FAS - History of Art and Architecture

The Henry C. Frick Department of the History of Art and Architecture offers graduate programs leading to the MA and PhD degrees. These programs offer a concentration in the fields of early modern art and architecture (medieval through 17th-century Baroque), modern and contemporary art and visual culture (late-18th century to the present), and East Asian art and archeology (China and Japan). The programs are supported and enriched by interdisciplinary certificate programs at the University, by local museum collections, and by a research library located in the Henry Clay Frick Fine Arts Building. Advanced graduate students are able to establish a teaching portfolio and are encouraged to present papers at professional conferences and to publish original research.

The MA program is a two-year program designed to give students a broad grounding in the methods and subject areas of art history. The program emphasizes the development of research and writing skills through a series of research seminars and a final thesis requirement. In addition, most MA students get substantial teaching experience and some continue to teach in college and museum programs after graduation. The city of Pittsburgh has museums and other institutions that offer opportunities for professional internships in a variety of areas. Opportunities are also increasingly available to acquire experience with digital imaging systems. In recent years, students with the MA degree have competed successfully for a variety of museum positions in Pittsburgh and elsewhere, and have taught at colleges and universities.

The PhD program is designed to train students for serious scholarship in conjunction with academic and museum careers. Students concentrate in one of three fields: early modern art and architecture (medieval through 17th-century Baroque); modern and contemporary art and visual culture (late-18th century to the present); and East Asian art and archeology (China and Japan). For the most current information on the three fields, consult the department's Web page (see below for address).

Students in each field choose a research specialization (for example, late-medieval manuscripts or German expressionism) but at the same time train broadly in order to be able to teach across the entire field (for example, the medieval or modern field). Each field thus combines the traditional research focus of a PhD with a more broadly marketable knowledge and teaching ability. PhD students are expected to leave the program not only with an impressive dissertation but also with a substantial teaching portfolio of courses both taught and envisioned.

Each of the three fields is supported by interdisciplinary certificate programs at the University. These include Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Cultural Studies, Women's Studies, and Area Studies programs coordinated through the University Center for International Studies (UCIS), specifically, East Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, Russian and East European Studies, and West European Studies. These opportunities for interdisciplinary study enhance the student's marketability.

PhD students have secured tenure-track teaching positions across the country and have also held positions as museum curators, editors, and professionals in cultural resource management.

Contact Information

Department Chair: David G. Wilkins

Main Office: 104 Frick Fine Arts

Phone: (412) 648-2400

Fax: (412) 648-2792

E-mail: dgw2+@pitt.edu

Web site: http://www.pitt.edu/~arthome/index.html

Research

In the past five years, individual faculty have published, among other things, a textbook of world art and scholarly books on George Grosz, American public monuments, and Spanish medieval manuscripts. Major research projects are currently under way in Chinese archeology, medieval manuscripts, the architecture of medieval Florence, architectural theory, Italian Renaissance patronage, and 17th-century painting and drawing.

Graduate students have published articles on such topics as Renaissance portraiture, California architecture, and Chinese art and archeology. They have given papers at professional conferences in virtually every field represented by the department.

For current information on the research activities of faculty and students, consult the department's Web page (see above).

Facilities

The department is located in its own building, the Henry Clay Frick Fine Arts Building, on the edge of Schenley Park. The building also houses the Studio Arts department, the University Art Gallery, and the Frick Fine Arts Library, a research library in art and architecture that is one of the oldest and finest of its kind in the country. In addition, the department has a visual resources collection of over 750,000 slides and a growing database of digital images. A computer facility in the building is currently available to graduate students for communications and word-processing and a full-fledged computer lab is available in the Fine Arts Library.

Across the street from the Fine Arts Building is the Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Library, both institutions with fine collections that complement the facilities of the department. Elsewhere in the area are high-quality museums, galleries, and important architectural and historic sites.

Admission to the MA program

To undertake graduate work in the department, a student should normally have the following preparation:

1. Completion of an undergraduate major in a discipline in the humanities with no less than a strong minor in art history (at least 12 credits with a B average in upper-division courses).
2. Completion of one major European language through the intermediate college level with a grade of B or better for students of Western art; students in Asian art should have begun work in Chinese and/or Japanese.

Exceptions are made in the case of superior students who have incomplete preparation in one of these areas, but not both.

