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Art History, Theory, & Criticism

Dual Degree Admissions Information

Graduate Dual Degree

SAIC's graduate dual degree option in Modern and Contemporary Art History, Theory, and Criticism and Arts Administration and Policy provides students with a means to earn two synergistic degrees as efficiently as possible while maintaining the integrity and high standards of each degree.

Application and Admissions Information

  • Priority Deadline: December 1 - $45 Application Fee
    Application Deadline: January 10 - $90 Application Fee
    Apply online via SlideRoom

    If you are also interested in applying to the Arts Administration program, please ONLY submit a single application to the Dual Degree: Modern & Contemporary Art History AND Arts Administration & Policy.

    SAIC requires applicants to apply online. Filing an online application requires a valid credit card and a current email address. You may apply to up to three programs with one application and fee. If you are applying to either the MFA in Studio or the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Studio you may select up to three departments of entry.

    Applications must be submitted prior to 11:00 p.m. (CST) on the appropriate deadline. When you click the "submit" button on the Graduate Application form, you will be prompted to enter credit card information to pay the application fee. Your application form is not fully submitted until you have entered your credit card information.

    Under no circumstances will an application fee be waived or refunded. After you submit the application form you will be directed to a dashboard where you can begin working on your ePortfolio(s).

  • A conferred four-year baccalaureate degree or its equivalent is required for admission to all graduate programs at SAIC. Transcripts are records of your studies that list the courses you completed, the grades received, and provide evidence of degree conferral. They may include grade sheets, exam results, final diplomas, degrees, or graduation certificates. Official copies are issued in the original language directly by your university. Copies must bear the official stamp or seal of the institution, as well as the signature of the appropriate official such as the dean, rector, registrar, controller of examinations, or office of teaching affairs. Photos, notarized copies, facsimiles, or email transmissions are not acceptable.

    Official translations are expected for all educational documents issued in a language other than English. A translation agency or university language department should issue official translations typed on official stationary and the translator must attest proficiency in the original language and indicate their translations are accurate word-for-word.

    During the application process an unofficial transcript is acceptable for review pending an Admissions decision. Official transcripts are required upon admission. Include transcripts both official and unofficial from all universities/colleges from which a degree was obtained or prerequisites were fulfilled. You can attach unofficial transcripts as .pdf or .jpg files in the Educational History section of the application form. If you are in the process of completing a bachelor's degree when you apply, a transcript showing your first three years of study is acceptable.

    Transcripts are considered official if sent directly from the degree- or credit-granting institution to the SAIC Graduate Admissions Office. Hard copy transcripts are considered official if the documents remain in the registrar's original signed and sealed envelopes. Official transcripts can be sent both in digital and hard-copy format. Digital transcripts can be sent from the degree- or credit-granting institution to gradmiss@saic.edu. Hard copy transcripts can be mailed to:

    SAIC Graduate
    36 S. Wabash Ave., Suite 1201
    Chicago, IL 60603

    Students admitted to a graduate program who have not received a high school diploma, GED or equivalent are not eligible for federal Title IV financial aid funds. 

  • Please submit two responses in your statement of purpose document:

    • Write a 500- to 700-word statement of purpose that describes the history of your interests and experiences in Arts Administration, your personal and professional motivations and goals, and your reasons for pursuing graduate study at SAIC, and thoughts on potential future directions.
    • Write a 500 to 700 word statement that describes your Art History work or research. Discuss how you came to focus on the medium, body of work, or academic area you wish to pursue at the graduate level. Also discuss future directions or goals for your work, and describe how this area of study is particularly suited to your professional goals.

    A statement of intent is required for all graduate programs though the content varies by department. You will upload your statement of purpose to the Attachments section of your E-Portfolio.

  • 3 letters of reference are required.

    You are responsible for securing letters of recommendation from persons who are qualified to write about your potential for success at SAIC. If you are currently a student or are a recent graduate, we recommend you request letters of recommendation from current or former instructors.

    Letters of recommendation should be submitted electronically via the References section of the application form. In this section you will be asked to provide an email address for each of your references. Once you click "send request," an email will be sent from SlideRoom to your references with instructions on how to submit their recommendations online.

    If your references cannot provide an online recommendation please contact the Graduate Admissions office at gradmiss@saic.edu. 

  • A current résumé is required.

    A resume is required for all graduate programs. Upload your résumé to the Attachments section in your E-Portfolio.

  • For the Master of Arts in Arts Administration and Policy program, submit a sample of your critical writing, up to 2,000 words in length. This can be either an essay assignment from a previous course of study, an excerpt from a longer research paper, or a recently published article.

    For the Master of Arts in Modern and Contemporary Art History program, submit a 15 to 25 page critical writing sample that demonstrates knowledge of the field, ability in research, and clarity of argumentation. Submissions should be written on a topic in modern or contemporary art history from the 19th century to the present, but papers dealing with earlier historical eras will be accepted if they are in dialogue with current debates and methods. Additionally, topics dealing with relevant theories and philosophies, visual studies, and film studies will be considered.

