Current Upper Level Courses in Art History
Upcoming Courses Spring 2027
Rose Hill
ARHI 2305 - Ancient Art in the Museum: Gods, Monsters, and Heroes
Almost every Greek vase painting or sculpture tells a story. But what was obvious to the ancient viewer can be frustratingly obscure to modern eyes. This class will peel back the curtain to reveal the iconographical “tells” behind ancient image making. Specifically, we will examine the development of storytelling in Greek art. A particular focus will be placed on the truly innovative approaches employed by Greek artists to tell complicated myths and sagas in the restrictive space of strangely shaped clay vessels and on awkwardly situated architectural sculpture.
This course is structured thematically, rather than chronologically or by medium, and relies on the study of primary source material; ancient works of art and literature. Whenever possible, we will use the collection of the Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Art.
ARHI 2360 - Illuminated Manuscripts
Before the invention of the printing press in the 15th century, every book was a precious, hand-produced object. Often these manuscripts were richly decorated with painting, called illumination. This course examines the development of manuscript illumination over the length of the Middle Ages in Europe (circa 300 to 1500). Issues examined include illuminated manuscripts and the establishment of the church, illumination and royal power, manuscripts and popular devotion, relations between Christians and Jews, and the role of the artist as illuminator. This course includes site visits.
Rose Hill
Fall 2026 Courses
ARHI 2370 – Art and Science in the Middle Ages
This course investigates intersections of art and science from the Carolingian period through the 14th century and the historical role images played in the pursuit of epistemic truths. Science in the Middle Ages included a broad range of intellectual pursuits into both the supernatural and natural worlds, and scholars have classified these pursuits in various ways (i.e., experimental or theoretical science, practical science, magic, and natural philosophy). A particular focus of this course is placed on the assimilation of Greek and Islamic scientific advances in cartography, cosmology, and optical theory into the Latin theological tradition.
ARHI 2410 - Northern Renaissance Art
Northern Renaissance art draws inspiration from the cultural and social developments of the early modern era (circa 1400-1600). Painters strove to depict the bustling energy of expanding cities, sculptors fabricated dynamic ensembles aimed at making tangible the subtleties of church doctrine, and illuminators and printmakers created precious and personal works that enhanced the domestic sphere. In this course we will explore such phenomena, considering how masters—including Jan van Eyck, Albrecht Dürer, and Hieronymus Bosch—experimented and innovated in an age of artistic revolution. This course includes site visits.
ARHI 2553 - Art, Gender, and Sexuality in Asia
This upper-level art history course probes into artistic and cultural representations of bodies in Asia in relation to such themes as sex, gender, sexuality, race, nationhood, war, and post-humanity. Through thematic examinations of diverse bodily representations, students will learn a broad range of interpretive tools and frameworks to appreciate artistic objects.
ARHI 2575 - Visualizing Black Queer Feminisms
This course explores contemporary visual culture through the lens of queer and Black feminist artists, activists, and scholars. What does it mean for Black women and queer artists to garner unprecedented mainstream visibility but Black queer feminism is still marginalized in art criticism? How can we study art history in such a way that this separation is remedied? Together we study Black lesbian and queer feminist texts alongside 21st century new media art, photography, cinema, sculpture, and painting.
Upcoming Courses Spring 2027
Lincoln Center
ARHI 2585 - Museums, Galleries, and New York's Art World
What is the "art world," really? Together, we will examine the artists, workers, exhibitions, markets, media, and institutions that make New York the center of the art world. Lectures, discussions, and a self-guided site visit will introduce students to the tastemakers, activists, and professionals behind New York’s creative industries, from galleries and museums to auction houses and the press. Students will learn to write and think like critics, publicists, and curators through assignments such as opinionated reviews, press releases, and educational wall texts. Tailored to each student’s particular interests, these assignments introduce the working practices of journalists, designers, and others across the art world. Among the topics are Marcel Duchamp and the scandal of the 1913 Armory Show; Andy Warhol’s Factory; the Guerrilla Girls and other art-world agitators; the spectacle of the Met Gala and the Costume Institute exhibitions it funds; collaborations between artists and designers; the workers who keep museums running and rarely get credit; and the fierce rivalry between Sotheby’s and Christie’s. No previous experience in art history is required.
