Welcome to the Department of History of Art & Architecture at UC Santa Barbara
The teaching interests of the faculty are closely aligned with their research and form six clusters of expertise:
- Art and Architecture of the Ancient and Medieval Worlds
- Art and Architecture of the Early Modern World
- Modern and Contemporary Art, Architecture, Material and Visual Culture
- Architecture and Urbanism
- Museum and Curatorial Studies
- Theory, Historiography, and Criticism
Faculty expertise in these six clusters is exceptional for its intellectual diversity and global reach across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas. We work across national boundaries as well as media and sites — painting, print, photography, popular art, sculpture, and installation, textiles, ceramics, architecture, cities, digital media — to define a global interdisciplinary field.
In the undergraduate curriculum, a new emphasis on global perspectives and intercultural exchanges joins the department’s long-established strengths in European and Non-Western traditions. The department also offers two interdisciplinary undergraduate Emphases: in Architecture & Environment, a program that promotes an understanding of architecture within a complex web of social, geographical, and political factors, and in Museum Studies, a program designed to integrate historical and theoretical questions into a framework of professional practice and encourage "hands on" experiences through internships.
The department’s graduate program for the Ph.D. degree balances maximum flexibility with rigorous training in order to cultivate the original thinking that is essential to the development of a vital discipline. Students are encouraged to utilize individual and collective faculty expertise to create specific fields of art historical inquiry. Some noteworthy faculty interests include: archeologies of the ancient world; art theory and historiography; epistemologies of collecting, display, and reception of objects and exhibitions; feminist art history and gender studies; histories of science and art in the early modern world; text-image relationships; and, the study of urbanism and the cultural landscape.
Many of our Ph.D. alumni go on to illustrious museum careers. For those interested in this path, there are ample opportunities to work through our internship program with area institutions, including the Art, Design & Architecture Museum at UCSB, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Fowler Museum at UCLA and the Huntington Library and Art Collections; the department also enjoys a close working relationship with J. Paul Getty Museum.
Statement on Student Diversity
Through the study of art and architecture, the Department of History of Art & Architecture affirms the richness and diversity of our constructed visual and material worlds. Its remarkable range and depth is a proud reflection of the variety and difference that marks us as humans. As a department, we are committed to understanding and and offering the historical tools and training that celebrate and bolster diversity. It is our mission to be inclusive. We welcome students from diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, including minority-identified, queer and non-binary, and first-generation college students. We are committed to a fully inclusive history of art and architecture that explores ethnic, racial, economic, sexual, and religious differences. We are strongly dedicated to encouraging and supporting future art and architectural historians and professionals from underrepresented backgrounds pursuing underrepresented histories.
Affiliated Departments and Programs