    Applicants are required to submit an E-Portfolio, though the content varies by department. Please visit your individual program of interest to find details. You must submit a separate E-Portfolio for each program or studio department to which you apply. After you pay the application fee and submit the application form, an E-Portfolio for each of the programs you selected in the application form will automatically appear in your SlideRoom dashboard.

    Submission Specifications

    • Images: .jpg, .gif, .pdf (up to 5 MB each)
    • Videos: .flv, .wv, .mov (up to 60 MB each)
    • Audio: .mp3 (up to 10 MB each)
    • Text documents: MUST be in .pdf format (up to 10 MB each)

  • TOEFL: 100 
    IELTS: 7 
    DUOLINGO: 120

    International applicants are required to submit evidence of English language proficiency. You are waived from this requirement if you meet any of the following conditions:

    • Your native language is English
    • You have an undergraduate degree conferred by a U.S. accredited university
    • You have an undergraduate degree conferred by a university whose primary language of instruction is English

    If you do not meet one of these conditions, you must submit official English language proficiency test scores. You are strongly encouraged to schedule a language proficiency test appointment as early as possible in order to receive official test scores prior to the application deadline.

    SAIC accepts official scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), International English Language Testing System (IELTS), and Duolingo. The TOEFL Institution Code for SAIC is 1713. Please upload an unofficial copy of your test score results to the International Requirements section of the application form.

  • The department conducts interviews by invitation only. Applicants who pass the preliminary review will be invited to schedule an interview in Mid-February. Notification will be sent by late January. For students at a distance or unable to travel, interviews may be conducted remotely.

  • Dual Degree students writing their thesis in Art History and electing to follow the Design History pathway are expected to take ARTHI 5007 as their methods seminar followed by at least four seminars in the Design History curriculum. Thesis topics should address the history and theory of design or architecture.

    Specialization in Design History within the Master of Arts (MA) in Modern and Contemporary Art History 

    Graduate students in the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism's graduate degree programs may elect to follow a specialized pathway in Design History. Coursework in this specialization focuses on the production of knowledge, discourses, practices, and domains of objects that have been understood to fall under the broad category of design. As with the MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History degree as a whole, seminars and research topics focus on the modern and contemporary periods.

    Students following the Design History pathway will study the theories and practices of design and examine the conception, production, interpretation, and consumption of design.

    MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History students electing to follow the Design History pathway are expected to take ARTHI 5007 as their methods seminar, followed by at least four seminars in the Design History curriculum. Thesis topics should address the history and theory of design or architecture.

    Recent graduate seminars and courses in Design History include:

    • ARTHI 5101: Theories of Things: Art/Design/Object
    • ARTHI 5111: Urbanization and Its Discontents
    • ARTHI 5122: Critical Terms in Modern Architecture
    • ARTHI 5547: Typographic Modernity & Print
    • ARTHI 5571: Design and the Body
    • ARTHI 5575: Extraordinary Bodies: Disability/Art/Design
    • ARTHI 4547: Biopolitics and Data Visualization
    • ARTHI 5480: Vernacular, Colonial, Global: Modern Architecture at the End of Empire
    Curricular Requirements for the Design History Pathway36 credit hours total
    ARTHI 5007: History of Art History3 credit hours

    4 graduate seminars (5000-level) in Design History

     

    		12 credit hours

    Global Issues seminar (5000 level) that focuses on art worlds outside of Europe and North America or focuses on Global Art Theory.

    A list of courses that satisfies this requirement is available from the department every semester.

    		3 credit hours
    2 additional seminars in Art History6 credit hours
    2 interdisciplinary electives (4000-6000 level) or additional Art/Design History seminars6 credit hours
    ARTHI 5999 and ARTHI 6999 Thesis sequence in second year6 credit hours
    Completion of thesis 

    Degree Requirements and Specifications

    1. Completion schedule: Students have a maximum of four years from entry into the program to complete coursework and submit a final, approved thesis. This includes time off for leaves of absence. Credit for Thesis Research and Writing (ARTHI 5999 and 6999) is granted only after the thesis is approved and final copies are submitted to the Department.
    2. Thesis in Progress: Students who have not submitted a finished thesis for review and approval by the end of the final semester of enrollment are given a Thesis in Progress grade (IP). All students with a Thesis in Progress grade (IP) will be charged the Thesis in Progress Fee in each subsequent full semester until the thesis is completed and approved and the grade is changed to Credit (CR). If the statute of limitations is reached without an approved thesis, the grade will be changed to No Credit (NCR).
    3. Transfer credits: A minimum of 30 credit hours must be completed in residence at SAIC. Up to six transfer credits may be requested at the time of application for admission and are subject to approval at that time. No transfer credit will be permitted after a student is admitted.
    4. Curriculum: The program requires 36 credit hours, and each individual course is generally three credit hours. Courses are subject to approval by the Art History Graduate Program Director.
    5. Art History requirement: From the Graduate Seminars and additional courses in Art History, at least one course (3 credit hours) must be taken from the list of courses designated 19th-century art history and at least one course (3 credit hours) designated early-20th-century art history. A list of courses that satisfies this requirement is available from the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism every semester.
    6. Global Issues Seminar: If the Global Issues seminar is also designated as Design History, students may use it to also fulfill one of the four graduate seminars in Design History. In this case, students would then be expected to take 3 Additional seminars in Art History rather than 2.
    7. Electives: Electives can be taken from the following departments and programs without additional approval from the Graduate Program Director: Art History, Theory, and Criticism; Visual and Critical Studies; Arts Administration and Policy; Art Education; and Writing. Graduate seminars and upper-level courses in departments other than those listed above may be allowed as electives, contingent upon prior approval from both the Art History Graduate Program Director and the course instructor.
    8. Internship/Co-op Option: Students have the option of taking up to three hours of credit through the co-op internship program. These credit hours can be taken as part of additional courses or electives, but internship credits never count toward the required number of seminar credit hours.
    9. Full-time Status Minimum Requirement: 9 credit hours

