About Us
About Art History
The Department of Art History at the University of Delaware is committed to undergraduate education for majors and non-majors and to training graduate students who will be competitive at the higher reaches of our discipline as educators, museum curators, and scholars dedicated to research.
Every culture and country throughout history produces art. Its study leads us to key issues of civilization that are central to a comprehensive education and a foundation for a rich and varied life. Art history is the academic discipline that examines this cultural production and interprets it for our and future generations as part of our common humanistic legacy. It combines historical analysis with a special concern for material and aesthetic form. Inherently multidisciplinary, it draws methods and modes from a wide range of fields such as history, literature, linguistics, the social and political sciences, gender and film studies, anthropology and psychology, among others.
Our Faculty
The Department of Art History enjoys a national and international reputation as a center of advanced scholarship across many specialties, from antiquity to the present day. With special strengths in American and European art and architecture, the Department offers an expansive coverage of the arts and culture of historical periods internationally, from Greco-Roman antiquity to the present. Broader geo-cultural fields are covered as well, such as Chinese, Latin American, and African art. Our faculty’s many merits have been recognized with multiple awards and fellowships from the most prestigious of cultural institutions around the world.
Resources on Campus and Beyond
The Department resides at the center of an array of accessible resources. Within the University, a unique constellation of related departments and programs enhance the Department's instructional scope and educational mission:
- Department of Art Conservation
- The Winterthur Program in American Material Culture
- The Center for Material Culture Studies
- The Center for Historic Architecture and Design
- Museum Studies
In addition, the University itself hosts a number of important collections:
- Paul R. Jones Collection of African American Art
- Old College Gallery
- Mark Samuels Lasner Collection
Many eminent collections are a short drive or train ride away, including:
- Winterthur Museum and its world-class library
- Hagley Museum
- Delaware Art Museum
- Walters Art Museum in Baltimore
- National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
- Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
- Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Guggenheim Museum, New York
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
Visitor Information
The University of Delaware campus is located in Newark, Delaware, which is about 20 minutes away from Wilmington, an hour from either Philadelphia or Baltimore, two hours from Washington D.C., and two and a half hours from New York City.
History of the Department
Prior to 1966, art history and art were both part of the same department. Art history was, however, taught as a separate field, and it was possible both to major in the subject and to work toward a master's degree. But it was the separation of art and art history in 1966 that enabled our department to develop and flourish. In the fall of that year, Professor William I. Homer came from Cornell University to become the first chair of the newly created department. It was agreed, both by the faculty and the University administration, that the Department of Art History had a particular opportunity to excel in American art, and steps were taken to develop a strong graduate program with emphasis on that area.
The foundation for excellence in American art had already been set by the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture (now the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture), an interdisciplinary program begun in 1952 and conducted by the University in conjunction with the Winterthur Museum.
The Department of Art History played a central role in these studies, though the Winterthur and art history programs were administered separately. Building on the interest and resources already present, the department decided to offer the Ph.D. and expand its master's program; obtained major foundation grants to ensure rapid development; and secured additional faculty. Within a relatively short time, the department was known for its excellence in American art and began to expand into other important areas. Other fields in which the Department of Art History has placed particular emphasis are modern art (considering this subject broadly from the 18th century to the present) and the history of photography. Through the years it also built significant strength in Renaissance and Baroque art, as well as in Medieval and Ancient art.
The department also offers a specialization in historic preservation through its affiliation with the Center for Historic Architecture and Design. The department has contributed to, and supported the activities of, the Museum Studies Program (an integral part of the curriculum of many of our students, both graduate and undergraduate) and the Department of Art Conservation. In addition to the graduate program, the department recognized its responsibility to offer undergraduate courses of high quality in all major areas of Western art. Specialized faculty teach undergraduate and graduate courses in African art, African American art, Latin American art and Asian art. An additional concentration of the program is in the fields of architectural history and material culture. Also, the long tradition of study in American decorative arts is still carried on. With the cooperation of the Winterthur Museum teaching staff, we have been able to offer course work in this area on both the graduate and undergraduate levels. This range of interest and activity has led to the expansion of both the undergraduate and graduate programs.
The department's physical facilities have markedly expanded since 1966. Initially, the department shared Recitation Hall with the Department of Art, then moved to the adjoining building, Recitation Annex, which it occupied for several years. The the department and its facilities then moved to the newly opened Smith Hall, where it remained until 1978. At that time, Old College was entirely renovated and became a major laboratory for the study of the visual arts, including the art history offices and Visual Resources Center, and the conservation laboratories and offices.
A University Gallery was created as part of the complex. The University Gallery serves art history's teaching needs by scheduling exhibitions that relate to courses and as a laboratory for the study of museum methods. The University Gallery offers students the opportunity to work with and research original works of art and to gain experience and knowledge of conservation and exhibition techniques. Through the larger context of the University Museums, students can now receive museum internships and participate in the organization of art exhibitions.
The College’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Diversity, equity and inclusion are significant parts of the University of Delaware's College of Arts and Sciences's values and goals. The college's commitment to these values is not just evident in its student body but also its faculty, staff, and curriculum, ensuring a fully inclusive experience. Through this steadfast dedication to diversity and inclusivity, the college continues to enrich its educational offering, allowing each student to benefit from a wide array of viewpoints and experiences.
Department Statement of Solidarity
We must act. The faculty of the Art History Department at the University of Delaware support the aims of activists protesting in the streets following the death of George Floyd. We stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and against the oppression of Black people, Indigenous people and people of color. Racism is unjust at the most fundamental, human level. In our work as teachers, mentors, scholars, and administrators we must strive against the perpetuation of systemic racism and the culture of white supremacy. Therefore, we, the faculty:
- Commit to engage in an ongoing process of listening, learning, and active engagement with our students, staff, and colleagues and other university partners to better understand how and what we can do to decolonize our pedagogy and research and to actively practice anti-racism in all of its forms. This process includes working with UD's Office of Equity and Inclusion and other organizations to assure our community is trained in issues such as anti-racism, microaggressions, unintentional bias, and white privilege.
- Commit to anti-racism in our recruiting and mentoring of undergraduate majors and minors and graduate students.
- Commit to recruiting, hiring, supporting, and retaining a more diverse faculty.
- Commit to review our curriculum to redress existing structural inequities that systematically privilege particular histories of art and, in so doing, favor particular social groups, and to make anti-racism an explicit component across our teaching.
- Commit to collaborate with UD and community partners to develop courses and other programs that promote racial and socio-economic equity and that aim to increase awareness of the histories of racism at UD and in Delaware.
- Commit to public engagement activities regionally that reach secondary school students, adult learners, and communities historically underrepresented at UD and in the discipline of art history.
- Commit to provide regular updates to our community on our progress toward these goals.
