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The College of Arts & Sciences
The Department of the History of Art and Visual Studies at Cornell University prepares students to undertake journeys into visual culture through traditional areas of study such as ancient, Medieval and Renaissance art, as well as through the integration of recent fields of theory and research. Students explore the history of cultural interactions as manifested in visual culture both inside and outside the West, from antiquity to present.
Note on teaching during COVID in the Department of History of Art:
History of Art is a discipline that depends on the viewing and discussion of images. Due to technical constraints in many of our classrooms, faculty and instructors are often unable to project their lectures via Zoom in accompaniment to physical teaching. For the same reason, recording lectures for viewing later is also not always possible.
Students missing classes due to COVID precautions are advised to keep up with the syllabus, readings, and other Canvas and library resources available to them, so as not to fall behind during their physical absence from class.
From 1991 to 2018, the History of Art Majors’ Society (HAMS) provided a way for Cornell history of art majors to enhance their knowledge about the discipline of art history beyond the classroom. These students met at the Johnson Museum one evening each week throughout the academic year to develop an annual exhibition drawn from the permanent collection and to research, write, and publish an accompanying exhibition brochure.
Browse recent exhibits via the links below:
"Performing Prowess: Essays on Localized Hindu Elements in Southeast Asian Art from Past to Present", edited by Wannasarn (Saam) Noonsuk. Dedicated to Professor McGowan with contributions from past and present PhD students.
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"Reimagining Mobilities/Immobilities in the Indian Ocean," will be the first of four multi-disciplinary conferences as part of the larger theme, "Thinking the Archipelago: Africa’s Indian Ocean Islands" for 2022-2023.
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"Free as They Want to be: Artists Committed to Memory" is the companion publication to the FotoFocus biennial exhibition that runs at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center (September 30, 2022 - March 6, 2023).
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Llhuros – its relics, rituals, poetry, and music – as well as the academic commentary it inspired, "documents just one tiny little sliver of Cornell’s history. But it’s a fascinating one.”
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The Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant announced its 2022 grantees, including Claudia Costa Pederson, PhD '12. The program supports writing about contemporary art and aims to ensure that critical writing remains a valued mode of engaging with the visual arts.
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This special issue on “Experimentation and Experiment in Southeast Asian Art” (Volume 6, Number 2) guest edited by Amanda Katherine Rath and Wulan Dirgantoro seeks to address the issues and questions around experimentation and the experimental in Southeast Asian arts between the 1950s and late 1990s...
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Professor Pan authors book-length study titled "Transcending Fragments, Fong Chung-Rays’ Artistic Journey" published by Asian Art Center in Taipei.
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A&S faculty offer book and poetry recommendations for the new year.
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