Faculty with students looking at Art History book

School of Art
Master of Arts
Art History

Master of Arts in Art History

“However fragmentary its condition, any work of art is actually a portion of arrested happening, or an emanation of past time. It is a graph of an activity now stilled, but a graph made visible like an astronomical body, by a light that originated with the activity... Knowing the past is as astonishing a performance as knowing the stars.” – George Kubler, The Shape of Time

Art History investigates artworks and artifacts – from rock carvings to oil paintings, from church frescoes to stone monuments, from radiographs to digital animations – to understand the complexity of cultures around the world, from the ancient to the contemporary. They are like messages sent to us from the distant past.

The MA in Art History prepares students for doctoral studies and for a variety of careers, including museum and historical society work, civic arts programs, editing and journalism, art criticism and curating, and teaching in programs that do not require a terminal degree.

Research Resources

Texas Tech University hosts many special collections and archives for research in art history. The Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library includes a Rare Books collection with Mesoamerican and Medieval European codex facsimiles, the Southwest and Millennial Collections of photographs, videos, and oral recordings; the papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, the American philosopher and semiologist; and the Sowell Collection, a repository of the papers of important writers on Literature, Community, and the Natural World. In addition, the Artist Printmaker/Photographer Research Collection is located at the Museum of Texas Tech University.

Admissions

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APPLICATION PROCESS & DEADLINES

Application to the MA in Art History program is through the Graduate School. For the application, we require:

College transcript(s)
GRE scores have been waived for entering applicants
Writing sample (at least 1000 words; typically this is a long, scholarly, BA art history paper)
Statement of intent for the program (be sure to have a clear statement of your MA project, and the name(s) of the professor(s) you'd like to work with)
3 letters of recommendation

All components of the application must be complete by the following dates:

For first priority consideration for financial support, including Teaching Assistantships: January 15 for entry in Fall semester. Students may apply by October 15 for entry in Spring semester, but there is less of a possibility for receiving financial support. As applications are competitive, we encourage you to apply by the above dates.

For second priority consideration for financial support, including Teaching Assistantships, or if you do not need financial assistance, feel free to apply after the above dates. We typically stop considering applications up to about a month before the semester begins.

Please contact the MA Art History coordinator, Dr Kevin Chua, for all questions regarding application.

ADMISSION STANDARDS

Students entering the MA in Art History program should have a BA in Art History or a related field with at least 24 hours in art history. If you do not have these 24 hours in art history, you may take undergraduate or graduate art history courses at any accredited university or university-level art school before entering the program, or you may take up to 9 of these hours as ‘leveling' courses at TTU. (These ‘leveling' courses do not count towards your MA degree.)

Alternatively, students whose undergraduate degree is not in Art History may complete the Graduate Certificate in Art History, Criticism, and Theory (GCAHCT) at TTU. The GCAHCT requires 6 hours of undergraduate Art History for admission. Students must complete 15 hours of graduate-level Art History to receive the GCAHCT. The GCAHCT is only available to students already enrolled in a graduate program at TTU.
Admissions decisions are based on a holistic consideration of the application – including transcripts, GRE scores (if applicable), writing sample, statement of intent, and letters of recommendation.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Your application to the MA program will automatically be considered for fellowships and scholarships administered through the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts (TCVPA) and/or the School of Art. Upon reviewing applications sent by the January 15 deadline, the faculty will rank applicants for various fellowships and scholarships. Students must be enrolled full-time (at least 9 hours per semester) to be eligible for one of these awards.
Graduate students will automatically be considered for employment as Teaching Assistants (TAs). The School of Art awards several assistantships per year on a competitive basis. Half-time TA appointments provide waivers for certain fees and sometimes for out-of-state tuition. Students must be enrolled full-time (at least 9 hours per semester) to be eligible for a TA appointment.

TUITION ESTIMATOR

TTU Tuition Estimator

curriculum

AREAS OF STUDY

The MA in Art History involves a minimum of 30 hours of post-baccalaureate study. This includes two required art-historical methodology and theory courses (ARTH 5308 and 5309), 12 hours of graduate seminars in topics that allow breadth and focus, 6 hours of thesis coursework (ARTH 6000a & 6000b), and 6 hours of supporting coursework (the minor). Additionally, reading knowledge of at least one foreign language is required.

TYPICAL PLANS OF STUDY

A. With Foreign Language study:

Year 1 Fall	Year 1 Spring	Year 1 Summer	Year 2 Fall	Year 2 Spring
ARTH 5308; Art History course; Foreign language; Diagnostic exam before semester	ARTH 5309; Art History course; Foreign language; Comp. exam at end of semester	Develop thesis proposal; complete Foreign language; Or study abroad	ARTH 6000a (Thesis proposal defense)	ARTH 6000b (Thesis defense)

B. When the Foreign Language requirement is completed prior to admission:

Year 1 Fall	Year 1 Spring	Year 1 Summer	Year 2 Fall	Year 2 Spring
ARTH 5308; 2 x Art History; Diagnostic exam before semester	ARTH 5309; 2 x Art History; Comp. exam at end of semester	Develop thesis proposal; Or study abroad	ARTH 6000a (Thesis proposal defense)	ARTH 6000b (Thesis defense)

FURTHER OPPORTUNITIES

The TTU Art History area encourages summer internships and has established relations with several museums and galleries in the region, including Museum of the Southwest, Midland; the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, and the Dallas Museum of Art. Our students have also worked on projects with the Charles Adams Studio Project, the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, and the Museum of Texas Tech University, all in Lubbock. MA students are encouraged to take advantage of Study Abroad programs during the summer months, especially so that they may become familiar with works of art or pursue archival research relevant to their thesis topic. Texas Tech has campuses in Seville, Spain and San Jose, Costa Rica where students can take intensive language courses in addition to other courses relevant to their thesis topic. Accredited Art History courses are offered through many programs in Barcelona, Florence, Lima, London, Rome, Seoul, Tokyo, several cities in Mexico, and around the world, administered through TTU's International Cultural Center. Credit for Study Abroad courses in Art History must be approved by the Art History faculty.

MA IN ART HISTORY MINOR

For the six-hour MA in Art History minor, students may choose any field of study beyond art history. Literature, history, museum studies, an additional foreign language, and courses in contemporary theory are typical choices. The courses taken for the minor (six hours) may be applied toward other programs at Texas Tech. For example, students may obtain a nine-hour Minor in Museum Studies from the Museum Science program (available courses include Museology, Museum Administration, Museum Collection Management, Museum Law, Ethics and Standards; Museum Interpretation and Communication, Museum Preventive Conservation, Museum Education, and Museum Collections Documentation).

Students may also apply their six-hour minor to several Graduate Certificates (typically 15-18 hours) at Texas Tech, including Historic Preservation, Publishing and Editing, Urban and Community Design, Women's Studies, and the Graduate Certificate in Medieval and Renaissance Studies

ONLINE CATALOG INFORMATION

Online Catalog information

Questions?

Contact the Coordinator

Kevin Chua, Ph.D.
MA Art History Coordinator
& Associate Professor

Master of Arts in Art History faculty

The four art historians at TTU have distinguished records of publication and/or curatorial experience. Collectively, they have held research fellowships at the Center for 17th and 18th-Century Studies (UCLA, Los Angeles, CA), the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (Washington, DC), the Scuola Normale Superiore (Pisa, Italy), the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC), the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (Bentonville, AR), and the School for Advanced Research (Santa Fe, NM). They have had curatorial experience at the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), and the Museum of Bellas Artes (Argentina).

Klinton Burgio-Ericson