ARHI 3455 - Michelangelo: Renaissance Celebrity
This course surveys the life, times, and works of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564). We will trace his development from his origins in fifteenth-century Florence to his role as the leading artist of sixteenth-century Rome and his ultimate fate as the “divine” artist memorialized by Giorgio Vasari. Our primary goal is to examine his major projects in painting, sculpture, and architecture, and analyze the social, artistic, political, and religious context that informed their production and reception. Our secondary goal is to consider the concepts of celebrity and fame, both in Michelangelo’s time and our own. Throughout the course, we will be attentive to the “myth of Michelangelo” promoted by his principal biographers, Giorgio Vasari and Ascanio Condivi, and by the artist himself. We will test their histories of Michelangelo’s career against evidence drawn from other sources, including contemporary documents and modern scholarship, and think critically about how celebrity and fame are shaped by and work upon history.
ARHI 4562 - Art and the Second World War
This upper-level art history seminar will examine the production, circulation, and reception of art about World War II in Europe, North America, and Asia. We will look at paintings, sculptures, posters, and architecture from Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, and China from the 1930s and 1940s, and analyze them in relation to the ideologies of fascism, anti-fascism, and communism. We will also scrutinize images that represent the violent consequences of the global conflict, such as the Holocaust, the Nanking Massacre, comfort women (sex slaves managed by the imperial Japanese government), and the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Questions will include how we define propaganda and what it looks like; what kinds of messages art tried to propagate; what artistic styles and theories were employed; what our ethical responsibilities are in dealing with artworks that served to justify violence; and what we can learn from the art to be mindful about propaganda today. Through discussions of artworks from the most turbulent and globally devastating period of the 20th century, this class will consider the moral dimensions of art appreciation. This is a reading-, writing-, and speaking-intensive course.
Lincoln Center
Fall 2026 Courses
ARHI 2250 – Art of the Americas, Olmec to Aztec
This course is an introduction to the art of the Americas from its beginnings to the time of European contact, including Mexico, the Andes, the Caribbean, and the U.S. Southwest. The course examines architecture, sculpture, ceramics, and textiles within cultures such as the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, Moche, Nazca, Inca, Pueblo, and Taíno. While centering foundational studies in ancient art and archaeology, the course also incorporates recent scholarship from Indigenous studies that draws on oral histories and decolonial approaches, connecting ancient visual cultures to present-day Indigenous communities in the Americas.
ARHI 2419 – The Medici: Art and Politics in Renaissance Florence
In 1530, the city of Florence ceased to be a republic with a long tradition of representative democracy and became instead a hereditary princely state ruled by the Medici family. Much of the family’s power and fame derived from two kinds of patronage: the social and political patronage that established their political power, and the artistic and cultural patronage that fashioned the family’s image and earned their lasting fame. This course examines the development of Medici art patronage from the emergence of the family as a political force in the early fifteenth century to the establishment of the grand-ducal dynasty in the sixteenth century. Surveying works by artists including Botticelli, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Bronzino, it both introduces students to the art of Renaissance Florence and considers the role of art in establishing, consolidating, and expressing power in a period of political change.
ARHI 2545 – Museum Architecture
How does architecture support (or undermine) the museum’s goals to display objects for the public and preserve these objects for the future? Is the museum building a monument or a type of public infrastructure, and who should pay for it? What new considerations for museum design have emerged in the face of climate change? In this course, we’ll explore these questions through a historical analysis of museum design, connecting the construction of cutting-edge spaces to a longer tradition of building public museums. We will pay special attention to museums in New York City, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the American Museum of Natural History, and the National Museum of the American Indian. We’ll also consider buildings that no longer exist, such as the former home of the American Folk Art Museum, and buildings that have housed the collections of multiple institutions, such as the Breuer building, to practice reading architecture to better understand museums and their varied missions.
ARHI 4600 - Senior Seminar
As the capstone seminar for art history majors, this seminar has several goals: to give art history majors an introduction to the principal thinkers who shaped the field of art history; to explore some of the key methodological approaches to art history today; to hone students’ skills in critical reading and viewing; and to provide students the opportunity to conduct independent research on an art historical topic of their own choosing. Offered fall semesters only; required for majors.