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
50th Annual Cleveland Symposium: Moments, Intervals, Epochs
The 50th Annual Cleveland Symposium was a rousing success! The event was co-organized by third-year PhD students Cecily Hughes and Madeline Newquist and presented by the Department of Art History and Art at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA). The two-day symposium explored...
Save the Date: Julius Fund Lecture in Medieval Art
Please join on March 28 us for what promises to be a fantastic lecture by Professor Pamela Patton, the Director of the Index of Medieval Art and Princeton University Cantigas de Santa Maria is one of the most striking manuscripts produced in late medieval Spain, filled with extraordinary imagery...
January Art Talks
January brings us three Art Talks presented by the department’s graduate students! All will be held in the Ingalls Seminar Room.
On January 23, at 1 PM, join us for two medieval art papers! Sara Frisbie will present “One God, One Light, One Cause’: Materialities of Stained Glass in an Auvergnois The Trinity” in preparation for the Multidisciplinary Graduate Conference at the Newberry Library, immediately followed by Cecily Hughes’s grant-winning paper, “The Measure of a Saint: Size, Landscape, and Meaning in St. Olaf Pilgrim Badges,” which she will deliver at the College Art Association’s conference in February. Also at the CAA conference, Jillian Kruse will present “Collective Labors: Collaboration as Motif and Method in Pissarro’s Prints,” and her Art Talk is scheduled for January 27 at 11 AM. We hope you can attend all three!
Karamu: Then and Now
Join Prof. Benay and CWRU Law School Alumn, artist, and founder of the nonprofit Shooting Without Bullets, Amanda D. King, for an Intergenerational Lunch at ThirdSpace Action Lab on January 31! The conversation will center around the legacy of the Karamu Artists Inc., a group of Black printmakers who...
Cecily Hughes Awarded HGSCEA Grant
Congratulations to Cecily who was awarded the Historians of German, Scandinavian, and Central European Art (HGSCEA) to present her paper, “The Measure of a Saint: Size, Landscape, and Meaning in St. Olaf Pilgrim Badges,” at the College Art Association’s annual conference this coming February!
Creation and (Re)Birth Curatorial Talk Redux
We look forward to seeing you at another curatorial walk-through of the Creation and (Re)Birth exhibition with Prof. Elina Gertsman, Dr. Gerhard Lutz, and Dr. Sonya Rhie Mace on January 22 at 1 o'clock. Please meet in Gallery 115. Link to the exhibition description here.
Panel Discussion on Leonardo da Vinci
Join Prof. Benay and fellow panelists Prof. Aviva Rothman (History) and Dr. Emily Peters (CMA Curator of Prints and Drawings) for a panel discussion on Leonardo da Vinci next Tuesday, January 14 at the Fine Arts Association! Reserve your free tickets below. Leonardo da Vinci Screening | PBS Western Reserve.
Congratulations, everyone, on the fabulous prospectus-cum-QP session on Friday! Arielle Suskin, Clara Pinchbeck, and Claire Sumner presented their dissertation research, while MA students Sarah Frisbie, Sara Miller, Darren Helton, Megan Alves, and Sydney Collins took us on a dizzying visual tour that ranged from contemporary cyborg theory to medieval theology of light, and from ancient Etruria to Byzantine Rus. Pictured here with Prof. Gertsman wielding the Chicken of Power and Timekeeping.
Professor Popkin appears as a guest on the podcast Byzantium & Friends to discuss her book, Souvenirs and the Experience of Empire in Ancient Rome (Cambridge University Press, 2022). The podcast features conversations with experts in the history of Byzantium and surrounding fields, hosted by Anthony Kaldellis, Gaylord Donnelly Distinguished Service Professor of Classics...
Fall Undergraduate Research Showcase
The Department of Art History’s Fall Undergraduate Research Showcase is happening this Friday! The showcase will include presentations from three seniors in Art History, who will share their capstone research projects from this semester.
Creation and (Re)Birth Curatorial Talk
We were delighted to host the curatorial talk for the Creation and (Re)Birth Exhibition on November 14 to a full house! Co-curators Prof. Elina Gertsman and Dr. Gerhard Lutz talked about the concept of the exhibition and then focused on specific objects, with the all-important participation from Dr. Sonya Rhee Mace and three PhD students — Zoe Appleby, Rebekkah Hart, and Cecily Hughes. The repeat of the event, this time for the university audience, will take place on January 22.
Worlds of Byzantium: Religion, Culture, and Empire in the Medieval Near East, co-edited by Prof. Elizabeth S. Bolman
We are delighted to announce the publication of Worlds of Byzantium: Religion, Culture, and Empire in the Medieval Near East, co-edited by Prof. Elizabeth S. Bolmanwith Scott F. Johnson and Jack Tannous! Although not yet available in hardcopy in the US, it can be accessed in its digital version here. Worlds of Byzantium offers a new...