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2025-2026 Academic Catalog
Art History Courses
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Art History
ARH 103 - Introduction to Art History 4 credits (Fall and Spring)
A thematic and cross-cultural study of art and architecture as expressions of diverse social, intellectual, religious, and aesthetic values, primarily in Western societies since antiquity, with reference to certain East Asian and African traditions. Emphasis on developing critical skills. Use of Grinnell College Art Collection.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Staff
ARH 115 - Art of India and South Asia 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
This course will survey the art of South Asia (including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh) from the 5th century to BCE to the modern period, including the art of Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Islam, as well as modern secular art, including film. Basic principles and skills of art historical analysis will be covered.
Prerequisite: None.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Mackenzie
ARH 160 - An Introduction to Museum Studies 4 credits (Spring)
Introduction to Museum Studies explores a number of issues of museum history, theory, and practice, using public scholarship and research along with intensive class discussions and visits to area museums. The content is directly applicable to students in art history, anthropology, education, history, studio art and sciences. For 2026 there will be travel to Washington D.C. over spring break.
Students interested in this course will need to complete an application by October 9, 2025 in addition to doing the normal registration process. The application materials are available here: https://travel.global.grinnell.edu/_portal/. There is a $2,230 course fee for participating in Global Learning Program classes that will be added to the student’s bill. Scholarships are available for students who qualify for need-based financial aid at Grinnell and will be automatically provided. There is a $2,230 scholarship for very high need (net cost added to the bill $0), a $1,673 scholarship available for high need students (net cost added to the bill $557), a $1,115 scholarship for moderate need students (net cost added to bill $1,115), a $557 scholarship for low need students (net cost added to bill $1,673) and no scholarship for students with no need. If you have questions about your need level and scholarship eligibility, please contact Meg Jones at jonesmeg@grinnell.edu.
Prerequisite: Second-year standing.
Instructor: Baley
ARH 195-01 - Making Space for Community: experiencing the built environment of Grinnell 4 credits (Fall)
This course will explore the role of the built environment in fostering a sense of community with a particular focus on the city of Grinnell. We will study the history of specific buildings and sites, experiencing their spaces and talking with community members about what these places mean to them. The class will culminate with a research project, incorporating deep mapping, in which you will design or reimagine a space for community in Grinnell.
Prerequisite: None.
Instructor: Crites
ARH 195-03 - Introductory Special Topic: Horror Film and Otherness 4 credits (Fall)
See FMS 195-01 .
ARH 211 - Arts and Visual Cultures of China 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
This course explores the arts and visual cultures of China from the Neolithic period through the nineteenth century. We will consider diverse media including painting, prints, textiles, ceramics, metalwork, jade, and architecture, as well as works in the College Art Collection. A central theme will be the role that various (non-Han Chinese) ethnic groups played in shaping the arts of the Chinese court, with special emphasis on cultural exchange with Central Asia and the Steppe.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade, S, C, or better.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Shea
ARH 212 - The Global Mongol Century: In the Footsteps of Marco Polo 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
In this class, we will explore the arts and visual cultures of Mongol-controlled lands in Eurasia at the turn of the fourteenth century. Loosely following Marco Polo’s travels, we will travel from Italy to China, recreating the visual landscape of particular urban centers. Using primary sources and visual material, including illuminated manuscripts, textiles, paintings, ceramics, and metalwork, we will come to a clearer understanding of the interwoven networks in Eurasia during this period.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade, S, C, or better.
Instructor: Shea
ARH 213 - Gender and Sexuality in East Asian Art 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: EAS 213 . This class explores themes of gender and sexuality in the arts of China, Japan, and Korea from the beginning of the Common Era to the present day. This class does not aim to be comprehensive but will rather focus on a series of examples that allow insights into culturally specific moments. We will be looking at a variety of media and will interrogate the diverse cultural contexts in which this art was produced and consumed.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade, S, C, or better.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Shea
ARH 214 - Monastery and Cathedral in Medieval Europe 4 credits
Study of major developments in architecture and art from the Carolingian through Gothic periods (9th–14th centuries). Primary focus on architectural design and structure (as at Durham, Canterbury, Lincoln, Cluny, Paris, Chartres, Amiens), including the roles of sculpture and manuscript painting within their social, political, religious, and intellectual climates. Option of executing projects in architectural design or doing reading in French, German, Italian, Latin, or Spanish.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade, S, C, or better.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Staff
ARH 215 - Collecting the “Orient” 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: EAS 215 . The United States and Europe are home to world-class collections of Asian art, from murals and architectural elements to sculptures, ceramics, paintings, and textiles. This class examines the origins of such Asian art collections, from the nineteenth century to the present day. We will explore the changing practices of archaeological excavations, the antiquities market, and looting, as well as consider the ways, licit and illicit, that these collections were built.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade, S, C, or better.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Shea
ARH 221 - European Art 1789-1848: Figures & Ground 4 credits
Examination of 19th-century Romantic and Realist painting as critical responses to the period’s dramatic political, industrial, and cultural transformations and as the foundation of artistic “modernity.” Emphasis on issues of high and mass culture; art and political voice; representations of non-Europeans; relevance of the canon; tensions between the urban and natural worlds; and creation of the Avant-Garde. The French Revolution of 1789 marked the entrance on the world stage of a new concept of the modern, self-determining subject. During the first half of the nineteenth century, artists in France, England, Spain and Germany sought to discover an artistic language that would represent this new individual’s relationship to the natural and the built environment, a dialogue of figure and ground that this course studies in the mediums of painting, sculpture, printmaking, and photography.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade, S, C, or better.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Staff
ARH 222 - Impressionism and Post-Impressionism 4 credits
A study of major artists, works, and issues in European Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting (ca. 1865–1900). Specific movements include Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, and Art Nouveau.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade, S, C, or better.
