The Bachelor of Arts in Art History provides skills in analyzing and interpreting art in relation to its historical and cultural contexts. Students should learn how art acquires and conveys meaning by exploring the interactions among artists, objects, patrons, and society at large across a broad spectrum of media, cultures, and periods. The curriculum at Columbia College Chicago emphasizes fields of study outside the traditional canon of western art history and specializes in global, modern, and contemporary art, theory, and visual culture. These areas provide exciting perspectives on our visual and cultural environment and reflect the inclusive and interdisciplinary nature of art and art history today.

As a result of successfully completing program requirements, students should be able to:

• describe, analyze, and interpret artworks and other cultural objects;
• write well-constructed essays using the terms and critical concepts of art history and visual culture studies;
• practice effective research skills, including evaluating research sources, using electronic databases and primary source archives;
• create projects that engage with art history and visual culture through innovative formats that involve collaborative and interdisciplinary processes; and
• write and present original scholarship that is appropriate for submission for publication or as a writing sample in applications to graduate programs, internships, fellowships, and jobs in the field.