The Department of Art History and Art offers opportunities to study art history, to participate in a broad range of studio offerings and to engage in pre-professional museum training. The Bachelor of Arts degree is granted in art history and in pre-architecture. In addition, the department offers graduate programs leading to the degrees of Master of Arts in art history, in art history and museum studies; and the Doctor of Philosophy in art history.
All art programs are considerably enhanced by close cooperation with and access to the facilities of cultural institutions located in University Circle, in particular The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Institute of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland.
The Cleveland Museum of Art/CWRU Art History Program has been in existence since 1967. The museum’s curators serve as adjunct faculty, and graduate research projects under their direction often result in exhibitions and publications. The museum Studies course and internships provide experience in curatorial practices, connoisseurship, conservation, design, and museum education, and the program has a history of producing leaders in the museum field. Graduate students are exposed to both traditional and newer theoretically based art historical approaches in classes taught by faculty renowned for their expertise in a diversity of fields.
News
Congratulations to Alli Boroff and Rachel Sweeney who each received the 2026 Flora Stone Mather Center for Women Research and Professional Development Grant! The grant will support Rachel's Rachel's dissertation project, “Anseo tá Arrachtaigh: The Christian Function of Monstrous and Grotesque Imagery in Pictland and Ireland, c. 700-1200,” and...
Please join me in congratulating Susana Montañés-Lleras, whose dissertation, "The Sleeping Princess and the Creeping Briar: Book Illustration, Pictorial Language, and the Rhetoric of Fantasy" was unanimously and enthusiastically approved by her committee today! On behalf of my fellow committee members, Dr. Henry Adams, Dr. Britany Salsbury, and Dr....
Prof. Benay and Dr. Britany Salsbury--Curator of Prints and Drawings at the CMA--have won BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR from the International Fine Prints and Drawings Foundation for their exhibition catalogue Karamu Artists Inc.: Printmaking, Race, and Community (Yale, 2025). The IFPDA Book Award "highlights and promotes published books, articles, or catalogues on fine...
Now Pitching! Congratulations to Prof. Benay and Dr. Ken Schneck, executive director of the Buckeye Flame, Ohio's only LGBTQ+ Newsroom, on the success of their pitch at Accelerate! They WON the Arts & Culture category!! Hosted by the Cleveland Leadership Center, Accelerate is an annual competition that funds innovative, non-profit...
Elina Gertsman receives highest teaching award in the field of art history
Congratulations to Prof. Gertsman, who received the 2026 Distinguished Teaching of Art History Award from the College Art Association (CAA)! Recipients are evaluated on several criteria, including Inspiration to a broad range of students who pursue humanities studies; rigorous intellectual standards; contributions to the advancement of knowledge and methodology...