    Core Design History Faculty

    • Shiben Banerji, Design History Coordinator and Assistant Professor, Dept. of Art History, Theory, and Criticism
    • Michael Golec, Associate Professor, Dept. of Art History, Theory, and Criticism
    • Bess Williamson, Associate Professor, Dept. of Art History, Theory, and Criticism

World-Class Resources

SAIC students have special access to incomparable resources including the Art Institute of Chicago and its Modern Wing, SAIC’s John M. Flaxman Library and Special Collections, numerous on- and off-campus collections, and public programs.

Students also have at their disposal a diverse array of arts, cultural and community organizations in Chicago, and have the opportunity to work in partnership with them on a variety of projects sponsored and led by the department’s Management Studio. 

On-Campus Opportunities

Students engage directly with current trends in the fields of art history through numerous events and lectures hosted by the Art History department. The Visiting Artists Program has brought in such distinguished artists as Graham Pullin, Arlene Shechet, Anab Jain, Lewis Hyde, Irene Hofmann, Xaviera Simmons, Kendell Geers, Ron Athey, Beatriz Milhazes, and Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle.

Each year, as part of the Lifton Lecture, a prominent scholar presents a public lecture on a topic related to modern and contemporary art history. A theme over the years has been an emphasis on women art historians and their contributions to the field. Students in their final year present their thesis before the department’s faculty and students.

Dual degree students participate in the production of E-merge: journal of arts administration and policy. E-merge is an online journal produced by graduate students in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Master of Arts Administration and Policy and Dual degree programs, featuring collaborations with guest editors from the SAIC Community. The journal is dedicated to fostering creative discussions amongst leading professionals, academics, and students, and provides dual degree candidates with valuable publication and journal-management experience.

Course Listing

Title Catalog Instructor Schedule

Description

Art has been many things to many people. This class introduces students to the history of art and art-like things on Earth from prehistory to ca. 1800 CE. It covers canonical examples from older scholarship alongside works and contexts emerging in recent art histories. Students will learn to perform basic art historical analysis and research, and the course will prepare them to form personal art histories, applying such art histories to their own work. The course surveys historical art in a global scope, from the beginnings of known culture to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It introduces students to a range of interdisciplinary frameworks for parsing the production, reception, and conceptualization of art. And it challenges students to think about the relationships between past and present, highlighting how later artists and cultures have engaged earlier art and history. There is a small amount of required reading each week-on average about 20 pages. Written work includes weekly reading responses, two in-class quizzes, an annotated bibliography project, and a take-home final exam.

Class Number

1016

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

Art has been many things to many people. This class introduces students to the history of art and art-like things on Earth from prehistory to ca. 1800 CE. It covers canonical examples from older scholarship alongside works and contexts emerging in recent art histories. Students will learn to perform basic art historical analysis and research, and the course will prepare them to form personal art histories, applying such art histories to their own work. The course surveys historical art in a global scope, from the beginnings of known culture to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It introduces students to a range of interdisciplinary frameworks for parsing the production, reception, and conceptualization of art. And it challenges students to think about the relationships between past and present, highlighting how later artists and cultures have engaged earlier art and history. There is a small amount of required reading each week-on average about 20 pages. Written work includes weekly reading responses, two in-class quizzes, an annotated bibliography project, and a take-home final exam.

Class Number

1017

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

Art has been many things to many people. This class introduces students to the history of art and art-like things on Earth from prehistory to ca. 1800 CE. It covers canonical examples from older scholarship alongside works and contexts emerging in recent art histories. Students will learn to perform basic art historical analysis and research, and the course will prepare them to form personal art histories, applying such art histories to their own work. The course surveys historical art in a global scope, from the beginnings of known culture to the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. It introduces students to a range of interdisciplinary frameworks for parsing the production, reception, and conceptualization of art. And it challenges students to think about the relationships between past and present, highlighting how later artists and cultures have engaged earlier art and history. There is a small amount of required reading each week-on average about 20 pages. Written work includes weekly reading responses, two in-class quizzes, an annotated bibliography project, and a take-home final exam.

