Overview of the Department

The History of Art Department offers undergraduate and graduate instruction in European, American, East Asian, Latin American, and African art on a regular basis. Courses in Russian art are offered in alternate years.

Faculty work closely with curators at both the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas and the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, giving students firsthand access to an exceptional range of American, Asian, European, Latin American and African objects. Graduate students frequently plan and carry out exhibitions in the Spencer Museum and have opportunities to work as curatorial interns.

The entire faculty is directly involved with both undergraduate and graduate instruction. Senior faculty regularly teach introductory lecture courses. Graduate Teaching Assistants, chosen from our best advanced students, work under the direct supervision of the faculty to provide additional undergraduate instruction.

Our research and teaching are facilitated by the department's location in the Spencer Museum. The department (including the slide and digital resource collection, three lecture halls, and three seminar rooms) and the Murphy Art and Architecture Library occupy the first two floors of the modern museum building.

All of the works of art reproduced on this and on linked departmental pages are in the collection of the Spencer Museum of Art. For information about these works, go to the Spencer Museum collection page.