Mission and Vision
At the undergraduate level, the Department
currently serves a wide student population
on three local campuses (Main/North
Philadelphia, Elkins Park and Ambler) and
one foreign campus (Rome). It instructs Art
History majors (who receive a BA from Tyler
School of Art, Temple University); minors;
studio and art education majors; students
from departments across the University; and
auditors from the Temple Senior Scholars
program. It draws large numbers of students,
university-wide, to its courses in the
current CORE curriculum (and will continue
to do so with its new General Education
course); its Honors courses; its BFA
Foundations courses; its upper-level courses
that can also function as electives in the
CORE curriculum and in the Main Campus Art
Department “Visual Studies” concentration;
and its several writing intensive classes.
The Art History program aims to provide the
student with a thorough knowledge of the
visual tradition of art from its first
manifestations to the present day. The
faculty is committed to placing the work in
its cultural and historical context,
attending to issues of medium,
craftsmanship, patronage, exhibition
history, critical reception, and theoretical
import, among others. Developing analytic,
written, and oral skills to interpret the
work of art and to understand its heritage
remains paramount. Visits to museums,
galleries, collections and other cultural
sites are key experiential components of
undergraduate education. The availability of
departmental archaeological excavations
provides exposure to other cultures,
hands-on contact with historical artifacts,
and valuable technical and analytical tools.
Further experiential learning is obtainable
through internships at local cultural
institutions. Programs abroad, especially
Temple Rome, which offers a full complement
of Art History classes from Ancient to
Modern, and Temple University Japan, also
afford direct exposure to the art and life
of other cultures. The undergraduate Art
History major receives an education broad
enough to allow for a variety of career and
educational options. Housing its own
graduate program in Art History, the
Department also trains and guides
undergraduates who plan to attend graduate
school in the field. As for studio majors at
Tyler (who constitute many of the Art
History minors), Art History classes are
intended to help them express ideas about
their own artistic production and situate it
within a wider cultural framework.
Graduate education in Art History at Temple
University consists of the Master of Arts,
Masters of Arts with a Fine Arts
Administration Track, and Doctor of
Philosophy. MA/PhD classes are taught on the
Main Campus. Art History faculty also teach
courses specifically designed as required
classes for Master of Fine Arts students,
which are taught on the Elkins Park Campus.
Several MA/PhD classes are part of the
University’s Master of Liberal Arts degree
program and students working toward an MEd
in Art Education are required to enroll in
Art History graduate courses. The objective
of the Master’s degree in Art History is to
provide thorough preparation for further
graduate work or specialized training as the
foundation of a career in education,
research, museums, galleries, and other
cultural institutions. The Fine Arts
Administration Track includes courses in the
business school and an internship, which
adds marketable skills and experience in the
pursuit of an arts-related career. MFA Art
History classes are intended to expose the
graduate art studio student to more advanced
and sophisticated material in the field and
are often designed to deepen an
understanding of the relationship of the
student’s own artistic production to broader
historical and contemporary developments.
These classes also help to hone
communication skills, which are vital to all
aspects of career advancement, especially as
many MFAs turn to curatorial and art-writing
positions. The Doctor of Philosophy is
intended to prepare students for university
teaching and for other research-oriented
positions requiring advanced specialized
study. All Temple Art History graduate
programs expose students to a wide variety
of disciplinary approaches to enable them to
become independent and innovative
contributors to the body of knowledge in the
field.
The Department anticipates significant and
exciting changes resulting from the move of
the Tyler studio programs now housed on the
Elkins Park Campus to Temple’s Main Campus
in North Philadelphia. This should provide
for increased interaction between Art
History and studio programs, especially in
the classroom, and should facilitate
interdisciplinary pedagogy. The University
will need to address the logistical
complexities that will result from the
influx of a substantial number of students
who currently take Art History courses on
the Elkins Park Campus.
The Art History Department has been the
University leader in and remains committed
to the use of digital technologies. It
pioneered the implementation of the
“Gallery” digital image database system and
its linkage to the on-line Blackboard site.
Students express great enthusiasm for the
department’s adoption of these innovative
instructional tools.
The Department is strongest in the Western
tradition with relatively equal distribution
of focus on Ancient/Medieval,
Renaissance/Baroque and Modern/Contemporary.
There is particular strength in the
Mediterranean region with specialists in
Bronze Age Aegean; Ancient Roman; Medieval
Byzantine and Coptic; Italian and Spanish
Renaissance and Baroque; and Modern Italy
and France. The Department has close ties to
the Temple Rome program. It provides Art
History faculty and participates in all Art
History hires for that campus. Undergraduate
majors, Tyler graduate students (Art History
and Studio) and students from Temple and
other universities take Art History classes
there, all of which have intensive on-site
learning elements. At several points in the
recent past, Art History faculty have taught
at Temple University Japan.
The Department also has a strong
archaeological and on-site component, with
faculty directing excavations currently in
Crete and France and an on-site project in
Egypt. Temple’s Archaeology focus is part of
the eminent Consortium in Aegean Bronze Age
studies (with Bryn Mawr and the University
of Pennsylvania). A just-completed hire in
Northern Renaissance and Baroque adds vital
geographic and chronological coverage to
offerings in Medieval and Early Modern
Europe. The Department hopes to develop
another key area of strength in the next few
years, well-suited to the Temple’s location
in Philadelphia and to the make-up of the
University’s student population. A search is
underway for a 19th Century American Art
position, which should complement current
faculty concentration in 19th Century France
and Modern and Contemporary American and
European Art. Possible hires in African Art
of the Diaspora and Latin American Art are
anticipated in the ensuing years. We also
plan to explore some foundation support for
enhancing involvement in the Arts of Asia.
The Department prides itself on the
heterogeneity of its approaches to the
discipline and will continue its commitment
to theoretical and methodological diversity.