Class Number

1018

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

This course surveys developments in nineteenth and twentieth century art and architecture. Particular emphasis is placed on theoretical and critical issues, as well as the historical, intellectual, and socioeconomic changes that are reflected or addressed in the works of artists and architects. Note: ARTHI 1001 (or its equivalent) is recommended as a prerequisite for ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

1019

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

This course surveys developments in nineteenth and twentieth century art and architecture. Particular emphasis is placed on theoretical and critical issues, as well as the historical, intellectual, and socioeconomic changes that are reflected or addressed in the works of artists and architects. Note: ARTHI 1001 (or its equivalent) is recommended as a prerequisite for ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

1020

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

This course surveys developments in nineteenth and twentieth century art and architecture. Particular emphasis is placed on theoretical and critical issues, as well as the historical, intellectual, and socioeconomic changes that are reflected or addressed in the works of artists and architects. Note: ARTHI 1001 (or its equivalent) is recommended as a prerequisite for ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

1029

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 707

Description

This course surveys developments in nineteenth and twentieth century art and architecture. Particular emphasis is placed on theoretical and critical issues, as well as the historical, intellectual, and socioeconomic changes that are reflected or addressed in the works of artists and architects. Note: ARTHI 1001 (or its equivalent) is recommended as a prerequisite for ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

1034

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

This course surveys developments in nineteenth and twentieth century art and architecture. Particular emphasis is placed on theoretical and critical issues, as well as the historical, intellectual, and socioeconomic changes that are reflected or addressed in the works of artists and architects. Note: ARTHI 1001 (or its equivalent) is recommended as a prerequisite for ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

1042

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

This course surveys developments in nineteenth and twentieth century art and architecture. Particular emphasis is placed on theoretical and critical issues, as well as the historical, intellectual, and socioeconomic changes that are reflected or addressed in the works of artists and architects. Note: ARTHI 1001 (or its equivalent) is recommended as a prerequisite for ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

2206

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 707

Description

This course surveys developments in nineteenth and twentieth century art and architecture. Particular emphasis is placed on theoretical and critical issues, as well as the historical, intellectual, and socioeconomic changes that are reflected or addressed in the works of artists and architects. Note: ARTHI 1001 (or its equivalent) is recommended as a prerequisite for ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

2534

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 707

Description

This is an advanced course that surveys developments in nineteenth and twentieth century art and architecture. It is intended for BAAH students and Scholars Program students. Particular emphasis is placed on theoretical and critical issues, as well as the historical, intellectual, and socioeconomic changes that are reflected or addressed in the works of artists and architects. ARTHI 1201: Discussion Section for Advanced Survey of Modern to Contemporary Art & Architecture is required.

Class Number

1031

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

This lecture course grounds students in basic critical themes in the history of design and design objects. Through lectures, demonstrations, and readings students study the material and discursive conditions of the history of design. Through lecture, readings, discussions, and museum visits, the class highlights a broad range of objects and formats in graphic design, object design, fashion design, and architectural design. Course works includes object analysis assignments, short research paper, and mid-term and final exams.

Class Number

1021

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

This class reveals the fine art, photography and art theories of late 19th century to the present day. The first half of the semester focusing on the period 1851 to the economic crash of 1929; which had been a time of rapid social, economic and political change impacted by revolutions in communication systems, technology and easy availability of reproductions. Students will gain a comprehensive and chronological picture of the major art movements and their engagement with or reaction against previous art and artists. The major artists of the major movements of Impressionism, Cubism, Purism, Expressionism, Futurism, Surrealism and Abstraction will be addressed in regards to their aims and achievements.These include - to name the most prominent - Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Picasso, Braque, Leger, Kirchner, Severini, Magritte, Dali and Kandinsky and Mondrian.The class ending with major 20th century artists from Pollock and De Kooning of Abstract Expressionism to Pop artists Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein to current times and how they relate to this legacy and the concept of an art museum in terms of urban capitalism, Colonialism, Nationalism and Internationalism. This class has weekly reading assignments from two major texts ; one written by art historian Richard Brettell and one written by artist Alex Katz. Written questions about these readings will be assigned as well. The class also often has sketching and student discussions in the museum. There is also one final paper on the artist covered most admired by each student.

Class Number

1038

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

Students will review the materials from the previous week?s lecture, both the class's main thematic and conceptual points, and also the names, practices, and places that may be required for quizzes. The TA will also lead workshops in which students exchange ideas about their notebooks, maps, papers, curated projects, or installations.

Prerequisites

Corequisite: ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

1071

Credits

0

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

Students will review the materials from the previous week?s lecture, both the class's main thematic and conceptual points, and also the names, practices, and places that may be required for quizzes. The TA will also lead workshops in which students exchange ideas about their notebooks, maps, papers, curated projects, or installations.

Prerequisites

Corequisite: ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

1072

Credits

0

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 919

Description

Students will review the materials from the previous week?s lecture, both the class's main thematic and conceptual points, and also the names, practices, and places that may be required for quizzes. The TA will also lead workshops in which students exchange ideas about their notebooks, maps, papers, curated projects, or installations.

Prerequisites

Corequisite: ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

2484

Credits

0

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

Students will review the materials from the previous week?s lecture, both the class's main thematic and conceptual points, and also the names, practices, and places that may be required for quizzes. The TA will also lead workshops in which students exchange ideas about their notebooks, maps, papers, curated projects, or installations.