Applicants to the MA program must provide the following:

Admission to the PhD program

Students who intend to pursue a PhD degree must complete the MA program in Art History at the University of Pittsburgh or a comparable MA program at another institution. Application to the PhD program must be made by January 15 and should include the following:

Financial Assistance

Financial aid is available for a maximum of two years for the MA degree and for three years for the PhD degree. The department has two full fellowships, but the most common form of aid is a teaching assistantship (at the MA level) and a teaching fellowship (at the PhD level), both of which pay tuition and fees and a stipend for living expenses. Additional fellowships from the University without teaching obligations are also available on a competitive basis to exceptionally qualified applicants. See Fellowships and Traineeships for detail on these fellowships.

Students who wish to be considered for financial aid must apply to the graduate program by January 15.

Degree Requirements

The minimal requirements established by the Graduate Faculty of the University, as described under General Academic Regulations, and any additional requirements of FAS Graduate Studies described under FAS Degree Requirements, should be read in conjunction with department-specific degree requirements described in the following sections.

Requirements for the Master's Degree

The MA degree requires completion of a minimum of 27 credits, satisfaction of a foreign language requirement, and completion of a thesis, as detailed below:

Foreign Language Requirement

Students must demonstrate reading ability in one foreign language. A major European language is required for students of Western art; Chinese or Japanese for students of Asian art. The requirement can be met either by departmental exam or by completing an appropriate level course at the University with a grade of B+ or better. The requirement must be passed in the first year to maintain eligibility for financial aid.

Minimum Course Work Requirement

Twenty-seven credits (typically nine courses) must be taken at the 1000 level or above. Twenty-four of these credits must be in art history and three credits in a cognate course outside art history, as approved by the department. Six credits may be transferred from another approved graduate program. No more than two incomplete grades may appear on the transcript, and the minimum final QPA is 3.00.

Within the minimum course work requirement, there are two requirements that ensure the student's breadth and depth of preparation:

1. Research seminars: Three research seminars and one seminar in art historical methodology (HA&A 2005) are required, comprising 12 of the 27 credits required for the degree. Research seminars are 2000-level courses designed to introduce students to a body of scholarly literature and allow them to write an original research paper. At least two such seminars must be taken in the first year of residence.
2. Distribution requirement: The research seminars must cover at least three of the department's five major teaching areas: Asian, Medieval, Renaissance/Baroque, Modern/Contemporary, and Architecture. If not already met by the distribution of research seminars, a further requirement for students of Western art is to take at least one graduate-level course in Asian art (1000-level or above); students of Asian art must take at least one graduate-level course in Western art. In special cases, the latter requirement may be fulfilled by taking a cognate course.

Research Paper

The final requirement for the MA degree is an original research paper, produced under the supervision of two faculty readers and deemed satisfactory by a majority vote of the full faculty in residence. Typically, the research paper is a substantially revised version of a paper produced in a research seminar. It must be submitted no later than November 1 if the degree is expected to be completed in the Fall Term or no later than March 1 if the degree is expected to be completed in the Spring.

Requirements for the PhD Degree

The requirements for the PhD in the History of Art and Architecture are as follows:

Foreign Language Requirement

PhD students must have certified reading proficiency in at least two foreign languages relevant to their field of study. Students matriculating from the MA to the PhD program must fulfill this requirement before applying to enter the PhD program. Students entering the PhD program with an MA from an outside institution must fulfill the requirement in their first year of study to maintain eligibility for financial aid.

Depending on the student's field of study, more than two foreign languages may be necessary to carry out advanced research. In this case, additional language study may be required, as determined by the student and the student's dissertation committee.

Minimum Course Work Requirement

A total of 72 credits are required for the PhD degree, of which 27 may be transferred from the MA program at the University of Pittsburgh or 24 from MA programs in art history at other institutions. At the PhD level, 18 credits (typically six courses) must consist of graduate-level lecture courses (1000-level or above) or seminars (2000-level or above), in either art history or cognate disciplines relevant to the student's field of study. The remaining credits may be comprised of independent study and dissertation research, subject to the approval of the student's dissertation committee.

Core Course

A core course in theory and methodology (HAA 2005) is required of all PhD students. Students matriculating from the MA program must take the course at the MA level before applying to the PhD program. Students entering the PhD program from another institution must take the course in their first year of study.

Dissertation Committee

In the first term of PhD study, the student must assemble a dissertation committee consisting of the faculty advisor, who serves as the dissertation director, and at least two other faculty members from the Department of History of Art and Architecture. (The Department Chair serves ex officio on the committee and may be counted as one of the three required members.) This committee must approve the student's dissertation topic, program of study, and the areas for comprehensive examination.

Annual meetings of the dissertation committee, to be chaired by the faculty advisor, are required by the University until the student finishes the degree or withdraws from the program.

