The Department of Art History and Art offers opportunities to study art history, to participate in a broad range of studio offerings and to engage in pre-professional museum training. The Bachelor of Arts degree is granted in art history and in pre-architecture. In addition, the department offers graduate programs leading to the degrees of Master of Arts in art history, in art history and museum studies; and the Doctor of Philosophy in art history.
All art programs are considerably enhanced by close cooperation with and access to the facilities of cultural institutions located in University Circle, in particular The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Institute of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland.
The Cleveland Museum of Art/CWRU Art History Program has been in existence since 1967. The museum’s curators serve as adjunct faculty, and graduate research projects under their direction often result in exhibitions and publications. The museum Studies course and internships provide experience in curatorial practices, connoisseurship, conservation, design, and museum education, and the program has a history of producing leaders in the museum field. Graduate students are exposed to both traditional and newer theoretically based art historical approaches in classes taught by faculty renowned for their expertise in a diversity of fields.
News
Professor Elina Gertsman Awarded Distinguished University Professor at Convocation
Congratulations to our very own Professor Elina Gertsman for her appointment as Distinguished University Professor, the highest distinction granted to faculty at CWRU. Professor Gertsman is not only the youngest faculty member at CWRU to ever be awarded this title—she is also the first professor from our department and the second woman in all of the humanities. Read more and see more photos by clicking below!
Out now!
PhD candidates Sam Truman and Reed O’Mara both recently published pieces with their advisor, Professor Elina Gertsman. Sam contributed to a chapter, “The Sensory Aesthetics of Death,” for the edited volume A Cultural History of Death in the Middle Ages (Bloomsbury, 2024). Earlier this month, an article co-written by Reed and Professor Gertsman, “Wrathful Rites: Performing Shefokh ḥamatkha in the Hileq and Bileq Haggadah,” was published in a special issue of Religions, “Devotion, Practice, and Performative Expression in the Religious Art of Medieval Europe.” Congratulations to Sam and Reed on their publications! Click below to know more.
Andrea Rager Receives Expanding Horizons Initiative Award
Congratulations to Prof. Andrea Rager who has been awarded a large Expanding Horizons Initiative Award for the interdisciplinary project “Ecology, Attention, Action.” Prof. Rager is serving as co-principal investigator on the project, with Prof. Fey Parrill (Chair, Dept. of Cognitive Science) as principal investigator, and Prof. Francesca Brittan (Dept. of Music) as co-principal investigator, along with co-investigators Dr. Nárcisz Fejes (Dept. of English),
Rebekah Utian Named a 2024 Cleveland Foundation Public Service Fellow
Congratulations to MA candidate Rebekah Utian, who has just been named a 2024 Cleveland Foundation Public Service Fellow!
Emma Zavodny to be Kiethley Fellow in Community-Engaged Art History
We are delighted to announce that MA candidate Emma Zavodny will be the 4th annual Keithley Fellow in Community-Engaged Art History!
Sarah Frisbie awarded a Medieval Academy Grant
Congratulations to Sarah Frisbie, a first-year MA student in medieval art, who was awarded a Medieval Academy/CARA Summer Scholarship to attend the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s MARCO Summer Latin Program! Sarah with spend eight weeks in an intensive virtual study of Medieval Latin, reading and translating texts from various medieval...
Photography Minor and Classes
Please click on the following link to learn more about our Photography Minor and classes!
Undergraduate Research Showcase
Please join us for the annual Undergraduate Research Showcase on Friday, April 19 from 12:45-2:00 in Mather 100. Refreshments will be served!
Sarah Lavin to join Winterthur program in Art Conservation at the University of Delaware
We are thrilled to announce that Sarah Lavin, MA class of 2023, will be joining the prestigious Winterthur program in Art Conservation at the University of Delaware this fall! Sarah held positions in conservation at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Intermuseum Conservation Association and attended the San Gemini School of Preservation Studies in Italy. Congratulations Sarah!
Zoe Appleby wins the 2024 Vagantes Prize!
Congratulations to Zoe Appleby, second-year PhD student in medieval and Byzantine art, whose paper, "Materials in Dialogue with an Aqueous Landscape: Marble, Glass, and Shell in San Vitale, Ravenna," won the 2024 Vagantes Paper Prize! Her work was praised by the selection committee for its complexity, depth, originality, and...
The International Center for Medieval Art News just published a wonderful feature penned by Reed O’Mara and Ariella Har-Even on their FUSE collaboration — with a great shoutout to the department, our medieval studies program, GAMS, and our marvelous colleagues at the CMA. Many of us benefited from the fantastic enameling workshop Ariella and Reed masterminded, and we look forward to more!