Prerequisites

Corequisite: ARTHI 1002.

Class Number

2485

Credits

0

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 501

Description

This course plunges students into content and ideas that universities often leave until graduate school, as we consider the role played by the 'critical' in 'visual and critical studies.' For the past ten years, it has been referred to as 'a primer for the art world.' It will still, mostly, provide you with a working vocabulary and crash course as to bodies of knowledge integral to the study of visual culture. At the same time, to productively engage in a reflective critique of society and culture, it will consider 'texts' from as diverse and contemporaneous a group of scholars, theorists, critics, and cultural producers as possible, from both inside and outside the academic institution.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2502

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Theory

Location

MacLean 919

Description

If a society?s order of reasons disempowers its citizens, why not weaponize the irrational? This was the premise of various, systemic reactions against the ?ego? in the midlate 20th century. In Europe, the United States, and former colonies, some of this activity can be read as an extension of the historical avant garde?s investigation of altered states of consciousness and ?madness.? The neo-avant garde sometimes used the tools of rational science to deconstruct its premises, reconstruct the real, and promote a more demotic culture. This course takes an international approach and samples practices and discourses of Dadaism, Surrealism, free jazz, performance and conceptual art, dance, film, ?relational aesthetics,? and experimental poetics. We will place a special emphasis on the way indeterminacy claims to ameliorate conflicts between political commitment and aesthetic quality. Expect to encounter works by Francis Alys, Anthony Braxton, John Cage, Aime Cesaire, Fischli & Weiss, Helio Oiticica, Huang Yong Ping, Jorge Macchi, Jackson MacLow, Gerhard Richter, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Hannah Weiner, and others. Course work will vary but typically includes weekly written responses, moderate reading assignments, listening and viewing, avid participation in class discussions, one creative/curatorial project, one research presentation, and a final essay.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2101

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Class, Race, Ethnicity, Community & Social Engagement, Economic Inequality & Class

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

Ancient art and architecture often provides the backdrop for National politics and in many countries is the art which one first encounters outside of a museum. This course will introduce students to ancient art and architecture in a way that highlights its modern importance in terms of cultural heritage and the art making practices of modern artists. Readings will address the contemporary relevance of ancient art, the particularities of that artwork, and the way that ancient artwork and the modern art it inspires are a manifestation of cultural values both past and present. Students will be required to present readings to other students on a biweekly basis, take exams based on the artwork presented in lectures, and complete a research project. The research project involves the study of one repatriated artwork's provenience and provenance and the presentation of that research to the class

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1063

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 920

Description

The course examines the history of designed objects and their place in a variety of material contexts. Even within our increasingly digitalized existences today, physical objects continue to play a key role in determining our experiences as humans. Our objects are designed by us and at the same time design us by extending the possibilities of what it means to be human and exist in a world. The designed object will be considered under the conditions of global exchange, in relation to questions of health, disease, and the body, as well as urbanism. We will also reflect on the designed object through the lenses of craftsmanship, technology, materials, activism, identity, and cultural heritage. Course participants will read texts relevant to the theoretical and historical aspects of the designed object and its representations, contribute to weekly discussions, conduct object-based analyses, and engage in a series of team and individually written critical writing assignments.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1022

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 302

Description

If you could only be seen in one outfit for the rest of your life ? what would it be? How would you represent who you are through your choice of silhouette, color, pattern, and texture? In this course we will take a look at art?s ability to freeze moments, and garments, in time. What did the sitter (or the artist) chose to clothe the body? How did fashion and its power of communication function within the time the art work was made? What choices did the artist make to idealize or change their representation of the garments? In statues from Ancient Greece fabrics flow around bodies like liquids, 18th century subjects were often painted in swathes of fabric meant to suggest ancient ideals through similar (impossible) textiles, and today Kara Walker uses those same floating fabrics on bodies to critique less than ideal idealists. To 19th century Impressionists the urgency of Modernity could only be represented by using contemporary garments, today Kehinde Wiley dresses a man on a horse in a hoodie. What clues tell us a figure is a warrior or a captive in work of the Nazca from ancient Peru? How can we read hairstyles in Ukiyo-e paintings from 17th century Japan? What do Jeffery Gibson and Nick Cave want us to see when they create coverings for bodies? And what was Amy Sherald trying to tell us about Michelle Obama? We will utilize the collections of the Art Institute, The Field Museum, and others around the city to look closely, sketch, and research. Students will read, lead discussions, write daily reflections, explore through making, and develop skills in critical looking leading to two short research papers examining works of their choice. In statues from Ancient Greece fabrics flow around bodies like liquids, 18th century subjects were often painted in swathes of fabric meant to suggest ancient ideals through similar (impossible) textiles, and today Kara Walker uses those same floating fabrics on bodies to critique less than ideal idealists. To 19th century Impressionists the urgency of Modernity could only be represented by using contemporary garments, today Kehinde Wiley dresses a man on a horse in a hoodie. What clues tell us a figure is a king in Incan pottery? How can we read hairstyles in Ukiyo-e paintings from Japan? What do Jeffery Gibson and Nick Cave want us to see when they create coverings for bodies? And what was Amy Sherald trying to tell us about Michelle Obama? We will visit the collections of the Art Institute, The Field Museum, and other collections around the city to look closely, sketch, and research. Students will read, lead discussions, write daily reflections, and develop skills in critical looking leading to two short research papers examining works of their choice.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2314