Comprehensive Examination

The comprehensive examination is normally taken at the end of the second year in the PhD program. The examination committee (normally the same as the dissertation committee) tests the student in three areas that are usually conceived as broad research fields relevant to the student's dissertation. The examination consists of three written exams of four hours each, one written exam for each area, and one oral exam ranging over all three areas.

In some cases, one of the three examination areas may be a field related to another research interest or to a teaching interest.

Advancement to Candidacy

Students advance to candidacy for the PhD degree after they have passed their comprehensive examination and after their dissertation prospectus has been approved. The prospectus should define the dissertation topic, its relationship to the state of the field, the methodology of the dissertation, and the student's plan of research. The purpose of the dissertation prospectus is to demonstrate that the student has covered the basic literature on the topic and is ready to undertake independent dissertation research and writing.

When the prospectus is submitted, the dissertation committee is enlarged to include one additional member from outside the Department of History of Art and Architecture, normally from a cognate discipline in which the student has worked. (The committee may be further reconstituted at this stage if so desired.) Each member of this expanded committee must approve the dissertation prospectus by signing the student's formal application to PhD candidacy. The signed application must be filed while the student is still registered and at least eight months before the dissertation defense.

Dissertation

The final requirement for the PhD degree is the dissertation itself. While writing the dissertation, the student should continue to work closely with the dissertation committee. All students, even those not in residence, are required to submit annual progress reports to their committee by September 1. When the student has completed a satisfactory draft of the dissertation, the student and his/her committee schedule a dissertation defense, which is conducted as an oral examination by the committee. The committee may accept the dissertation as written or may require revisions. Once the committee has accepted the dissertation, the student must file a copy with appropriate illustrations and captions in accordance with University regulations on format and materials. See Regulations Pertaining to Doctoral Study for further detail.

Statute of Limitations

The Department of History of Art and Architecture follows the University-wide policy on the maximum amount of time students pursuing the PhD are allowed to complete the program. See Statute of Limitations/Leaves of Absence or detail. Additionally, students who do not complete the degree within seven years after the comprehensive examination are required to retake the examination.

