Art History

Matthew F. Rarey, Associate Professor of African and Black Atlantic Art History; chair

Bonnie Cheng, Associate Professor of Art History and East Asian Studies
Erik W. Inglis, Mildred C. Jay Professor of Art History
E. Holley Ledbetter, Visiting Instructor of Art History
Annie Maloney, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History
Christina S. Neilson, Associate Professor of Renaissance and Baroque Art History
Ana C. Perry, Assistant Professor of Art History

Visit the department web page for up-to-date information on department faculty, visiting lecturers, and special events.

In the Department of Art History at Oberlin College, the expertise of the faculty covers the globe from prehistory to the present, with specialists in the art of China and Japan, Africa and the Black Atlantic, the Islamicate World, the Americas, and Europe. Given the field’s interdisciplinary and international nature, we welcome students from all majors, and enable our students to recognize art history’s distinctive contribution to the liberal arts.

See information about Research, Internships, Study Away, and Experiential Learning (RISE).

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Departmental Policies

Transfer of Credit for Content Taught by the Department

Advanced Placement Credit

The following score(s) will correspond to credit for the following course(s), fulfilling corresponding prerequisite requirements (if applicable) and counting toward total credits needed for graduation:

AP Art History, 5 → ARTH 600 (one full course)

Note: Transfer credit received for ARTH 600 does not count toward the art history major or art history minor.

Credit for Study Away and Other Outside Coursework

The art history department’s preliminary approval must be obtained before beginning work away from Oberlin if this work is in the realm of art history and is to be counted toward total credit for graduation. On return, students must supply both an official transcript and evidence of the nature of the work done. Such requests, as well as those of transfer students, will be handled on an individual basis. The department is not obliged to give credit for work that fails to fit the general patterns of the Oberlin curriculum or that fails to come up to Oberlin’s standards, no matter how valuable a student feels the experience has been, or how much time and effort has been expended.

Majors and Minors

Curriculum

The Allen Memorial Art Museum is central to the art history department curriculum. Courses routinely meet there and students have the opportunity to participate in the Museum’s Gallery Guide program.