Art History Major

Note(s) on Requirements

• At least eight of the 11 courses required for the major must be taken in the art history department (i.e., have the ARTH prefix).
  • Honors and private reading courses do not count toward the minimum ARTH course requirement.
• No more than two 100-level courses may count toward the major (unless prior approval is received from the chair).
• ARTH 299  must be taken in the sophomore or junior year.
• Of the required 200- and 300-level courses, at least one must focus on non-Western art history.
• The courses counting toward the art history seminar course requirement must be taken at Oberlin.
• Courses must be taken in at least four of the six different areas offered by the art history faculty: Ancient-Medieval, Renaissance-Baroque, Modern-Contemporary, East Asian, African and African Diaspora, and Islamic.
• Private readings may be taken for only two credits (i.e., ARTH 995H  only).

Advanced Placement and/or International Baccalaureate Credit

The department offers no major credit, and no exemption from major requirements, for Advanced Placement (AP) Art History examination scores.

Art History Major Course Lists

Language Competency Requirement

Return to the summary of requirements.

An ability to speak and/or read in more than one language, equivalent to at least two semesters of introductory language study at Oberlin. Students may meet this requirement in a number of ways, including but not limited to:

1. completing a two-semester introductory language course at Oberlin;
2. placing above the first-year level on a placement test administered by one of the language departments;
3. transferring course(s) taken elsewhere equivalent to two semesters of an introductory language at Oberlin;
4. having been brought up in a bi- or multilingual environment, in which case they should discuss this with the chair of the department who will request approval from art history faculty;
5. having learned English as a second (or additional) language to those in which they were raised.

Students are strongly encouraged to advance their knowledge of more than one language well beyond the major requirement. They are encouraged to study away/abroad for at least one semester and to focus on advancing their language skills during this time, ideally building on language knowledge acquired before the semester away/abroad (for instance, through introductory and intermediate language study at Oberlin). Art history at Oberlin has the language requirement because it reflects our commitment to offering a diverse and global curriculum with cultural, historical, and methodological breadth.

For students interested in pursuing art history after graduation (for instance, jobs/internships in museums, jobs in arts non-profits, graduate school in art history, etc.), the department strongly recommends advanced experience in languages relating to their area(s) of interest in art history. Regardless of what students go on to do, multilingualism will open doors and opportunities not otherwise available. Students interested in learning/developing knowledge in a language as it relates to a specific culture or geographical area in art history are advised to meet with the relevant faculty member who teaches in their area of interest to get advice on which language(s) are most useful.