Note: Not offered every year.
Plus-2 option available.
Foreign language option available in French or German for course and +2.
Instructor: Anger
ARH 231 - From Beasts to Revolutionaries: Modern Art in Europe, 1900–1940 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
An examination of major movements in European art from 1900–1940, including Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Surrealism, Constructivism, and Socialist Realism. Focus upon the historical contexts of art production and reception. Readings range from contemporary criticism to historical analysis. Investigation of recurrent problems such as primitivism, gender, authorship, and cultural politics.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade, S, C, or better.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Foreign language option available in French or German for course and +2.
Not offered every year.
Instructor: Anger
ARH 232 - Gender and Art Since 1945 4 credits (Spring)
An examination of developments primarily in American, European, and Asian art since 1945, from Abstract Expressionism to current trends such as the globalized art market. We will trace Abstract Expressionism’s progeny in Pop, Happenings, Black Art, Minimalism, Conceptualism, Earth Works, Feminist Art, and Installation. Readings range from contemporary criticism to historical analysis from a variety of perspectives (e.g., formal, multicultural, deconstructive, postcolonial).
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade, S, C, or better.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Foreign language option available in French or German for course and +2.
Instructor: Anger
ARH 233 - American Art 4 credits
A survey of American art within its cultural, philosophical, and social contexts. Topics include: colonial portraiture; history painting, landscape, and vernacular expressions in the 19th century; and the sources and development of modernism and postmodernism.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade, S, C, or better.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year.
Instructor: Anger
ARH 234 - Caribbean Art and Visual Cultures 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
This course provides a broad survey of Caribbean art and visual culture, focusing on the Caribbean archipelago and surrounding territories into consideration, as well as the Caribbean diaspora. With material ranging from the Pre-Columbian era into the contemporary, this course includes close readings on topics such as slavery in the Caribbean, religious expression, the African diaspora, migration, colonialism, nationalism, postcolonialism, and the politics of tourism.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade, S, C, or better.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Not offered every year. Foreign language option available in Spanish and French for Plus-2 only.
Instructor: Rivera
ARH 248 - Greek Archaeology and Art 4 credits (Spring)
See CLS 248 .
ARH 250 - Roman Archaeology and Art 4 credits (Spring)
See CLS 250 .
ARH 270 - Modern Architecture and Globalization 4 credits (Fall or spring)
This course offers a survey of developments in modern architecture from the 19th century to the mid-20th century, with a focus on globalization. We discuss the aesthetic, political and social contexts of architecture, including colonialism, urbanization, industrialization, authoritarianism and nationalism. We will use visual materials (floor plans, renderings, photographs, etc.), texts by architects, scholars and critics, and local/regional examples of architecture to examine the built environment, architectural movements, urban planning, landscape design and architectural technologies.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade, S, C, or better.
Note: Plus-2 option available. Foreign language option in Spanish available for Plus-2 option only.
Instructor: Rivera
ARH 272 - Contemporary Architectures 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
This course centers contemporary architectures within the context of social justice, providing a broad overview of architecture from the 1960s onwards. In this class we consider the economic, aesthetic, socio-political and semiotic functions of architecture, landscape design, interior design, and urban planning. We ask: How do architecture and design impact our everyday lives? In an ever-complex world, how does the built environment and infrastructure contribute to our understanding of place, power, and agency?
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade, S, C, or better.
Note: Plus-2 option available.
Instructor: Rivera
ARH 295-01 - Special Topic: Art and Ecology, 1000-1800 4 credits (Spring)
Cross-listed as: ENV 295-04 . Long before modern industrialization and ecocriticism, natural environments significantly influenced medieval and early modern artists. The course will explore the relationship between art and nature, using lesser-known cases from premodern Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, often connected through colonial ecology. Students learn how visual art from the premodern to the 1700s participated in natural history, sensory studies, animal studies, and environmental concerns.
Prerequisite: Second-semester standing.
Instructor: Kim
ARH 295-01 - Special Topic: Art of Global Renaissance Europe 4 credits (Fall)
The 15th to 17 centuries in Europe was a crucial moment that heralded modern colonialism, globalization, and nationalism. In this class, we will revisit the pillar concepts of Renaissance European art, such as nude, antiquarianism, humanism, and collecting, through the transnational lens. We will identify the impact of cultural exchange in making and perceiving paintings, prints, sculptures, and decorative arts, focusing on the Holy Roman Empire, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands. The class will address these nations’ actual contacts and imagined representations among themselves and with South America, West Africa, the Ottoman Empire, and the Safavid Empire.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 with grade S, C, or better.
