Welcome

The Department of Art History and Archaeology at Washington University in Saint Louis has a rich past and a vibrant present. One of the oldest Art History programs west of the Mississippi, the Department was a significant force in establishing recognition for Art History outside of the eastern United States. The program was built by some of the foremost figures in the discipline, including H.W. Janson, Frederick Hartt, Jean Boggs, and George Mylonas. The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum (formerly The Washington University Gallery of Art, founded in 1881) is home to one of the most important modern art collections in the Midwest, and is one of the most distinguished university collections in the United States. The Department is housed within the distinguished School of Arts and Sciences, and is also an active collaborator with the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts, which opened in the fall semester of 2006.

Now over a century in the making, our graduate and undergraduate programs are relatively small but known for their excellence. With degree programs from the undergraduate to Ph.D. level, our faculty offers training in everything from traditional archaeology to the most contemporary art historical approaches. Because of our size, our students receive invaluable attention and extensive opportunities to teach, research, and gain important museum experience. Washington University's St. Louis location provides students with the cultural and research opportunities of a major urban area, balanced with affordable housing and easy navigability. Our rich resources include an excellent Art and Architecture library, an established field trip program that affords our students visits to major national exhibitions (trips this year have been to Wisconsin and Chicago, and we are planning a trip to Seattle in spring 2012), and an expansive lecture series that attracts important scholars in art history, archaeology and visual culture to speak to, and to provide special workshops for, our students. The Department of Art History and Archaeology at Washington University is an exellent choice for those seeking a program that is intimate yet broad-ranging, and historically significant with an eye on the future.

We are in an exciting period of growth. Last year, we completed two searches, adding new specialists in Chinese Art and Early Modern Art to our faculty as Kristina Kleutghen (PhD, Harvard) and Marisa Bass (PhD, Harvard), both Assistant Professors, join the Department.  We will also be conducting a search for a Historian of Contemporary Art this current year. We currently are hosting three post-doctoral fellows (Adrian Ossi in Ancient  Art and Architecture; Mayu Fujikawa in Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art; and Gisela Parak in American Art), and we hope to have other post-doctoral visitors in coming years. We have also initiated a jointly sponsored post-doctoral fellow program in non-Western art with the Saint Louis Art Museum, and this fall, Dr. Melanie Michailidis is offering important new courses for us in the field of Islamic Art and Architecture, before moving to the museum for the spring semester.

Our faculty welcome phone and e-mail inquiries regarding our program, and are happy to make arrangements for prospective undergraduate and graduate students to meet with faculty and current students to discuss our programs. Please contact us for more information. Our deadline to receive applications for the 2012-13 academic year is December 15, 2011.

--Elizabeth C. Childs, Department Chair

--Elizabeth C. Childs, Department Chair