Art History & Visual Culture

The Art History and Visual Culture academic minor is housed in the Humanities Department and includes coursework from the Humanities Department and the Architectural Technology Department. The program is a 12-credit academic minor offered to all City Tech students in baccalaureate programs. This academic minor is designed to provide students with an introductory knowledge of the discipline and is articulated through the history and theory of art, film, architecture and urban culture. This program provides students an opportunity for exploring new professional possibilities related to their studies at the college. The required and elective courses of this academic minor fulfill many General Education requirements, including the Common Core and the Writing Intensive courses. The academic minor will also offer students options for alternative careers in art education, museum work, visual resources libraries, and art gallery and auction house work. 

This academic minor consists of one required course and three additional courses from a selection of twelve electives. The required ARTH1103 (Introduction to the History of Art) is a foundational course offered at most colleges with academic majors or academic minors in art history and visual culture. This survey course provides students with knowledge of the history, main principles, basic theories and regional developments of art from ancient to modern times.

While any selection of three listed courses will fulfill the 12 credits needed for the academic minor, the elective courses also offer students opportunities to take the academic minor with a focus on an area of their preference or particular interest. ARTH1100 (History and Appreciation of Photography), ARTH1112 (Introduction to Film), ARTH1204 (20th Century Dress and Culture) and ARTH3311 (History of Graphic Design) provide students opportunities to lean toward Visual Culture studies. ARTH1101 (History of Art: Prehistoric to Gothic), ARTH1102 (History of Western Art: Renaissance to Modern), ARTH1104 (Art of the United States), ARTH1106 (Modern Art) and ARCH2321 (History of 20th Century Architecture) provide students opportunities to focus on the area of Western art history and visual culture. And ARTH1108 (Art of Asia), ARTH1110 (Islamic Art) and ARTH2200 (Art and Urban Culture in Modern China) give students an option for focusing on non-Western art history and visual culture.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• Articulate how meaning is created and interpreted in works of art and visual culture.

• Apply fundamental terminology and methodology in analyzing and interpreting the meaning and significance of imagery from an iconographical perspective.

• Analyze works from diverse cultures in relation to their historical, social, political, religious and philosophical contexts.

• Understand and discuss how the application of diverse materials and the development of technology has helped reshape art and visual culture from the past to the present.

• Demonstrate in written format the ability to think critically about how art and visual culture have been affected by globalization in the 21st century.

• Use appropriate resources to conduct research in a written format on major achievements and developments of art and visual culture.

Progression and Graduation Requirements

• All courses must be completed with a grade of C or higher.

Advisement Information

If you’re interested in declaring and earning an academic minor in Art History and Visual Culture, please consult the Academic Minors page for more information about minors and to download the appropriate forms. The coordinator for this academic minor is Professor Zhijian Qian.