Art History

Art History at UMass Lowell holds responsibility for teaching aesthetic and visual literacy in all its forms, relying on the tradition and discipline of art history. The faculty of Art History seeks to serve the students of the University as a whole, as well as the greater regional community.

The Art History program stresses the development of analytical and critical thinking skills and of intelligent appreciation. The program introduces students to the analysis and interpretation of works of visual art, as well as to the subjective matters of taste and patronage in historical eras. Within art history the material defined as visual arts has extended beyond canonical works to encompass commercial and popular imagery, including graphics, photography, film, video, television, and computer art, in sum - multimedia.

Art history classes are designed to cultivate literate viewers of artwork in its many forms. Students who are new to art and its history will learn to clearly organize their perceptions and thoughts about artwork. Students are taught to translate the experience of artwork into written form. Application of the idea of literacy to vision assumes that art may be understood as a language, a language which is built upon the comprehension of images and the perception of visual awareness.

Art history courses introduce students to methods of visual analysis and to specific subjects of cultural importance, as they explore the artwork of different cultures. There is an emphasis on the interpretation of visual texts, and the historical context in which art forms were created, sponsored and acquired. Paradigms of descriptive art criticism are provided for study, interpretation, and analysis.

Art history classes provide students with an appreciation of aesthetic experience as well as noting the distinctions and similarities between aesthetic and ordinary experience. Teaching students to be creative in his or her thinking provides skills necessary to compete in our technological society. We believe that our educational strategies and humanistic art historical goals support the mission of UMass Lowell, emphatically and wholeheartedly.