Course Listings

HA&A 1010 Approaches to Art History

HA&A 1020 Museum Studies Exhibition Seminar

HA&A 1040 History of Architecture Theory

HA&A 1100 Special Topics: Ancient

HA&A 1103 Prehistoric Art

HA&A 1106 Pre-Columbian Art

HA&A 1110 Greek Art

HA&A 1120 Greek Archeology

HA&A 1130 Roman Art

HA&A 1140 Roman Archeology

HA&A 1150 Roman Sculpture

HA&A 1160 Roman Architecture

HA&A 1200 Special Topics: Medieval

HA&A 1201 Special Topics: Romanesque

HA&A 1202 Special Topics: Gothic

HA&A 1210 Medieval Iconography

HA&A 1212 Palaeography

HA&A 1215 Medieval Manuscript Illumination

HA&A 1220 Early Christian/Byzantine Architecture

HA&A 1230 Early Medieval Art

HA&A 1235 English Medieval Architecture

HA&A 1240 Romanesque Architecture

HA&A 1245 Romanesque Sculpture

HA&A 1250 Gothic Architecture

HA&A 1255 Gothic Art

HA&A 1258 Italian Gothic Art

HA&A 1300 Special Topics: Renaissance

HA&A 1301 Special Topics: Baroque

HA&A 1305 Early Renaissance Architecture

HA&A 1306 High Renaissance Architecture

HA&A 1307 Painting in 17th-century Holland

HA&A 1308 Italian 17th-century Painting

HA&A 1400 Special Topics: Modern

HA&A 1401 Special Topics: Contemporary

HA&A 1404 Modern Sculpture

HA&A 1405 18th-century Art

HA&A 1406 History of Graphic Art

HA&A 1408 Classical Tradition in Architecture

HA&A 1410 Realism and Impressionism

HA&A 1411 Modernism

HA&A 1440 Expressionism

HA&A 1441 Dada and Surrealism

HA&A 1450 Art in the Weimar Republic

HA&A 1480 Architecture Since 1945

HA&A 1490 Art Since 1945

HA&A 1500 Special Topics: American

HA&A 1505 Cultural History of U.S. 1885-1905

HA&A 1510 Pittsburgh Architecture/Urbanism

HA&A 1511 Cultural History of U.S. 1830-1861

HA&A 1512 American Sculpture

HA&A 1530 American Architecture 1: To Civil War

HA&A 1531 American Architecture 2: To Today

HA&A 1533 Thomas Jefferson, Architect

HA&A 1600 Special Topics: Chinese

HA&A 1601 Special Topics: Japanese

HA&A 1602 Special Topics: Asian

HA&A 1605 Ancient Chinese Art

HA&A 1610 Early Chinese Painting

HA&A 1620 Later Chinese Painting

HA&A 1650 Chinese Archeology

HA&A 1660 The Narrative Handscroll in 12th-14th-century Japanese Art

HA&A 1675 15th-16th-century Japanese Art and Painting

HA&A 1680 Japanese Woodblock Prints

HA&A 1700 Special Topics: India

HA&A 1701 Migrations 1

HA&A 1702 Migrations 2

HA&A 1800 Special Topics: Film

HA&A 1805 Early French Film

HA&A 1806 American Independent Film

HA&A 1810 Experimental Video

HA&A 1820 Documentary Film

HA&A 1880 World Cities

HA&A 1900 Architectural Studies Internship

HA&A 1901 Independent Study

HA&A 1903 History of Art and Architecture Internship

HA&A 1905 Honors Seminar/Majors

HA&A 1910 Special Topics: Architecture

HA&A 1911 Architectural Seminar: Monographic Topics

HA&A 1912 Architectural Seminar: Thematic Topics

HA&A 1913 Architectural Studies Seminar

HA&A 1915 Architectural Studies Portfolio

HA&A 1950 Senior Thesis

Seminars

Seminars are offered in the fields of research of the faculty. All courses other than 2005 (Methods Research and Scholarship) are offered periodically.

HA&A 2005 Methods Research and Scholarship

HA&A 2006 Art History Writing Practicum

HA&A 2010 Methods in Architectural History

HA&A 2050 The City as a Work of Art

HA&A 2100 Special Topics: Ancient

HA&A 2105 Medieval Architecture

HA&A 2110 Gendered Space in the Greek City

HA&A 2130 Early Christian Architecture

HA&A 2150 Art of the Crusades

HA&A 2200 Special Topics: Medieval

HA&A 2201 Special Topics: Romanesque

HA&A 2202 English Medieval Architecture

HA&A 2203 Special Topics: Gothic

HA&A 2210 Spanish Romanesque Art

HA&A 2220 Spanish Medieval Topics

HA&A 2225 The Pilgrim's Guide

HA&A 2230 Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts

HA&A 2250 Early Gothic Architecture

HA&A 2260 Cathedral and City in Middle Ages

HA&A 2300 Special Topics: Renaissance

HA&A 2301 Special Topics: Baroque

HA&A 2305 Connoisseurship

HA&A 2310 Art and Politics in 17th-century Rome

HA&A 2312 16th-century Italian Drawings

HA&A 2320 Bernini and 17th-century Sculpture Rome

HA&A 2350 Renaissance Architecture

HA&A 2370 Seminar Early Italian Painting

HA&A 2375 Devotional Imagery

HA&A 2380 Florentine Renaissance Sculpture

HA&A 2385 Florentine Art 1400-1430

HA&A 2390 Donatello

HA&A 2395 Renaissance Rooms

HA&A 2400 Special Topics: Modern Arts

HA&A 2401 Special Topics: Contemporary

HA&A 2402 In the Warhol Museum

HA&A 2410 The Culture of Exile: German Emigres in the U.S.

HA&A 2430 18th-century Architecture

HA&A 2440 19th-century Architecture

HA&A 2450 19th-century European Art

HA&A 2460 Realism

HA&A 2465 Research on 19th-century European Painting

HA&A 2490 Topics in 20th-century Art

HA&A 2500 Special Topics: American

HA&A 2501 Special Topics: American 2

HA&A 2503 American Architecture

HA&A 2505 Seminar in American Portraiture

HA&A 2510 19th-century Images of American West

HA&A 2520 American Landscape Painting

HA&A 2530 American Genre Painting

HA&A 2540 Seminar on Winslow Homer

HA&A 2550 "Art Object" in Late 19th-century America

HA&A 2600 Special Topics: Chinese

HA&A 2601 Special Topics: Japanese

HA&A 2602 Special Topics: Asian

HA&A 2603 Ukiyo-e to Modern Japanese Prints

HA&A 2604 East Asian Research

HA&A 2605 East and Southeast Asia Bronze Age

HA&A 2606 Early Chinese Bronzes

HA&A 2607 Northeast Asian Art and Practice in Antiquity

HA&A 2700 Special Topics: India

HA&A 2800 Special Topics: Film

General

HA&A 2000 Research and Thesis MA Degree

HA&A 2901 Directed Study

HA&A 2902 Directed Study

HA&A 2970 Teaching of Art History

HA&A 2990 Independent Study

HA&A 3000 Research and Dissertation: PhD

HA&A 3902 Directed Study

HA&A 3903 Directed Study