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Costume Design, Class, Race, Ethnicity, Museum Studies

Location

MacLean 707

Description

This course surveys the history of architecture and design, including furnishings, decorative arts and interiors, from Napoleonic Europe until the onset of Globalism in the early Twenty-First Century. Special attention is given to the developments that have remained most influential within the architecture and design of today, with particular emphasis on: nineteenth-century revivalism and industrial architecture; Chicago School, early skyscrapers and the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright; the Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau movements; early twentieth-century Modernism in Europe; Art Deco, the Bauhaus and the International Style; Late Modernism and New Brutalism; Postmodernism; and contemporary twenty-first century Global movements. Through extensive lectures and primary source readings, special focus in this class is devoted to the pioneering and influential architects from the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including Friedrich Schinkel, Joseph Paxton, Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Greene and Greene, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Adolph Loos, Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto, Eero Saarinen, Philip Johnson, Louis Khan, Adrian Smith and S.O.M., Robert Venturi, I.M. Pei, Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas and Zaha Hadid. Students will complete a combination of in-class and take-home exams along with a final research paper on a topic chosen in consultation with the instructor.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1023

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

This introductory course surveys the arts of Africa from prehistoric times to today. Focusing on the region south of the Saharan desert, the course will cover a range of media and practices, including painting, architecture, textile, ceramics, metalwork, and body art from across various cultures on the continent. We will consider major movements in the development of African civilizations, the spread of Islam, colonialism and westernization from the perspective of African artistic initiatives and responses. The course will consider ancient African kingdoms and empires, early contacts with Europeans in the fifteenth century, and problems related to African contemporary art and African artistic identities within a globalized art world.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1024

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Class, Race, Ethnicity

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

This course introduces 20th and 21st century Korean through major themes, including the introduction of Western art, the unique formation of Korean Modernism, the Avant-garde art movement, people?s art, feminist art, and the globalization of the Korean art scene. We also address Korean artists working internationally and major thematic Korean art exhibitions held in America.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1925

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

An introduction presents an overview of the academic field known as Media Art Histories as well as the specific genealogies of relevant academic disciplines (i.e. of Film Art, Video Art, New Media Art & both filmic and digital Experimental Animation) as well as genealogies of specific media technologies (i.e. cameras, computers and software; electric lights, radio and sound; chemical, magnetic, and digital forms of storage and the industrial and capitalized structures that they require). These interwoven histories of shared theory/practices are investigated in relationship to independent/experimental/art media in contemporary cultures by asking: How do artists develop methods to work with, against, and around these techno-social forms? Readings will include Kittler, Zelenski, Grau, Gunning, Gaudreault, Musser, Schivelbusch, Auge, Adorno, Kluge, and Krackauer.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2236

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Theory

Location

MacLean 1307

Description

This course is a comprehensive survey of the history of furniture, including relevant information on residential architecture, the decorative arts and interior design, from the Neolithic Era until the Twenty-First Century. Special attention is given to the developments that have remained most influential within furniture design today, with particular emphasis on the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassical eras, revivalism in the Nineteenth Century, early Modernism in the Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau movements, Art Deco, the Bauhaus and the International Style, Mid-Century Modernism, Late Modernism and Postmodernism. Through extensive lectures and readings, special focus in this class is devoted to the relationships between furniture and societal customs throughout history, the rise of furniture?s status as a fine art during the Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassical periods, the influence of industrialization, mass production and new technologies and materials on furniture manufacturing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, furniture?s role in helping to create and define architectural space within interiors of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and the role of individual narratives in developing unique identities and meanings for furniture throughout history. Students will complete a series of in-class exams along with a final research assignment analyzing a single object chosen from the Art Institute?s furniture collection.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1025

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1608

Description

Science fiction films imagine futures that often comment on the failures of the present. In recent years, “clif-fi,” or science fiction about climate change, has become an increasingly popular sub-genre, and some historical films have been newly understood within this framework. This class will study a wide range of historical and contemporary cli-fi films, including international films, experimental films, and blockbusters, in order to understand how they encourage us to see the escalating crisis of climate change. Each week a film will be screened at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, George Miller, Australia); Snowpiercer (2013, Bong Joon-ho, South Korea); Neptun Frost (2021, Saul Williams, Rwanda); Princess Mononoke (1997, Hayao Miyazaki, Japan) or The Day After Tomorrow (2004, Roland Emmerich, USA), to name a few. Students will be expected to read essays before class, attend film screenings, participate in conversations and other tasks.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2300

