PDF version of this chapterAccelerated Degree
B.A., Art History/M.A., Art History (Museum Studies)
This five-year program culminating in the B.A. and M.A. degrees is offered in collaboration with the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. Students take courses in a broad range of visual arts media and museum studies. The department offers a concentrated course of study addressing different periods and cultures focusing on such issues as art production, patronage, collecting, display, criticism and visuality in general.Curriculum Requirements
The Bachelor of Arts/Master of Arts, Art History (Museum Studies) requires 151 units distributed as follows.Bachelor of Arts Requirements
General Education Requirements
Candidates for the Bachelor of Arts must complete the general education requirements for the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. This program requires six courses in different categories, plus writing, foreign language and diversity requirements.Curriculum Requirements
The art history major requires 48 units as follows.| Required courses, lower division | Units | |
|---|---|---|
| AHIS 120 | Foundations of Western Art | 4 |
| AHIS 121 | Art and Society: Renaissance to Modern | 4 |
| AHIS 125 | Arts of Asia: Antiquity to 1300, or | |
| AHIS 126 | Introduction to Asian Art: 1300 to the Present | 4 |
Distribution requirements (16 units)
Four courses to include one in each of four of the following five areas of study, only one of which may be at the 200 level (400-level courses do not satisfy the distribution requirement): Greek and Roman art and archaeology -- AHIS 201, AHIS 321, AHIS 322; Medieval art -- AHIS 220, AHIS 330; Renaissance and Baroque art -- AHIS 230, AHIS 304, AHIS 343, AHIS 344; modern and contemporary art -- AHIS 250, AHIS 270, AHIS 361, AHIS 363, AHIS 364, AHIS 365, AHIS 368, AHIS 369, AHIS 370, AHIS 373; non-European traditions -- AHIS 282, AHIS 319, AHIS 376, AHIS 377, AHIS 384, AHIS 385, AHIS 386, AHIS 387, AHIS 388, AHIS 389.Upper-division requirements (20 units)
Five courses, three of which satisfy requirements for both the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees. Of these, 12 units are fulfilled by both AHIS 500 and two electives/required courses: AHIS 495b (2 units), AHIS 494 (4 units) and 4 additional units taken at the 400 or 500 level.Master of Arts Requirements
Course Distribution
Courses will be at the 400 and 500 level. No seminars with the same course number can be taken for credit toward the Master of Arts.| Required courses | Units | |
|---|---|---|
| AHIS 500 | Methods and Theory of Art History | 4 |
| AHIS 501 | Problems in the History and Theory of Collecting and Display | 4 |
| AHIS 530* | Museum Studies: Institutions and Collections | 4 |
| AHIS 541ab | Museum Studies Exhibition | 4-4 |
| AHIS 550 | Art, Business and the Law | 4 |
| AHIS 630 | Museum Internship | 1 |
| Additional 400 and 500 level Art History seminars* (AHIS 495ab may be taken to satisfy 4 units of this requirement.) | 8 | |
| 33 | ||
*These courses satisfy requirements for both the Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees up to a maximum of 10 units (AHIS 530, AHIS 400 or 500 level, AHIS 495b). AHIS 495a satisfies requirements for the B.A.
The museum internship (AHIS 630) requires a full-time summer internship prior to the student's final year of study in the program.
The Master of Arts component consists of four parts: courses in art history, the museum studies courses, production of an exhibition and accompanying catalogue and an internship in a museum.
Foreign Language Requirement
All M.A. candidates must pass a reading proficiency examination in one language, normally French or German. Substitutions may be made upon faculty recommendation and approval of the chair of art history when it is deemed appropriate to the student's course of study (i.e., Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Greek, etc.). The language requirement should be completed by the end of the senior year.A minimum grade point average of 3.0 is required for the Master of Arts degree. Each student's progress will be reviewed by the faculty at regular intervals throughout the student's enrollment in the program.