Instructor: Kim
ARH 295-02 - Special Topic: The Art and Architecture of the Medieval Mediterranean 4 credits (Spring)
The modern constructs of “East” and “West” fundamentally shape contemporary discourse. However, recent scholarship on the cosmopolitan societies of the pre-modern Mediterranean and their role in the development of the modern world has reinforced the need to revise this ill-defined, inaccurate binary. This class will examine the issues complicating the East/West divide through the stunning and eclectic visual culture of the Mediterranean from the fall of Rome through the height of the Ottoman Empire.
Prerequisite: Any 100-level Art History course with grade S, C, or better.
Instructor: Crites
ARH 295-02 - Special Topic: The Camera and the Body 4 credits (Fall)
See AMS 295-01 .
ARH 295-03 - Special Topic: Digging, Depicting, and Displaying the Past: 18th and 19th Century Explorations of the Ancient Mediterranean 4 credits (Spring)
Examines the construction of the ancient Mediterranean past in the European world, and interconnections between artists, archaeology, and antiquity in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe. Topics include early museums, the advent of scientific archaeology, Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt, and the excavations of Pompeii and at Khorsabad. Artists were profoundly influenced by excavations, antiquities, and their display at early museums during this period.
Prerequisite: Second-semester standing.
Instructor: Daly
ARH 360 - Exhibition Seminar 4 credits (Fall)
An exploration of the materials and methods of primary art historical research and museum practice through the organization and presentation of an exhibition. Students work directly with art objects, using works in the Grinnell College Art Collection and/or borrowed from lenders. For current offerings review the variable topic course listing below or use the course search to filter by variable topic type. Course may be repeated once for credit.
Prerequisite: One 200-level art history course with grade, S, C, or better.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Staff
ARH 360-01 - Exhibition Seminar 4 credits (Fall)
Exploration of the materials and methods of primary art historical research and museum practice. Students will work directly with art objects, drawn from a private collection, and organize and present an exhibition in the Grinnell College Museum of Art. We will consider mostly contemporary photography, and issues such as representations of gender, queerness, social status, and beauty.
Prerequisite: One 200-level art history course with grade S, C, or better.
Instructor: Mackenzie
ARH 370 - Architecture and Urbanism in the Developing Worlds 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
Cross-listed as: GDS 370 . This workshop seminar explores architecture and urbanism in the “developing world”, using comparative urban case studies to discuss debates from the colonial era to the contemporary. Students will analyze architecture, urban policy, and forms of urbanization, and will chart urban phenomena through close visual readings of pertinent primary sources, including maps, floor plans, urban plans, and other visual representations of place.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 or GDS 111 and one 200-level ARH or GDS course.
Instructor: Rivera
ARH 380 - Theory and Methods of Art History 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
This course studies the theory and methods of art history. We will explore historical and philosophical approaches as well as contemporary methods. The point is to think through how and why we approach art and architecture the way we do and to learn to do so more conscientiously and fruitfully.
Prerequisite: ARH 103 and one 200-level Art History course.
Note: Not offered every year.
Instructor: Anger
ARH 395-01 - Advanced Special Topic: Madness and the Moving Image 4 credits (Spring)
See FMS 395-01 .
ARH 400 - Seminar in Art History 4 credits (Fall)
The seminar emphasizes research skills and art-historical methodology. Each student, in consultation with the professor, will select a special topic for research and critical evaluation. Final projects are expected to result in scholarly contributions equivalent to those of traditional senior thesis. Students are encouraged to find a public forum for presentation of their research.
Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing in art history major.
Instructor: Staff
ARH 400-01 - Seminar in Art History 4 credits (Fall)
The senior seminar in art history is a capstone course where each student embarks on intensive individualized research. This seminar provides a unique opportunity to explore your passions within the field of art history. Class discussion will focus on the research process, and consider theory and methodology. During our course meetings we will determine individual plans, as well as a format to present our research. The class will culminate in a 30-35 page research paper regarding a topic of your choosing under the umbrella of art history.
Prerequisite: Junior or senior standing in art history major.
Instructor: Shea
ARH 499 - Mentored Advanced Project — Art History 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
The preparation, writing, and public presentation of a piece of advanced art-historical research in any area of art history. Students must obtain approval of a department member as faculty director. The MAP application must be completed with the required project statement and with all faculty signatures before submission to the Office of the Registrar. All applications are subject to the approval of the associate dean of the College.
Prerequisite: Senior standing.
Instructor: Staff
ART 320 - Advanced Studio: Site Specific 4 credits (Fall or Spring)
An intensive practice based course in which the problem of place and location is examined in relation to the development of a student’s individual body of work.
Prerequisite: 12 credits of 200-level studio art with grades, S, C, or better.
Instructor: Staff
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