Art History Main Page
Art History and Visual Arts at Barnard
The Art History department teaches the history and practice of visual creativity. All people, at all times, around the world, have expressed their identities and their beliefs through visual art. From temple complexes to tea-cups, from quilts sewn with scraps to sculptures welded with tons of steel, art objects bring to us a knowledge of who we have been and how we shape our environments.
Both our history and studio courses train students to observe the world more closely and interpret what they see. In our history courses, students study how art has occurred at the intersection of personal, technical, and social forces. In our studio courses, students learn to engage those forces using media ranging from traditional drawing to digital design.
Thanks to Barnard’s location in New York City, the Art History department’s classrooms include some of the world’s most important museums and galleries. Courses are regularly taught at or with museums, and visiting artists, curators and critics frequently enrich our curriculum. Students interact with New York’s thriving art world for class assignments and independent projects and, especially during the summer, through jobs and internships. Art History majors have gone on to careers in museums, galleries, auction houses, arts administration, publishing, philanthropy, and as academics and practicing artists.
- MARK YOUR CALENDAR -
Please join the Art History faculty to learn more about the major and minor requirements and Spring 2026 courses.
ART HISTORY PROGRAM PLANNING MEETING
Wednesday, November 5th 11:30-12:30pm
McCagg Gallery, Diana Center 4th Floor
Spring 2026 Art History Limited Enrollment Course Instructions and Guidelines
The deadline to apply for Barnard & Columbia Art History seminars is 5pm, Thursday, November 13.
Students who submit an online application for a BC Art History course will receive an email the week of registration (BC Registration is 11/17-11/22) with the class roster of accepted students. Please email the BC AH office as soon as possible after you have been accepted or waitlisted for a course if you decide not to register. This way, the students can be admitted off the waitlist. When an instructor admits a student from the waitlist, that student will see their status change to "approved". The student will then be automatically be moved from the waitlist to the class list overnight. If a student has been accepted into a course, they are required to attend the first class meeting in January to secure their spot. If the student does not attend the first class meeting in January, they will lose their spot and the professor will assume they are not taking the course and will admit another student off the waitlist. The application deadline for undergraduate CU Art History seminars is also 5PM on Thursday, November 13. Students will be notified of acceptance decisions by CU AH during the following week.
Barnard Art History Seminars
AHIS BC3638 Tokyo (J. Reynolds)
AHIS BC3864 Signals: Networks, Publics, And Performance (P. Marshall)
AHIS BC3782 Prints in 17th-Century Holland: A Curatorial Seminar at the Met Museum (N. Orenstein)
Barnard Visual Arts Seminars
AHIS BC3004 Photographing the Anthropocene (D. Matar)
AHIS BC3032 Worlding Otherwise: Speculative Fictions and Game Engine Ecologies (J. Chetko)
AHIS BC3867 Photo as Material A Studio Lab in Interdisciplinary Practices (M. Dayal)
AHIS BC3933 Buoyancy (I. Haiduk)
Columbia Art History Seminars
The application deadline for undergraduate CU art history seminars is also 5PM on Thursday, November 13. Students will be notified of acceptance decisions by CU AH during the following week.
AHIS UN3444 Reflexivity in Art and Film (J. Crary)
AHIS UN3451 Latinx Artists Coast to Coast (K. Jones [Art History]; R. Newman [AAADS])
AHIS UN3481 Contemporary Handicraft in England from Mill to Museum *Travel Seminar to London*
(J. Bryan-Wilson)
AHIS UN3617 Imperial Art and Architecture of Beijing *Travel Seminar to Beijing* (J. Xu)
*Columbia Art History Travel Seminars
The CU AH department is offering two Riggio undergraduate travel seminars this spring! The trips for both of these seminars are planned for the spring break week in March. Attending the trip is a required component of completing this seminar. (Therefore, students may not enroll in both travel seminars.)
Columbia Bridge Seminars
The application deadline for 4500-level bridge seminars is 5PM on Wednesday, January 7, 2026. Applications for these advanced courses will be posted in the coming weeks. Students will be notified of acceptance decisions before the start of the spring semester.
AHIS U4558 Making Modern New York (C. Willis)
AHIS GU4577 Constructs of Solidarity: Architecture and Urban Culture in Latin America, 1950–2010 (M. Caldeira)
AHIS GU4589 Orientalism, Art, and Architecture: From Representation to Display (I. Guermazi)
AHIS GU4592 Bodies and Body Cultures (S. Kaligotla)
AHIS GU4741 Art and Theory in a Global Context (J. Rajchman)