Students must also complete the Undergraduate Registration Requirement and the degree requirements of their home school.

NOTE: This Catalog describes Weinberg College BA requirements that pertain to students who matriculated at Northwestern after spring quarter 2023. Refer to the Archives if you are following BA requirements described in the 2018-2019 through 2022-2023 editions.

Art History major requirements

• 12 Department Courses
  • 2 200-level courses in art history
  • ART_HIST 391-0 Art Historical Methods Seminar: ideally should be taken in junior year, especially by students who want to write an honors thesis.
  • 9 additional 300-level courses in art history. These must be distributed according to following criteria. A course may simultaneously fulfill a period, regional, and a seminar requirement (or any subsection of these 3 requirements).
    • At least 1 300-level course from 3 out of the 4 time periods listed below.
    • At least 1 300-level course from 4 out of the 6 regional categories listed below.
    • At least 1 ART_HIST 390-0 or ART_HIST 395-0 seminar.
• 1 Studio Course in art making, design, or other arts course focused on practice and approved by the Art History Director of Undergraduate Studies

One credit of Chicago Field Studies may be substituted for either a 200- or 300-level art history course when the internship is conducted at an arts organization approved by the Art History Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Students conducting honors may count one of the two required ART_HIST 399-0 courses towards the major.

Periods

Ancient/Medieval (pre-ca. 1400 CE)

Course List

Course	Title
ART_HIST 319-0	Special Topics in Ancient Art
ART_HIST 320-1	Medieval Art: Byzantine
ART_HIST 320-2	Medieval Art: Early Medieval
ART_HIST 320-3	Medieval Art: Late Medieval
ART_HIST 329-0	Special Topics in Medieval Art
Other as approved by director of undergraduate studies

Early Modern (ca. 1400-ca. 1800 CE)

Course List

Course	Title
ART_HIST 330-1	Early Modern European Art 1400–1500
ART_HIST 330-2	Early Modern European Art 1500–1600
ART_HIST 339-0	Special Topics in Early Modern Art
ART_HIST 340-1	Baroque Art: Italy & Spain 1600–1800
ART_HIST 342-0	Eighteenth-Century European Art
ART_HIST 349-0	Special Topics in 17th & 18th-Century Art
Other as approved by director of undergraduate studies

Modern/Contemporary (after ca. 1800 CE)

Course List

Course	Title
ART_HIST 350-1	19th-Century Art 1: 1789–1848
ART_HIST 350-2	19th-Century Art 2: 1848–1914
ART_HIST 359-0	Special Topics in 19th-Century Art
ART_HIST 360-0	20th Century Art
ART_HIST 365-0	Art of the United States
ART_HIST 368-0	Special Topics in Modern Art
ART_HIST 369-0	Special Topics in Contemporary Art
ART_HIST 370-1	Architecture & Landscapes, 1750–1890
Other as approved by the director of undergraduate studies

Transhistorical

Course List

Course	Title
ART_HIST 318-0	Exhibiting Antiquity: The Culture and Politics of Display
ART_HIST 328-0	Medievalism in Video Games: Art, Culture and Theory
ART_HIST 378-0	The Global City
Other as approved by the director of undergraduate studies

Regional categories

Africa

Course List

Course	Title
ART_HIST 386-0	Special Topics in the Arts of Africa
Other as approved by the director of undergraduate studies

Asia (including Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia, & the Pacific)

Course List

Course	Title
ART_HIST 389-0	Special Topics in the Arts of Asia
Other as approved by director of undergraduate studies

Diasporic, Indigenous, and/or Transregional

Course List

Course	Title
ART_HIST 384-0	African American Art
ART_HIST 385-0	Black Visual Culture: Race and Representation
Other as approved by director of undergradaute studies

Europe, U.S. & Canada

Course List

Course	Title
ART_HIST 320-2	Medieval Art: Early Medieval
ART_HIST 320-3	Medieval Art: Late Medieval
ART_HIST 330-1	Early Modern European Art 1400–1500
ART_HIST 330-2	Early Modern European Art 1500–1600
ART_HIST 340-1	Baroque Art: Italy & Spain 1600–1800
ART_HIST 342-0	Eighteenth-Century European Art
ART_HIST 350-1	19th-Century Art 1: 1789–1848
ART_HIST 350-2	19th-Century Art 2: 1848–1914
ART_HIST 360-0	20th Century Art
ART_HIST 365-0	Art of the United States
Other as approved by director of undergraduate studies

Latin America & the Caribbean

Course List

Course	Title
ART_HIST 367-0	Special Topics in Art of the Americas
Other as approved by the director of undergraduate studies

Middle East & North Africa

Course List

Course	Title
ART_HIST 320-1	Medieval Art: Byzantine
Other as approved by the director of undergraduate studies

Honors in Art History

Majors with strong academic records and an interest in pursuing honors must submit an application to write a senior honors thesis to the Art History Director of Undergraduate Studies by the end of junior year. The thesis is written in the senior year, and submitted for evaluation near spring break. To facilitate the writing of the honors thesis, honors in Art History also requires:

• Successful completion of 2 terms of ART_HIST 399-0 Independent Study taken with the faculty thesis advisor, usually in fall and winter terms of senior year.
• Participation in the departmental senior thesis colloquium in fall and winter terms of senior year.

Students whose theses and grades meet department criteria are recommended to the college for graduation with honors. For further information see the description of the honors program on the art history department website, contact the director of undergraduate studies, and see Honors in the Major.