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Theory

Location

Gene Siskel Film Center 203

Description

Science fiction films imagine futures that often comment on the failures of the present. In recent years, “clif-fi,” or science fiction about climate change, has become an increasingly popular sub-genre, and some historical films have been newly understood within this framework. This class will study a wide range of historical and contemporary cli-fi films, including international films, experimental films, and blockbusters, in order to understand how they encourage us to see the escalating crisis of climate change. Each week a film will be screened at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015, George Miller, Australia); Snowpiercer (2013, Bong Joon-ho, South Korea); Neptun Frost (2021, Saul Williams, Rwanda); Princess Mononoke (1997, Hayao Miyazaki, Japan) or The Day After Tomorrow (2004, Roland Emmerich, USA), to name a few. Students will be expected to read essays before class, attend film screenings, participate in conversations and other tasks.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2300

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Theory

Location

Gene Siskel Film Center 203

Description

This course covers the history of animated film, from its pre-cinematic beginnings to the beginning of the television era (ca. 1960). It traces the development of the Hollywood studio cartoon, along with parallel developments in European and Japanese animation and experimental and abstract works. Special emphasis is given to the evolution of formal animation techniques and their role in the shaping of the animation aesthetic. Much attention is given to the groundbreaking work of Disney, the Fleischer studio, and the cartoons of Tex Avery and Chuck Jones. European animators are represented by Lotte Reiniger, Oskar Fischinger, and other experimenters. All films are screened chronologically, with a mix of short works and a handful of features. There are weekly readings on the history of animation; a ten-page paper; and a final multiple-choice exam.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1026

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 1307

Description

This course surveys performance as art throughout the Modern and Postmodern periods?including contemporary and non-Western incarnations?and covers roughly the last one hundred fifty years. Areas of historical and theoretical focus include the philosophy of performance, ethnography, feminism, and the interface of performance with film, video, dance, sculpture, theater, technology, and popular culture. Movements like Futurism, Dada, and Fluxus are explored alongside themes like endurance, performance in everyday life, the culture wars and censorship, performance and AIDS, and postcolonial uses of performance. Key figures such as Carolee Schneemann and Marina Abramovic are analyzed through comparison of documentaries about their work. Any number of seminal performance pieces are screened, including ones by Yoko Ono, Linda Montano, Diamanda Galas, Guillermo Gomez-Pe?a & Coco Fusco, and Anna Deavere Smith. Further historical context comes from essays and movies about AIDS activism and Punk & New Wave. Readings include primary sources, artist interviews, C. Carr's reviews, and noted works in Performance Studies from Richard Schechner, Peggy Phelan, Amelia Jones, and others. Students will attend two performances and write reviews, an annotated bibliography assignment provides opportunity to explore historical and non-western performance topics, and there will be much discussion.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1058

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Gender and Sexuality

Location

MacLean 707

Description

In 1839 a new means of visual representation was announced to a startled world: photography. Although the medium was immediately and enthusiastically embraced by the public at large, photographers spent decades experimenting with techniques and debating the representational nature of this new invention. This course focuses on the more recent history of this revolutionary medium. From the technological advancements that characterized the rise of photography in the commercial world during the 20th century, and the acknowledgement of photography as an artistic medium in its own right, to the digital revolution and its social media applications, we will consider the technological, economic, political, and artistic histories of photography through selected works of art and seminal critical texts. This course considers photography in a global context. We focus on seminal texts and images in order to explore ethical, commercial, artistic, and political issues that make photography essentially important to our contemporary visual culture. The course explores broad range of photographic practices, techniques, and approaches including the work of Hannah Hoch, Martha Rosler, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Dawoud Bey, Gordon Parks, Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, William Eggleston, Shirin Neshat, Wolfgang Tillmans and many more. We regularly visit the collections of AIC and MCoP to enrich our class discussions with private print viewings and exhibition critiques. Students are expected to share an image of their choice in response to the assigned weekly reading. These images are used in class discussion. There also is a final paper, a final presentation, and an in-class test.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2113

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

MacLean 707

Description

This course is designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to the history of video art from its emergence in the late 1960s through our present moment. Students will examine key works and the major historical, cultural, and aesthetic influences on the form.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2102

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Digital Communication

Location

Online

Description

This general survey of graphic design between the 19th and 20th centuries maps the relationships between graphic design and various commercial and cultural institutions under the broad category of the modern. Students study the issues and problems that faced designers, their clients, and their audiences, in the negotiation of commercial and social changes. Through lectures, readings, discussions, and museum visits, the course examines the cultural, social, economic, political, industrial, and technological forces that have influenced the history of graphic design. Course work includes object analysis assignments, research paper, and mid-term and final exams.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1738

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Graphic Design

Location

MacLean 707

Description

Using the works of established critics and writers as models and using the museum and Chicago galleries as subject matter, students learn to write concise reviews and essays. Class time is spent discussing art, assigned readings, and students? writing. Students are required to turn in one short written work at the beginning of each class. The goal of the course is to develop students? powers of observation, clarity of language and ability to form and defend opinions about works of art. Readings include Kimmelman, Berger, Schjeldahl, Hickey, Lippard, Barnet, Fried, Wolfe.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1060

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 203

Description

The main aim of this intensive course is to learn how to write art history by doing it. Each student will write an original research paper investigating a single, particularly compelling object of her choosing in scaffolded stages over the course of the entire semester, while drawing on a range of library and museum resources and responding to constructive criticism from the teacher and from peers. The course guides students to pose generative questions of their objects, to find and analyze sources, and to make persuasive arguments. We will also at times study the study of art, examining the history of the museum as a framework for such study, and reflecting on as well as using some key analytical moves often used by art historians. We will not only study statements by scholars reflecting on their own methods, but also exemplars of analysis, which we will in turn take apart to figure out how to do such analysis ourselves. While this course is required for the BA in Art History and BFA with Art History Thesis, any undergraduate who wants to write art history is warmly welcome.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.

