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History of Art and Architecture

The concentration in History of Art and Architecture (HIAA) introduces students to the history of art, architecture, and material culture. Students in HIAA explore a wide range of artistic traditions from around the world, and develop the skills necessary to analyze artworks, artifacts, and the built environment dating from the paleolithic to the contemporary. Concentrators are encouraged to develop familiarity with the distinctive periods, regions, sub-fields, and theoretical approaches that collectively inform the discipline, while at the same time developing an individualized program. Concentrators will receive essential training in perceptual, historical, and critical analysis.

History of Art and Architecture Requirements

To complete the concentration, you will be expected to take a minimum of ten courses. Our goal in setting out these requirements is to welcome students into a lively and diverse department that also shares a cohesive and strong commitment to the field. We as a faculty want students to cultivate their special interests and also to venture into areas that may not be so familiar but that will open new and exciting possibilities for them. Ten courses are only the minimum requirement. Beyond that students are encouraged to take courses at RISD, participate in study abroad programs, and take courses in other Brown departments. As we are a truly interdisciplinary department, you will also find that our faculty collaborates with members of other departments to teach courses that bring together the strengths of different disciplines. We encourage both experimentation and concentration. 

Our general survey in history of art and architecture (HIAA 0010) is an excellent foundation for the concentration. It is not a prerequisite for taking other lecture courses but you can count it as one of the five lecture courses required for the concentration.

Since the history of art and architecture addresses issues of practice within specific historical contexts, concentrators are encouraged to take at least one studio art course. Courses in history also train students in methods and approaches that are highly relevant to the history of art and architecture. Study abroad can be a valuable enrichment of the academic work available on campus, in that it offers opportunities for first-hand knowledge of works of art and monuments as well as providing exposure to foreign languages and cultures. Study abroad should be planned in consultation with the concentration advisor in order to make sure that coursework will relate meaningfully to the concentrators program of study.

Summary of Concentration Requirements

5 Lecture Courses, numbered HIAA 0010-HIAA 0999 in at least three different geographic regions and two differed periods. 5
3 Seminars, numbered HIAA 1000-HIAA 19313
1 Elective taught in the department, cross-listed courses from other departments, or courses in other departments1
1 Capstone Course1
Total Credits10

