Art History Minor | Arcadia University

Three students look upward at an art piece in a museum.

Overview

Degree Level: Undergraduate
Degrees Offered: Minor

Department: Visual and Performing Arts
school/college: College of Arts and Sciences

Minor in Art History

The minor in Art History provides an introduction to the field and gives a broad survey from Ancient to Contemporary Art. The minor is designed for students who want to combine Art History with another major area. With this background, you may be eligible to apply for graduate work in art history. Familiarity with a modern language is strongly recommended.

Requirements

Five Art History courses (20 credits)
One 100-level course in Art History, including:

AH 101 Introduction to Global Art History: Prehistory to 1300 or
AH 102 Introduction to Global Art History: 1300 to the Present

One 300-level course in Art History, including but not limited to:

AH 323 Contemporary Curatorial Practices or
AH 324 Seminar: Art and the Italian Renaissance Court or
AH 325 Leonardo da Vinci: Art, Myth, and Innovation or
AH 327 Seminar: Make an Exhibition or
AH 329 Art Now: Special Topics in Contemporary Art

Note that Art Studio majors are required to take six Art History courses (24 credits) to complete the minor.

LEARN MORE

Featured Courses

Introduction to Global Art History: Prehistory to 1300

Required Course

Explore art from across the world—cave paintings, temples, royal portraits—and uncover how it reflects power, beauty, and belief. You’ll build critical thinking skills while learning how to analyze, research, and question whose stories get told in art history. This course gives you a global foundation and sharpens your perspective in today’s image-filled world.

Contemporary Curatorial Practices

Elective Course

Step into the world of exhibition design. Learn how curators build meaning through space, storytelling, and selection. You’ll explore postwar and contemporary art, plan your own group show, and hear from real-world professionals. Includes field trips and creative projects.

Seminar: Make an Exhibition

Elective Course

Create a full exhibition from the ground up. You’ll research artwork, plan layouts, write materials, and install a show in an Arcadia gallery. Along the way, learn about curation, collections, marketing, and museum practices. Then put your skills to work, together.