the Digital Age
      • ARTH-A 440 Nineteenth-Century Painting I
      • ARTH-A 441 Nineteenth-Century Painting II
      • ARTH-A 442 Twentieth-Century Art, 1900-1945
      • ARTH-A 443 History of Twentieth-Century Photography
      • ARTH-A 445 American Art to 1865
      • ARTH-A 446 American Art, 1865-1945
      • ARTH-A 447 Modernism and Anti-Modernism in American Art, 1900-1945
      • ARTH-A 449 Twentieth-Century Art, 1925-Present
      • ARTH-A 450 History of Photography
      • ARTH-A 452 Art of Pre-Columbian America
      • ARTH-A 453 Art of Sub-Saharan Africa I: Arts of Africa's Western Sudan
      • ARTH-A 454 Art of Sub-Saharan Africa II: Arts of the West African Coast
      • ARTH-A 455 Modern Architecture and Design
      • ARTH-A 456 The Arabesque from Kant to Comics
      • ARTH-A 458 Topics in the Ethnographic Arts
      • ARTH-A 459 The Painted Image in the Islamic World
      • ARTH-A 464 Art and Archaeology of Early China
      • ARTH-A 465 Later Chinese Art
      • ARTH-A 466 Early Chinese Painting
      • ARTH-A 467 Later Chinese Painting
      • ARTH-A 469 Installation Art
      • ARTH-A 476 Print and the Origins of the Modern Medium
      • ARTH-A 480 Russian Art
      • ARTH-A 481 The Worlds of Art History: Academic, Museum, Commercial
      • ARTH-A 482 Sixteenth-Century Visual Culture in Northern Europe
      • ARTH-A 483 Visual and Material Cultures of Play
      • ARTH-A 484 Experience/Experiment: Modern and Contemporary Intersections of Art and Science
      • ARTH-A 486 Spanish Art of the Golden Age
      • ARTH-A 487 Caribbean and Latin American Art: Empire, Identity, and Society
      • ARTH-A 489 Topics in Islamic Art
      • ARTH-A 490 Topics in Art History
      • ARTH-A 499 Senior Honors Thesis
      • ARTH-X 491 Readings and Research in Art History
  3. Studio/Design Practice. One (1) course:
    • SOAD-A 101 Creative Core: Color
    • SOAD-A 102 Creative Core: Drawing
    • SOAD-A 103 Creative Core: 3D Design
    • SOAD-A 211 Cross-Disciplinary Workshops in Art, Design, and Merchandising
    • SOAD-C 181 Design: Creative Revolution
    • SOAD-C 280 Introduction to Comprehensive Design
    • SOAD-D 170 Interior Design Studio I
    • SOAD-F 207 Fashion Studio I
    • SOAD-N 110 Introduction to Studio Art for Non-Majors
    • SOAD-N 130 Digital Imagery for Non-Majors
    • SOAD-N 198 Introduction to Photography for Non-Majors
    • SOAD-S 200 Drawing I
    • SOAD-S 201 Figure Drawing and Anatomy when taken Summer 2024 or later
    • SOAD-S 210 Digital Art: Survey and Practice
    • SOAD-S 220 Fibers I
    • SOAD-S 230 Painting I
    • SOAD-S 240 Basic Printmaking Media
    • SOAD-S 250 Graphic Design I
    • SOAD-S 260 Ceramics I
    • SOAD-S 270 Sculpture I
    • SOAD-S 280 Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design I
    • SOAD-S 290 Fundamentals of Photography
  4. Major GPA, Hours, and Minimum Grade Requirements.
    1. Major GPA. A GPA of at least 2.000 for all courses taken in the major—including those where a grade lower than C- is earned—is required.
    2. Major Minimum Grade. Except for the GPA requirement, a grade of C- or higher is required for a course to count toward a requirement in the major.
    3. Major Upper Division Credit Hours. At least 18 credit hours in the major must be completed at the 300–499 level.
    4. Major Residency. At least 18 credit hours in the major must be completed in courses taken through the Indiana University Bloomington campus or an IU-administered or IU co-sponsored Overseas Study program.
    5. College Breadth. At least 58 credit hours must be completed in courses from College of Arts and Sciences disciplines outside of the major area.

Major Area Courses

Unless otherwise noted below, the following courses are considered in the academic program and will count toward academic program requirements as appropriate:

  • Any course at the 100–499 level with the ARTH subject area prefix—as well as any other subject areas that are deemed functionally equivalent
  • Any course contained on the course lists for the academic program requirements at the time the course is taken—as well as any other courses that are deemed functionally equivalent—except for those listed only under Addenda Requirements
  • Any course directed to a non-Addenda requirement through an approved exception
Exclusions

The following courses cannot be applied toward major requirements or the College Breadth requirement:

  • ARTH-H 100 Introduction to Art History and Visual Culture for Non-Majors

This program of study cannot be combined with the following:

  • Minor in Art History (ARTHISTMIN)

Exceptions to and substitutions for major requirements may be made with the approval of the unit's Director of Undergraduate Studies, subject to final approval by the College of Arts and Sciences.