Art History

Study mode:On campus Study type:Full-time Languages: English
Local:$ 24.9 k / Year(s) Foreign:$ 52.5 k / Year(s) Deadline: Jan 15, 2025
56 place StudyQA ranking:2237 Duration:

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The undergraduate program in art history is directed toward two main educational goals:

  1. to provide students with an excellent liberal arts foundation through an understanding of the historical and global significance, cultural diversity, and intellectual richness of human artistic traditions from prehistoric times to the present; and
  2. to provide these students with the intellectual tools needed to investigate the complex roles played by the arts in a variety of social contexts.

Skills in visual analysis, historical research, critical reading, analytical and descriptive writing, and oral communication are developed throughout the course of the study. The practice of art history is interdisciplinary, dynamically engaged with many fields in the humanities and social sciences, as well as with the University’s diverse area studies programs and the Ackland Art Museum. The art history major equips students with skills, knowledge, and values to negotiate rapidly changing, richly diverse, and increasingly interconnected local, national, and worldwide communities.

In addition to the program requirements listed below, students must

  • attain a final cumulative GPA of at least 2.0
  • complete a minimum of 45 academic credit hours earned from UNC-Chapel Hill courses
  • take at least half of their major course requirements (courses and credit hours) at UNC-Chapel Hill
  • earn a minimum of 18 hours of C or better in the major core requirements (some majors require 21 hours).
Course List
Code Title Hours
Core Requirements  
Two art history foundation courses from ARTH 100 to ARTH 199 6
Three intermediate art history courses from ARTH 200 to ARTH 399 9
Three advanced art history courses from ARTH 400 to ARTH 699 9
Two elective art history courses from ARTH 200 to ARTH 699 1 6
ARTH 391 Undergraduate Research Seminar 2 3
One studio art course (ARTS) 3
Area of Concentration  
Five courses of any level from the above categories must fall within one of the following five areas of concentration (see lists below)  
Total Hours 36
1

A first-year seminar taught by an art history faculty member (ARTH 53, ARTH 54, ARTH 55, ARTH 56, ARTH 61, ARTH 64, ARTH 66, ARTH 77, ARTH 79, ARTH 84, ARTH 89 [with approval based on topic]) may be substituted for one art history elective numbered 200 or above.

2

Offered with three chronological topic areas. It is strongly recommended that students take this seminar no later than the spring of their junior year.

A maximum of two cross-listed courses taught by faculty members outside the Department of Art may count toward the major. It is strongly recommended that before taking a course numbered above 399, students take a lower-level course devoted to the same period. Advanced courses numbered 400 to 699 are lecture and discussion classes open to both graduate and undergraduate students.

Concentrations

Concentration I: 5000 BCE–400 CE

Course List
Code Title Hours
ARTH 151 History of Western Art I H 3
ARTH 153 Introduction to South Asian Art 3
ARTH 158 Introduction to East Asian Art and Architecture 3
ARTH 160 Introduction to the Art and Architecture of Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica 3
ARTH 262 Art of Classical Greece 3
ARTH 263 Roman Art 3
ARTH 266 Arts of Early & Medieval Asia 3
ARTH 292 Egyptian, Near Eastern, & Aegean Art 3
ARTH 391 Undergraduate Research Seminar (ancient and medieval topic) 3
ARTH 460 Greek Painting 3
ARTH 461 Archaic Greek Sculpture 3
ARTH 462 Classical Greek Sculpture 3
ARTH 463 Hellenistic Greek Sculpture 3
ARTH 464 Greek Architecture 3
ARTH 465 Architecture of Etruria and Rome 3
ARTH 466 History of the Illuminated Book 3
ARTH 467 Celtic Art and Cultures 3
ARTH 474 Roman Sculpture 3
ARTH 476 Roman Painting 3
ARTH 683 Etruscan Art 3
H

Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply.

Concentration II: 200–1500 CE

Course List
Code Title Hours
ARTH 151 History of Western Art I H 3
ARTH 153 Introduction to South Asian Art 3
ARTH 154 Introduction to Art and Architecture of Islamic Lands (Eighth-16th Centuries CE) H 3
ARTH 157 Introduction to Latin American Visual Culture 3
ARTH 158 Introduction to East Asian Art and Architecture 3
ARTH 160 Introduction to the Art and Architecture of Pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica 3
ARTH 251 Art and Architecture in the Age of the Caliphs (Seventh-12th Centuries CE) 3
ARTH 258 Chinese Art and Culture: from Han to Tang 3
ARTH 264 Medieval Art in Western Europe 3
ARTH 265 Medieval Iconography H 3
ARTH 266 Arts of Early & Medieval Asia 3
ARTH 270 Early Renaissance Art in Italy 3
ARTH 272 Northern European Art: Van Eyck to Bruegel 3
ARTH 351 Crusader Art 3
ARTH 361 Saints in Medieval Art 3
ARTH 362 Early Christian Art and Modern Responses 3
ARTH 363 Envisioning Buddhism in Medieval China 3
ARTH 365 Late Medieval Art 3
ARTH 391 Undergraduate Research Seminar (ancient and medieval topic) 3
ARTH 454 Cathedrals, Abbeys, Castles: Gothic Art and Architecture, ca.1130-1500 3
ARTH 455 City, Architecture, Art: Nuremberg as a European Artistic Center,1300-1600 3
ARTH 457 Studies in the History of Graphic Art 3
ARTH 458 Islamic Architecture and the Environment 3
ARTH 466 History of the Illuminated Book 3
ARTH 467 Celtic Art and Cultures 3
ARTH 469 Art of the Aztec Empire 3
ARTH 470 The Moving Image in the Middle Ages 3
ARTH 471 Northern European Art of the 14th and 15th Centuries 3
ARTH 472 Early Modern Art, 1400-1750 H 3
ARTH 475 Icons and Idols: Debates in Medieval Art 3
ARTH 561 Arts of the Islamic Mediterranean 3
ARTH 562 Islamic Urbanism 3
H

Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply.

Concentration III: 1250–1850

Course List
Code Title Hours
ARTH 54 First-Year Seminar: Art, War, and Revolution H 3
ARTH 55 First-Year Seminar: Art, Gender, and Power in Early Modern Europe H 3
ARTH 64 First-Year Seminar: Picturing Nature 3
ARTH 66 First-Year Seminar: Art, Money, and the Market 3
ARTH 77 First-Year Seminar: Seeing the Past 3
ARTH 152 History of Western Art II H 3
ARTH 153 Introduction to South Asian Art 3
ARTH 154 Introduction to Art and Architecture of Islamic Lands (Eighth-16th Centuries CE) H 3
ARTH 157 Introduction to Latin American Visual Culture 3
ARTH 254 Women in the Visual Arts I 3
ARTH 261 Introduction to American Art 3
ARTH 266 Arts of Early & Medieval Asia 3
ARTH 270 Early Renaissance Art in Italy 3
ARTH 271 High Renaissance Art in Italy 3
ARTH 272 Northern European Art: Van Eyck to Bruegel 3
ARTH 273 Arts Under the Mughal Dynasty in India 3
ARTH 274 European Baroque Art 3
ARTH 275 18th-Century Art 3
ARTH 277 Art and Architecture of Viceregal Latin America 3
ARTH 279 The Arts in England, 1450-1650 3
ARTH 283 Picturing Paris: 1800-2000 3
ARTH 287 African American Art Survey 3
ARTH 288 19th-Century American Art 3
ARTH 352 Religious Architecture and Visual Culture in Latin America 3
ARTH 361 Saints in Medieval Art 3
ARTH 365 Late Medieval Art 3
ARTH 368 The Renaissance Portrait 3
ARTH 370 Visual Art in the Age of Revolution 3
ARTH 391 Undergraduate Research Seminar (early modern topic) 3
ARTH 451 Women in the Visual Arts II 3
ARTH 457 Studies in the History of Graphic Art 3
ARTH 458 Islamic Architecture and the Environment 3
ARTH 466 History of the Illuminated Book 3
ARTH 469 Art of the Aztec Empire 3
ARTH 470 The Moving Image in the Middle Ages 3
ARTH 471 Northern European Art of the 14th and 15th Centuries 3
ARTH 472 Early Modern Art, 1400-1750 H 3
ARTH 473 Early Modern and Modern Decorative Arts 3
ARTH 485 Art of the Harlem Renaissance 3
ARTH 561 Arts of the Islamic Mediterranean 3
ARTH 562 Islamic Urbanism 3
ARTH 597 Studiolo to Wunderkammer 3
H

Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply.

Concentration IV: 1750–1950

Course List
Code Title Hours
ARTH 54 First-Year Seminar: Art, War, and Revolution H 3
ARTH 61 First-Year Seminar: African American Art of the Carolinas 3
ARTH 64 First-Year Seminar: Picturing Nature 3
ARTH 66 First-Year Seminar: Art, Money, and the Market 3
ARTH 77 First-Year Seminar: Seeing the Past 3
ARTH 84 First-Year Seminar: Society of the Spectacle: Impressionism and Post-Impressionism 3
ARTH 152 History of Western Art II H 3
ARTH 153 Introduction to South Asian Art 3
ARTH 155 African Art Survey 3
ARTH 157 Introduction to Latin American Visual Culture 3
ARTH 159 The Film Experience: Introduction to the Visual Study of Film 3
ARTH 254 Women in the Visual Arts I 3
ARTH 261 Introduction to American Art 3
ARTH 266 Arts of Early & Medieval Asia 3
ARTH 267 Latin American Modernisms 3
ARTH 275 18th-Century Art 3
ARTH 282 Modernism I: Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism 3
ARTH 283 Picturing Paris: 1800-2000 3
ARTH 284 Modernism II: 1905-1960 3
ARTH 287 African American Art Survey 3
ARTH 288 19th-Century American Art 3
ARTH 289 Art in the United States, 1890-1945: American Modernisms 3
ARTH 352 Religious Architecture and Visual Culture in Latin America 3
ARTH 353 Africa and Masks 3
ARTH 370 Visual Art in the Age of Revolution 3
ARTH 383 Modern Architecture 3
ARTH 387 20th-Century African American Art 3
ARTH 391 Undergraduate Research Seminar (modern and contemporary topic) 3
ARTH 452 Brazilian Modernism 3
ARTH 453 Africa in the American Imagination H 3
ARTH 456 Art and Visual Culture of South Asia 3
ARTH 457 Studies in the History of Graphic Art 3
ARTH 473 Early Modern and Modern Decorative Arts 3
ARTH 481 American Art and the Civil War 3
ARTH 483 Art, Politics, and Society in France, 1850-1914 3
ARTH 514 Monuments and Memory 3
ARTH 551 Introduction to Museum Studies 3
ARTH 556 Visual Cultures of the American City, 1750-1950 3
ARTH 583 Theories of Modern Art 3
ARTH 592 History and Theory of Museums 3
H

Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply.

Concentration V: 1900–Present

Course List
Code Title Hours
ARTH 53 First-Year Seminar: Art and the Body 3
ARTH 54 First-Year Seminar: Art, War, and Revolution H 3
ARTH 61 First-Year Seminar: African American Art of the Carolinas 3
ARTH 152 History of Western Art II H 3
ARTH 153 Introduction to South Asian Art 3
ARTH 155 African Art Survey 3
ARTH 157 Introduction to Latin American Visual Culture 3
ARTH 159 The Film Experience: Introduction to the Visual Study of Film 3
ARTH 255 African Art and Culture 3
ARTH 259 Native American Art and Culture 3
ARTH 267 Latin American Modernisms 3
ARTH 283 Picturing Paris: 1800-2000 3
ARTH 284 Modernism II: 1905-1960 3
ARTH 285 Art Since 1960 3
ARTH 287 African American Art Survey 3
ARTH 289 Art in the United States, 1890-1945: American Modernisms 3
ARTH 352 Religious Architecture and Visual Culture in Latin America 3
ARTH 353 Africa and Masks 3
ARTH 383 Modern Architecture 3
ARTH 385 Pop Art and Its Legacy 3
ARTH 387 20th-Century African American Art 3
ARTH 391 Undergraduate Research Seminar (modern and contemporary topic) 3
ARTH 445 The Mexican Mural Renaissance, 1921-1945 3
ARTH 452 Brazilian Modernism 3
ARTH 453 Africa in the American Imagination H 3
ARTH 456 Art and Visual Culture of South Asia 3
ARTH 457 Studies in the History of Graphic Art 3
ARTH 468 Visual Arts and Culture in Modern and Contemporary China 3
ARTH 473 Early Modern and Modern Decorative Arts 3
ARTH 485 Art of the Harlem Renaissance 3
ARTH 488 Contemporary African Art 3
ARTH 514 Monuments and Memory 3
ARTH 551 Introduction to Museum Studies 3
ARTH 553 The Body in Social Theory and Visual Representation 3
ARTH 554 Imagining Otherness in Visual Culture in the Americas 3
ARTH 556 Visual Cultures of the American City, 1750-1950 3
ARTH 583 Theories of Modern Art 3
ARTH 586 Cultural Politics in Contemporary Art 3
ARTH 588 Current Issues in Art 3
H

Honors version available. An honors course fulfills the same requirements as the nonhonors version of that course. Enrollment and GPA restrictions may apply.

  • All students, regardless of their residency and/or citizenship, apply to UNC using The Common Application. The application will ask you for more information, including your personal biographical information, parent and sibling information, educational history, and extracurricular activities. There are also three writing samples: one essay on The Common Application and two short answer responses on the UNC-Chapel Hill Member Page.
  • Secondary School/High School Transcripts
  • All applicants are required to submit a statement from an official at their secondary school. This is often a University Counselor at your school, or an advisor, headmaster, or other official. Please note that this must come from someone at your secondary school. We will not accept statements from private counseling companies or agents.
  • We require one letter of recommendation from a teacher who has taught you in your secondary school.
  • We require all applicants, regardless of where they are from, to submit SAT or ACT scores. Our SAT code is 5816 and our ACT code is 3162. We have no preference between the SAT or ACT. If you send us both scores, we will look at whichever score is higher in our review of your application.
  • TOEFL minimum is 100
  • IELTS minimum is 7.0
  • We do not require or offer interviews as part of our admissions process. However, non-native English speakers are welcome to submit unscripted interviews with third-party services such as InitialView, Vericant or Naviance Advantage. This is not a requirement and will only be used as supplemental information as needed by the Admissions Committee.

Scholarships

We consider all students, including international students, for a limited number of merit-based scholarships. There is no separate application for these scholarships—just by applying for admission, you’ll automatically be considered for these opportunities. Because these are quite limited in number, we encourage all students to be prepared to pay the full cost of attendance.

Students attending one of the 12 United World Colleges (UWC) are eligible for the Davis Scholars Program,providing they demonstrate financial need according to UNC-approved methodology. Admitted Davis UWC students will receive instructions regarding requisite forms for determining financial need. Qualifying Davis UWC Scholars can receive a scholarship of up to $10,000.

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