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5 Lecture Courses, numbered HIAA 0010–HIAA 0999. The courses should engage at least three different geographic regions (Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe) and two different periods (Ancient-Medieval, Early Modern, Modern-Contemporary). Individual courses can be used to fulfill either the geographic or temporal breadth requirement, but not both. Courses tagged as “Multiple Regions” and “Multiple Periods” can be used to fulfill one geographic and one temporal breadth requirement, respectively.5
Temporal Periods
Ancient/Medieval:
The Art of Enlightenment
Art and Architecture of the Roman Empire
The Arts of Religion and Ritual in the Ancient World
Early Modern:
Dutch and Flemish Art: Visual Culture of the Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century
Painters, Builders, and Bankers in Early Modern Italy
Constructing the Eternal City: Popes and Pilgrims in Early Modern Rome
Cultural History of the Netherlands in a Golden Age and a Global Age
Giotto to Watteau: Introduction to the Art of Europe from Renaissance to French Revolution
Modern/Contemporary:
Introduction to American Art: The 19th Century
Introduction to American Art: The Twentieth Century
Introduction to the History of Art: Modern Photography
Revolutions, Illusions, Impressions: A History of Nineteenth-Century Art
Postwar to Postmodernism: Art Since 1945
Contemporary Art
Contemporary Photography
The Other History of Modern Architecture
Art and Technology from Futurism to Hacktivism
Modern Architecture
Contemporary Architecture
City and Cinema
Multiple Periods:
A Global History of Art and Architecture
South Asian Art and Architecture
The Architectures of Islam
Architecture of the House Through Space and Time
Cathedrals and Castles
Architecture and Urbanism of Africa
Geographic Regions:
Africa:
Architecture and Urbanism of Africa
Americas:
Introduction to American Art: The 19th Century
Introduction to American Art: The Twentieth Century
Contemporary Photography
Asia:
The Art of Enlightenment
South Asian Art and Architecture
Europe:
Art and Architecture of the Roman Empire
Introduction to the History of Art: Modern Photography
Revolutions, Illusions, Impressions: A History of Nineteenth-Century Art
Painters, Builders, and Bankers in Early Modern Italy
Constructing the Eternal City: Popes and Pilgrims in Early Modern Rome
Cultural History of the Netherlands in a Golden Age and a Global Age
Giotto to Watteau: Introduction to the Art of Europe from Renaissance to French Revolution
Multiple Regions:
A Global History of Art and Architecture
The Architectures of Islam
Architecture of the House Through Space and Time
Postwar to Postmodernism: Art Since 1945
Contemporary Art
The Other History of Modern Architecture
The Arts of Religion and Ritual in the Ancient World
Cathedrals and Castles
Art and Technology from Futurism to Hacktivism
Modern Architecture
Contemporary Architecture
Contemporary Architecture
3 Seminars, numbered HIAA 1000–HIAA 19313
Illustrating Knowledge
Otherworldly and Other Worlds: Representing the Unseen in Early Modern Europe
Painting Indigenous Histories in Colonial Mexico
Prefabrication and Architecture
Brushwork: Chinese Painting in Time
Mountains and Waters: Art and Ecology in East Asia
The Pictured Text
The Palaces of Ancient Rome
Pre-Columbian Art + Architecture
Art and Crime: The History and Hazards of Collecting the Classical
Politics and Spectacle in the Arts of Ancient Rome
The Architecture of Solitude: The Medieval Monastery
The Body and the Senses in Medieval Art
Architectural Reuse: The Appropriation of the Past
Dreaming of Food in the Early Modern World
Italy and the Mediterranean
The Arts of Renaissance Courts
Bosch and Bruegel: Art Turns the World Upside Down
Caravaggio
Arts Between Europe and the World: 1500-1700
Authority, Identity, and Visual Culture in Colonial Latin America
The Art of Portraiture: Pre-Histories of the Selfie
Eclectic Arts in the Global 19th Century
Contemporary Art and Activism
Possible Futures: Art and the Social Network before the Internet (1950-1979)
Abstraction in Theory and Practice
Dada and Surrealism: Anarchy, Exile, Alterity
Contemporary American Urbanism: City Design and Planning, 1945-2000
Berlin: Architecture, Politics and Memory
Architectures of the Sea: Space and Place in the Maritime Cultural Landscape
Criticality and Modern Art
Architectural Replicas in the Modern and Contemporary Eras
Indigenous Art, Issues and Concepts
Exhibition as Medium
Contemporary Art of Africa and the Diaspora
Providence Architecture
City Senses: Urbanism Beyond Visual Spectacle
The History and Methods of Art Historical Interpretation
Museums, Histories, Critiques
1 Elective: This can include courses taught in the department, cross-listed courses from other departments, or courses in other departments approved by the concentration advisor. 11
1 Capstone course. The Capstone is intended to challenge you with an opportunity to synthesize at a high level of achievement the knowledge and understanding you have gained by concentrating in the History of Art and Architecture. Capstone projects embrace many possibilities. You can perfect a seminar paper in which you have developed a strong interest. You can participate in a graduate seminar to which the instructor has admitted you. You can develop work that you do as a museum or gallery intern. You might work on an archaeological excavation. You can participate in the Honors Program. Beyond these opportunities, the Department is open to other approaches. You should work with a faculty sponsor and with your concentration advisor to decide what will work best for you.1
Total Credits10

Self-Assessment

All concentrators are required to write an essay when they file for the concentration that lays out what they expect to gain from the course of study they propose. All second-semester seniors will be required to write a final essay that takes measure of what they have learned from the concentration, including their capstone and other experiences relating to their study of the history of art and architecture. The self-assessment should be submitted through ASK with a revised list of courses actually taken at least one month prior to graduation.

Honors

During the second semester of the junior year all concentrators will be invited to apply for admission to the Honors Program in History of Art and Architecture. The honors program is an opportunity for concentrators to mobilize what they have learned to make an original research contribution to the field.

Students wishing to write an honors thesis should have produced consistently excellent work and maintained a high level of achievement (i.e. a majority of “A” or “S with distinction” grades) in all concentration courses. It is advisable for them to have taken at least one seminar in the department and written a research paper before choosing to undertake a thesis. While acceptance into the Honors program depends on the persuasiveness of the thesis topic as well as the number of students applying, students may refine their proposals by speaking in advance with potential advisors. No honors student may take more than four courses either semester of their senior year—with the honors seminar being considered one of the four courses. Students interested in honors who are expecting to graduate in the middle of the year should contact the concentration advisor no later than the beginning of their junior year.

During both fall and spring semesters you will participate in the monthly meetings of the Honors cohort, in which honors students in both HIAA concentrations share their work-in-progress with each other and with the faculty member who supervises the seminar. (These monthly meetings, usually three per semester, are mandatory but do not require a course registration.) You will also enroll in your advisor’s section of HIAA 1990 (Honors Thesis) in both semesters.

Finished drafts of the thesis, which will generally be no more than 30–35 pages in length (exceptions to be determined in consultation with the instructor), not counting bibliography and visual materials, will be due to the advisor and second reader by March 1 of the Spring semester or by November 1 of the Fall semester if you plan on graduating in December. Comments will be returned to the students for final corrections at that point. There will be a public presentation of Honors work at the end of the Spring semester.