![Students around a table observe an artifact held by a smiling older woman.](/humanities-arts/sites/g/files/ijdqth226/files/styles/4_3_l/public/2023-03/art-history-students.jpg?h=e24b58ec&itok=QEnR4Bzw)
History of Art and Architecture
The Art History Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was established in 1969 within the Department of Art. In 2014, the Program became the Department of the History of Art and Architecture. It is the only program at a public institution in New England that offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in the field. Our emphasis is on the cultures of Western Europe, Islam, the Americas, and East Asia.
The discipline of art and architectural history examines visual culture and the built environment within their social and historical contexts. The History of Art and Architecture major at the University provides students with a solid foundation in the history of art and architecture produced in diverse regions and cultures, and from all periods of human history. Students learn to analyze works of art and material objects and to interpret them by making interdisciplinary connections with the political, economic, technological, religious, and other endeavors of the region and culture in which they were made.
Visit the History of Art and Architecture Department website.