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
Year-end message from Elina Gertsman, the Acting Chair of Art History and Art
It has been a pleasure and a privilege to oversee the department during this academic year. I think it is fair to say that we have flourished.
Our graduate students have garnered a plethora of awards and fellowships, both external and internal, local and international. They have also presented at a startling range of important conferences, published peer-reviewed articles, curated exhibitions, and took part in archaeological excavations. Our faculty have received a great set of grants and awards as well, have published in some of the flagship journals of the field, have organized high-profile national and international symposia, had curated current and upcoming exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Sears think[box], and had books come out with flagship academic and art presses.
In the meantime, our graduating BAs and MAs are heading to some of the best graduate programs in the US and Europe. It was wonderful to celebrate them at the graduation! We look forward to welcoming our new graduate cohort in August and are excited have a new colleague, Professor Ben Murphy, join us in the fall.
Please click below to read more and see photos from the graduation, the departmental party, and the grad awards ceremony.
I hope you have a fabulous summer—see you in August!
Maggie Popkin promoted to the rank of Professor
The Department of Art History and Art is delighted to announce that Dr. Maggie Popkin, a specialist in ancient Roman art and architecture, was promoted to the rank of Professor effective July 1. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Popkin on this well-deserved promotion!
Professor Maggie Popkin awarded Expanding Horizons Initiative Large Experimental Humanities Grant
Congratulations to Professor Maggie Popkin, who has been awarded an Expanding Horizons Initiative Large Experimental Humanities Grant for her project “Embodied Religion and Extended Reality: The Impact of Emerging Technologies on the Humanistic Study of Sacred Space,” co-directed with Professor Tina Howe of the Religious Studies Department.
Professor Elina Gertsman Recognized with the Jessica Melton Perry Award
Congratulations to Professor Gertsman for receiving the Jessica Melton Perry Award for Distinguished Teaching in Disciplinary & Professional Writing. This honor recognizes outstanding instruction in writing in professional fields and/or disciplines other than English. As one student described: “Prof. Gertsman teaches us how to critically approach the authors of our field and learn a spectrum of writing qualities in our vibrant class discussions. She lets us voice all the aspects we enjoyed as well as our critiques, and then she gently guides our views and suggests further insights. […] Her critical feedback on these assignments allows us to improve incrementally and map our own progress.” The award committee called Prof. Gertsman’s writing instruction a model for all faculty who work with graduate students as they endeavor to be scholarly writers.
Fairy Tales and Fables: Illustration and Storytelling in Art
Please join us in congratulating doctoral candidate Susana Montañés Lleras on the opening of her brilliant exhibition, Fairy Tales and Fables: Illustration and Storytelling in Art! On view through September 8 in the Prints and Drawings galleries of the Cleveland Museum of Art (Galleries 101A & 101B), Susana’s exhibition was developed as part of her third year doctoral internship under the supervision of Dr. Britany Salsbury, Curator of Prints and Drawings.
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!