Art History Minor

Degree: Minor

We live in an increasingly visual culture, immersed in images from painting and sculpture to photography, television, film, video, and the internet. Art history provides students with the skills needed to critically analyze and comprehend the visual. A minor in art history enables students to interpret the visual through methodologies dedicated to the historical, the material, the critical, and the theoretical.

The Art History minor is housed in the Art & Design department.

Why Study This Program?

The Art History minor is designed for the student passionate about art and its contexts including the philosophical, social, political, religious, and cultural. The minor is useful for students interested in work in museums, galleries, auction houses, art publishing and can supplement any major including History, English, Philosophy, Communications, Biology, Anthropology, or Earth Science. Classes range from pre-historic, medieval and Renaissance art to the contemporary. Students experience the full range of art through the ages. At a time when our global culture is increasingly mediated through the visual, a historical and critical study of images remains essential.

What Will You Learn?

The Art History minor offers a global perspective on cultural production, fostering an understanding of history from a different point of view. Students should expect to take courses in the following areas including, Italian Renaissance, Northern Renaissance, Ancient Art, 19th Century Art, 20th Century Art, Art in America, History of Photography, and Contemporary Art. In addition, students are encouraged to participate in internships. Millersville students have interned at the following museums and galleries: Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Print Center in Philadelphia, The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, and in regional museums including the Demuth Museum, Lancaster Museum of Art, Susquehanna Museum of Art in Harrisburg, and design firms including Atomic, and artistic production firms such as Mio Studios.