History of Art and Architecture
This program prepares you for a career in college-level teaching, in museum work, and for independent research and writing. Your studies will cover the breadth across the discipline, both in terms of field distribution and methodology.
You will access an amazing array of resources including the Harvard museums’ collections of Western, Asian, and ethnographic art; the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies; and Harvard’s extensive library system, which includes 200,000+ books on art and archaeology, 80,000+ photographs and slides, and a rich collection of rare books and manuscripts. The many colleges, museums, and commercial galleries in the greater Boston area offer an additional wealth of resources for study and research.
Examples of student theses and dissertations include “American Painting and the Systems of World Ornament,” “Art, Machine, and Learning in Eighteenth-Century China,” and “Bruegel and the Lost Art of Cloth Painting.”
Graduates have secured faculty positions at institutions like Harvard University, Boston College, and Ohio Wesleyan University. Others have gone on to careers at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and Menil Drawing Institute in Houston.
Additional information on the graduate program is available from the Department of History of Art and Architecture, and requirements for the degree are detailed in Policies.
Areas of Study
17th Century | Architecture (19th and 20th Century) | Architecture (Renaissance) | Africa (historic, diaspora, contemporary) | African American | American | Ancient | Chinese | Contemporary | Early Christian and Byzantine | Islamic | Japanese | Latin American | Medieval | Modern (18th and 19th Century) | Modern (20th Century) | Northern Baroque | Northern Renaissance | Photography | South Asian and Indian | Southern Baroque | Southern Renaissance | Other | Unspecified
Admissions Requirements
Please review the admissions requirements and other information before applying. You can find degree program-specific admissions requirements below and access additional guidance on applying from the Department of History of Art and Architecture.
Academic Background
A strong language background helps to strengthen an application and students who lack it should be aware that they will need to address these gaps during their first two years of graduate study.
Writing Sample
A writing sample is required and should not exceed 20 pages. Do not send a longer sample with instructions to read a particular section. Make sure that your file is in PDF format and does not exceed 2.5 MB (2,500 kb) in size.
Personal Statement
Required
Standardized Tests
GRE General: Not Accepted
Theses and Dissertations
Theses & Dissertations for History of Art and Architecture