The Department of History of Art and Visual Studies

Our department studies 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. Students further their understanding of the discipline of art history, its roots, its methodologies, as well as its historical and critical connections with other disciplines.

Land Acknowledgement

Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ'  dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' people, past and present, to these lands and waters.

This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ' leadership.

Image caption:
Eave hanging (ider-ider) with scenes from Butterfly Lovers (detail). Bali, Negara. Mid-20th century. Cotton embroidery on cotton cloth. 27 x 292 cm. Acquired through the George and Mary Rockwell Fund. 2007.031.079. Collection of Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.