The MA in Art History is designed to provide a broad historical and theoretical understanding of the visual arts, in addition to developing critical thinking and methodological skills. You'll engage with these issues through course work, seminars, independent research, and teaching experience.
In this program, you will advance your visual literacy and analysis skills while you gain deep understanding of key debates, concepts, and methods in Art History. You will develop and carry out original research, using primary sources, with the goal of producing publishable or near-publishable written work. You'll also gain valuable teaching and presentation experience, learn about a range of professional opportunities in the field, and become familiar with the ethics and responsibilities of the profession practice.
You'll complete your degree either by writing a thesis or by submitting two qualifying papers; either option involves an independent research topic designed in consultation with your faculty advisor. The small size of our program gives you the opportunity to get to know you cohort and to enjoy close working relationships with our faculty.
After completing the degree, you will be well prepared for further PhD study or to enter the job market. Our graduates typically go on to careers in many fields and settings including museums, arts education, historic preservation, consulting, auction houses, galleries, art magazines, and more.
Reading knowledge of a foreign language
See Tuition and Financial Aid information for GSAS Programs. Note: This program is eligible for federal loans and Tufts tuition scholarships.
Research/Areas of Interest: History of museums, exhibitions, and collecting; history of art history; Early Modern European art and theory
Research/Areas of Interest: American architecture history, global architecture history, post-colonial studies, materiality
Research/Areas of Interest: Museum and Heritage Studies, African Arts, Institutional Theories, Value and Valuation, Historiography
Research/Areas of Interest: American Art, Modern and Contemporary Art, and Theories and Methods
Research/Areas of Interest: Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean art and architecture, especially in the 1st millennium BCE; materiality studies; ancient magic and religion; reception and museum histories.
Research/Areas of Interest: Medieval art, architecture, and visual culture in Europe and the Byzantine-Slavic cultural spheres; image theory; historiography; patronage; monasticism; cross-cultural interactions
Research/Areas of Interest: film theory, philosophy and aesthetics of film, avant-garde film, film and modernism
Research/Areas of Interest: Modern and Contemporary U.S. Latinx and Mexican art; Latin American art; Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora