Like other traditional liberal arts programs, History of Art provides students with a broad education that develops their ability to think critically, conduct research, solve scholarly problems, and write fluently. But Art History at the University of Michigan also offers something quite unique. Through classroom experiences and field trips, students gain an in-depth understanding of cultural phenomena and come to appreciate how visual artifacts can be as meaningful and significant as texts. By cultivating the ability to interpret works of art, students engage in a wide-ranging comparative study of various traditions and cultures, broadening horizons and gaining new insights into the nature of their own culture.
By studying the wide range of things that people have made and endowed with meaning, students become familiar with paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings, decorative arts and architecture, as well as with visual forms that lie outside the traditional territory of art—advertising, video, magazine and book design, ritual and ceremony, household understand how images, objects, and built environments communicate. Many of our alumni go on to curator positions in museums, serve on faculties of educational institutions, or continue their studies in prestigious graduate programs. Still others leverage their knowledge and skills to pursue careers in journalism, business, and other areas.
History of Art at Michigan benefits profoundly from our alumni and friends. It is donor support that allows us to provide a full program of field experiences for our students, extend regular guest lectures by distinguished speakers, organize major departmental symposia, and offer support to graduate students and faculty for significant new research and teaching. All of these initiatives propel the department to national acclaim as a world-class center for study and research.
Your Gifts at Work
“I arrived at Tappan Hall in Fall 2020 focused on my book project, a study of New Deal post office murals in the Dust Bowl region. These murals raise so many questions and offer an (often distorted) window into their location. With the generous support of the Sandra Olson Fund for Art History and Civic opportunity to research Michigan murals alongside the sites in my book.” –Michaela Rife, Assistant Professor and Postdoctoral Scholar, Michigan Society of Fellows
Giving Opportunities
History of Art Strategic Fund - 308218
By innovating and boldly responding to new opportunities in teaching and research, we are able to maintain our position at the forefront of art history education. Each academic year presents challenges and exciting possibilities, many of which require the strategic use of funds. By providing financial support not otherwise available, gifts to the Strategic Fund of $10,000 to $50,000 annually have a significant impact on the department and its continuing success.
Online Islamic Art History Project
The first faculty position in Islamic art history in the United States was founded in Ann Arbor in the 1930s, and the University of Michigan remains one of the world’s main hubs of Islamic arts-centered study and scholarship. Based at U-M, Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online is the first free and open-access platform dedicated to Islamic art history. It is run by an international, multireligious, and intergenerational team based in Ann Arbor, Cairo, and Edinburgh. Its multimedia and hands-on talks and pedagogical materials, all produced in multiple languages, have received approximately a quarter of a million views in three years.
The Khamseen project aids the teaching and learning of Islamic art, architecture, and visual culture. The project presents academic research in an accessible and engaging manner and pioneers new models of Islamic art digital curation. It has made a visible impact on instructors who are redesigning their syllabi to incorporate our materials and is established as a crucial and peerless resource in the field that contributes to novel ways of teaching in general, bringing new voices, perspectives, and materials into our classrooms.
Funding is needed for Khamseen to continue and expand its groundbreaking work and, above all, to provide honoraria to its international contributors, translators, editors, coordinators, managers, and technology experts. The individuals working in these positions include undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, professors, curators, and other academics at various stages in their careers and located all around the world. Annual support of $50,000 is needed to sustain the project and ensure this valuable resource continues to be available to people around the world.
“In the wake of the 2023 Hamline debacle, at which time an adjunct professor was fired for teaching an Islamic painting of the Prophet Muhammad, it has become even more urgent to provide accurate, free, and open-access scholarly information about Islamic arts and cultures across time and place. Khamseen does just that, and one of my talks gives viewers hands-on access to the manuscript at the heart of the Hamline controversy. Visitors to the site can browse through its folios and learn more about medieval Islamic devotional images of the Prophet, in one of Khamseen's critical pedagogical interventions in the public sphere."— Christiane Gruber, founding director, Khamseen
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