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About Us


Mission / Role / Scope

The Art History Department studies the forms, functions, meanings, and theoretical underpinnings of the visual arts, broadly construed to encompass such activities as performance, construction, and installation as well as painting, sculpture, photography, and architecture.

Our department considers works of art in historically and culturally specific ways, situating them within systems of belief, habits of visual literacy, practices of self-formation, social and political ideologies, patterns of sacred and secular discourse, assumptions about intentionality and authority, and currencies of global and transnational exchange. We comprise four collaborative faculty clusters: Ancient; Medieval/Renaissance/Baroque; Modern/Contemporary European, American, and African; and Architectural Studies.

As a department we strive to introduce students to a rich variety of approaches to art and its study, to model for them analytical and critical thinking, and to encourage lucid writing and thoughtful response. At the graduate level, it is our mission to train students in the methods and practices of the field and to prepare them for advanced, artwork-based, interdisciplinary research with a respect for primary evidence and cultural contexts, past and present, so that they can successfully pursue careers in academic or museum work with benefit for the broader community.

Ancient

Rune Nyord Headshot
Rune Nyord
Associate Professor
128 Carlos Hall
Renée Stein Headshot
Renée Stein
Conservator and Senior Lecturer
Michael C. Carlos Museum
Eric R. Varner Headshot
Eric R. Varner
Associate Professor
M28 Carlos Hall
Bonna Daix Wescoat Headshot
Bonna Daix Wescoat
Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Art History
M40 Carlos Hall
Pinyan Zhu Headshot
Pinyan Zhu
Assistant Professor
142 Carlos Hall

Medieval/Renaissance/Baroque

C. Jean Campbell Headshot
C. Jean Campbell
Department Chair
M39 Carlos Hall
Sarah McPhee Headshot
Sarah McPhee
Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Art History
M35 Carlos Hall
Walter S. Melion Headshot
Walter S. Melion
Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Art History
139 Carlos Hall

Modern/Contemporary European, American, and African

Christina E. Crawford Headshot
Christina E. Crawford
Masse-Martin NEH Professor of Art History, Associate Professor
141 Carlos Hall
Lisa Lee Headshot
Lisa Lee
Director of Graduate Studies
M41 Carlos Hall
Linda Merrill Headshot
Linda Merrill
Director of Undergraduate Studies
135 Carlos Hall

Architectural Studies

Christina E. Crawford Headshot
Christina E. Crawford
Masse-Martin NEH Professor of Art History, Associate Professor
141 Carlos Hall
Sarah McPhee Headshot
Sarah McPhee
Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Art History
M35 Carlos Hall
Bonna Daix Wescoat Headshot
Bonna Daix Wescoat
Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Art History
M40 Carlos Hall