students on study abroad trip visiting art museum

Art History

The Art History Program helps you understand visual cultures by analyzing human creative expression, discovering the power of images, and understanding how art has shaped societies and identities throughout history.

Overview

As an art history major, you will develop a strong foundation for critical thinking that will strengthen future career skills, such as creativity, problem-solving, and group collaboration. An art history degree will help you develop a keen eye for detail, strong research skills, and the ability to analyze and apply complex ideas. These skills serve Centre graduates in an array of career fields from fine arts and design, to law and medicine, to publishing and marketing. In addition, an understanding of the vast array of artistic expressions—both traditional and innovative—enhances how you engage with the world and experience your surroundings, which extends far beyond aesthetic appreciation. As an art history major, you will learn the ways that art makes us human and shapes our world.

Your Major Took You Where?

Art History majors have gone on to a variety of graduate programs and careers.

Employers and Professions

Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, Clermont, Kentucky
KMAC Contemporary Art Museum
Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky
Walnut St Theatre, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Tenement Museum, New York
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio

Postgraduate Study

Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York
University of North Carolina
Courtauld Institute of Art, London
George Washington University
Vanderbilt University
Penn State University

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Curriculum

Centre’s Art History Program curriculum is designed for both students who want to explore a career in the arts and those who want to integrate the valuable skill sets of art history into their studies. Courses for majors include a combination of art history and studio classes, culminating in a senior thesis and public lecture on your faculty-guided research project.

Major Requirements

Minor Requirements

Experiential Learning

Students engage in hands-on learning experiences and reflection to develop skills and increase knowledge retention.

Art history majors have many opportunities to visit museums both locally and nationally from Louisville and Cincinnati to New York and Chicago. Study abroad also provides rich experiences visiting with some of the world’s greatest museums and cultural sites. On campus, students can work with faculty on a variety of projects, including creative research, public art proposals, exhibition curation and development.

Internships

We're committed to helping students find quality internship experiences in the career area of their choice.

Internships for art history majors at Centre have included the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), Corning Museum of Glass (Corning, New York), Manifest Gallery and Drawing Center (Cincinnati), KMAC Contemporary Art Museum (Louisville), Glassbrook (Louisville), Denver Art Museum, Asheville Art Museum, and the Historic Preservation Society of New Orleans

Careers

Our extraordinary liberal arts and sciences education prepares students for meaningful lives and careers.

Graduates with an art history degree have found career success as architects, gallerists, attorneys, marketing professionals, fashion designers, museum administrators, librarians and archivists, and in publishing.