Art History Minor: Required Coursework

Requirements for the art history minor include 21 semester hours in art history. You will take ARTH 2500 Introduction to the History of Art (or equivalent) as well as 18 semester hours of upper-division art history classes.

Art history minors should take three courses at the 3000-level and three courses at the 4000-level. The curriculum provides you with flexibility in the choice of upper-division art history courses, and you bear some responsibility for the design of your own program. Those with specific interests can specialize to some extent, and those who seek a relatively broad experience can do so. Read further for an explanation about the various requirements. You may review your unofficial transcript (Degree Audit Report - DARS) by logging into the Campus Information System.

ARTH 2500

The course serves as the foundation class for your upper-division courses in the minor and should be taken in advance of any other art history course. You will investigate the ways in which works of art and architecture have developed within a culture and how they continue to exert influence upon the present. We discuss how to analyze and interpret these artifacts and to write about them using methods of critical thought. You can become skilled in observing and interpreting your own visual environment. Your goal is to become more aware of art as visual embodiments of ideas and values.

Credit for Art History Advanced Placement Examination

If you earned a score of 3, 4 or 5, you can be awarded eight semester hours of University credit when it is used as a General Education fulfillment. The procedure is handled through the Admissions Office (250 SSB, 801-581-7286). It is necessary to earn a score of 4 or 5 in order to be excused from ARTH 2500 when it is used to satisfy art history minor requirements.

Upper-Division Art History

The majority of coursework in art history is comprised of upper-division courses at the 3000-level and the 4000-level. The curriculum is designed to provide you with opportunities to learn about art and architecture of many cultures. Areas of concentration include Asia, Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque period, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the twentieth century, and contemporary art. We recommend that you work closely with the art history undergraduate advisor and your faculty mentor to create a program of study that coordinates your interests. A series of courses successfully completed in multiple areas ensure that you have achieved an appropriate level of competency in art history.

It is important to recognize that courses at the 3000-level serve as broader investigations of a period of art while courses at the 4000-level focus on particular topics and issues. You will receive greater satisfaction from your courses if you complete the 3000-level course before taking the 4000-level course in the same area. A two-course sequence can provide both the fundamental groundwork as well as a more sophisticated exposure to art and architecture from a particular culture.

Art history coursework must be taken for a letter grade. Credit/No Credit is not an option for these classes. No grade below C- will count toward fulfilling the art history minor requirements.