Cornell University

Cornell University

Doctor of Philosophy in History of Art

The Doctor of Philosophy in History of Art in Arts is offered by Cornell University.

As a history of art major, you’ll be able to study areas traditionally central to the discipline such as ancient, medieval and Renaissance art, and the integration of recent fields of theory and research to the study of global visual culture. You can explore the history of cultural interactions as manifested in visual culture both inside and outside the West from antiquity to the present, furthering your understanding of the discipline of art history, its roots, its methodologies, as well as its historical and critical connections with other disciplines.

Field System

Fields rather than departments define graduate education at Cornell. Members of the Department of the History of Art may also serve in other fields as well as their own, such as Medieval Studies, Near Eastern Studies, or Classics.Areas currently offered in the field of History of Art, Archaeology and Visual Studies include the following:
  • 19th century art
  • African; African American, and African Diaspora
  • American art
  • ancient art and archaeology
  • Asian American art
  • baroque art
  • comparative modernities
  • contemporary art
  • digital art
  • East Asian art
  • history of photography
  • Islamic art
  • Latin American art
  • medieval art
  • modern art
  • Native American and Indigenous studies
  • Renaissance art
  • South Asian art
  • Southeast Asian art
  • theory and criticism
  • visual studies

The PhD program in History of Art at Cornell is renowned for its global scope and critical engagement with methodology. Small cohorts enable productive collaborations between students and faculty, while standardized funding packages promote a robustly democratic intellectual environment. In addition to conducting pathbreaking research, graduate students participate in organizing the Visual Culture Colloquium and gain valuable experience as teaching assistants; many also lead their own writing seminars. Our alumnae/i draw on their experiences at Cornell to re-shape the future of art history as practiced both in universities and museums, and among still broader publics beyond institutional walls.

Program of Study

Cornell’s graduate program is unique in two ways: the Field system and Committee system. The Graduate School at Cornell oversees all academic fields and determines basic requirements. In the History of Art and Visual Studies, field and department overlap more than in some other fields. The DGS (Director of Graduate Study) is the interface between the field and students and works closely with the department as well.At Cornell, students select a Special Committee of three members and work with the committee members to tailor their own program, reflecting their intellectual objectives. In the first year, students select a committee chair, who must be a member of the History of Art department. By the end of the third semester students choose the remaining two members, who may be drawn from the graduate faculty at large, although we recommend that one additional member be from the department. This Special Committee system results in a flexible graduate education tailored to each individual student. Cornell faculty also encourage interdisciplinary approaches to the student's selected major field.Requirements in the Field of History of Art include the Graduate Methods Seminar, proficiency in two foreign languages, and a minimum number of courses. There are no distribution requirements or a core curriculum, to encourage a program that best suits the aims and goals of each student. We encourage applicants to begin language study prior to admission to the program.Students take coursework in their first three years, and from the second year they also serve as a Teaching Assistant.  Before the start of their fourth year, or seventh semester, they must take the A-exam (Admission to Candidacy). The format and questions of the examination is determined by the members of the Special Committee.  After passing the A-exam, students receive the MA degree.  (We do not offer a terminal Masters degree, however.)  Dissertation research and writing occupies the next years, culminating in the B-exam or oral defense of the completed dissertation.



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