Class Number

1934

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Location

Lakeview - 1427

Description

Where is the Black Atlantic? What does it look, smell, taste, and feel like? How does it color our world? This class explores the visual and cultural history of the Black Atlantic?a phrase used to define the relationship between dissonant geographical locations that were forged into relationship with each other through the Transatlantic Slave Trade. We will forge an understanding of how vision, texture, touch, sound, and color owe their meanings through the Middle Passage and its production of arts of the Black Atlantic. Crucial to this class is the artwork of practitioners like Jacob Lawrence, Soly Cisse, AfriCOBRA, Aubrey Williams, Faustin Linyekula, Yinka Shonibare, and Renee Green. We will focus primarily on the visual history and cultural impact of the Middle Passage as discussed through the writings of Afro-Caribbean, West African, Black American, and Black British scholars. We will work with concepts like ?native? visual forms, the coloniality of painting, Negritude, and the anticolonial imagination.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2277

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Class, Race, Ethnicity, Politics and Activisms

Location

Lakeview - 205

Description

Starting from a historical survey of socialist, feminist, and black radical critiques, this course explores the intensification of work in the 21st century. Course texts trace continuity and change in working conditions through (1) empirical studies and testimonials; (2) theoretical analysis and interpretation; and (3) depictions in art, writing, and film. Topics include waged and unwaged labor, automation and deskilling, and the growing precariousness of employment contracts. The course closes with a consideration of recent debates on creative work, care work, universal basic income, and “fully automated luxury communism.” Assignments include brief but regular written responses and a final paper.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1070

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Art/Design and Politics, Digital Communication, Economic Inequality & Class

Location

MacLean 920

Description

This course examines the dynamism and complexities of Latinx artistic and cultural production in the United States from the mid-twentieth century to the present. An imperfect yet ultimately generative identifier, Latinx is a gender-neutral term for people of Latin American and/or Caribbean birth or descent living in the United States. In addition to studying the formation of Latinx identities among artistic and creative practitioners, the course will study the context-specific histories that have shaped the aesthetics, ideological frameworks, and socially engaged practices of Latinx art and visual culture. We will read a variety of texts and publications that debate, conceptualize, and critique Latinx art and visual culture, including academic essays and book chapters, interviews and dialogues, exhibition catalogues, primary documents and manifestos, artists’ books, and zines. Throughout the class, we will investigate issues concerning race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, intersectionality, migration and diaspora, social and political activism, family and kinship, religion and spirituality, art markets, and cultural reclamation. Students can expect to complete weekly reading responses, a midterm exam, a 3-5-page essay on an exhibition or artwork, a final research paper, and a class presentation about their final paper topic.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

1062

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Art/Design and Politics, Class, Race, Ethnicity, Community & Social Engagement

Location

MacLean 920

Description

This undergraduate seminar is for all types of writers (critics, creative writers, and scholars) who want to analyze the dimensions of literary and scholarly forms of description, interpretation, and explanation. Poetry, short stories, personal essays, passages from novels, and art-history articles will form the ground for weekly encounters with works of art in the Art Institute of Chicago, as we compare what we read to what we encounter in person. Each class meeting has a tripartite structure, as we compare a literary engagement with a work of art, evaluate a scholarly argument about the same piece or its creator, and personally engage the same or similar work in the Art Institute of Chicago. We will respond to the works of art currently on display, and, as warranted, pair the appropriate scholarship with creative works by writers such as Ada Limón, Victoria Chang, Hilton Als, Diane Seuss, Mark Doty, Hanif Abdurraqib, Wayne Koestenbaum, Vivek Shraya, Cris Kraus, Ben Lerner, Teju Cole, Eileen Myles, Gwendolyn Brooks, Paisley Rekdal, Zadie Smith, Jeffrey Yang, and John Ashbery, among others. Students will write concise analyses of every reading assignment plus a weekly follow-up reflection as preparation for a final hybrid research paper that situates their personal moment of encounter with a work of art in the Art Institute of Chicago within art-historical scholarship. The goal is for students to probe their personal experiences with art for wider cultural implications.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Art History Survey Requirement

Class Number

2328

Credits

3

Department

Art History, Theory, and Criticism

Area of Study

Gender and Sexuality, Class, Race, Ethnicity, Museum Studies

Location

Lakeview - 202

Take the Next Step

Visit the graduate admissions website or contact the graduate admissions office at 312.629.6100, 800.232.7242 or gradmiss@saic.edu. 

 

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MA Dual Degree Graduate Brochure

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