The Art History program takes full advantage of Oxy’s location in Los Angeles, drawing on the diversity and richness of the city’s art museums, galleries, architecture and research archives.
Our faculty offer courses in the history and criticism of Asian, European, and American visual cultures, for which you’ll have the opportunity to research works of art, photography, architecture and design in person. Students of Asian Art regularly study Chinese and Japanese painting at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), USC Pacific Asia Museum and the Norton Simon Museum. Students of Greek and Roman antiquity can work first-hand with the Getty Museum’s exquisite collections at the Getty Villa in Malibu; and students interested in modern and contemporary art can attend openings, symposia, and lectures by internationally known artists, critics and curators at institutions such as the Hammer Museum at UCLA, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), LACMA, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art.
Art History majors regularly study abroad; you might enhance your coursework at Oxy through programs in cities like Paris, Siena, Rome, Athens or Madrid. You can also pursue internships at a wide range of local arts and cultural institutions, including LACMA, MoCA, the Huntington Library, and the Getty Museum. Because we encourage and value independent student research, our majors have had great success presenting their work at both regional and national conferences for undergraduate research. The caliber of this work has also helped recent students gain admission to some of the top graduate programs in the country.