The Art History Minor at NMU
Art History at Northern Michigan University will engage you in a process of seeing and discovery that is, ultimately, an invitation to the cultures of the world. From the Zen gardens of Muromachi era Japan to the stone temple fortresses of the Mayan lords; from royal portraits of the Egyptian pharaohs to the brilliant psychological insight evident in Rembrandt’s self-portraits, the world’s legacy of artistic expression will fire your curiosity and imagination.
You will find that the uses of art historical understanding are not limited to the art of the past. Education in art history will cultivate frameworks for viewing the art and design of the present. An exciting aspect of learning how to analyze visual art is that these cognitive frameworks can carry over to the other arts too: an understanding of literature, music, drama, and folklore will be furthered through your understanding of their connection to visual art.
In surprising ways, knowing the art of the past will help you encounter the largest themes of human experience, whether psychological, religious, economic or political in nature. You will learn about the fascinating relationship of art to the intellectual history of disciplines such as science and philosophy, as well as the role that art has played in the lives of everyday people. At Northern, we encourage making connections between art and life.
Cultivating connections, Northern’s faculty are interested in a broad understanding of art and design activities. You will engage expressions as varied as architecture, industrial products, graphic designs, prints, photographs, crafts, decorative arts, performance art and media arts in our courses. Paintings and sculptures, the traditional subjects of art history, are fascinating to understand, but we view that fascination as an invitation to the world’s varied visual expressions and not as a reason to limit ourselves to those media.
Your study of art history will be an exciting opportunity to form connections: across cultures, between eras and among a variety disciplines. And, most importantly, between art and life. It is this excitement generated by discovering connections that is at the heart of learning. We invite you to share this process of discovery with us!
Art History Courses
AD 110 Ideas in Art and Design History
4 credit hours
Offered: Fall
This course draws from the disciplines of art history, philosophy, psychology and the social sciences in order to consider questions of interest to art historians and artists alike: What are the functions of art? Which principles shape visual expression? How is visual art related to larger cultural forces including religious, political, economic and so on? What is the relationship between art, artists and audiences? The course objective is to investigate these questions in a way that is relevant to each student’s own creative development.
AD 200 Native American Art and Architecture
4 credit hours
Offered: Fall
Applies toward the world cultures university requirement (WC) general education requirement.
Prerequisite: EN 111 recommended.
A study of Native art and architecture from the pre-contact period to the present. A contextual approach is used to analyze material produced by the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee and other indigenous peoples of North America.
AD 230 History of World Art: Ancient to Medieval
4 credit hours
Offered: Fall
Applies toward the Human Expression (HUME) general education requirement.
An introduction to world art from prehistory to 1400. The course introduces issues of artistic structure, meaning, context, technique and style in relation to specific artistic traditions. Its content includes visual arts of Africa, the Americas, Asia and the West from prehistory through the Gothic period.
AD 240 History of World Art: Renaissance to Modern
4 credit hours
Offered: Winter
Applies toward the Human Expression (HUME) general education requirement.
An introduction to world art from 1400 to the present. The course introduces issues of structure, meaning, context, technique and style in art in relation to specific artistic traditions. Content includes the visual arts of Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Pacific and the West from the Renaissance through Postmodernism.
AD 260 American Art and Architecture
4 credit hours
Offered: Fall, Winter, Summer
Applies toward the Human Expression (HUME) general education requirement.
Chronological survey of the ideas and historical events determining the stylistic and aesthetic developments of American art and architecture.
AD 265 Art and Architecture of Japan
4 credit hours
Offered: Fall semester of odd-numbered years
Applies toward the world cultures university requirement (WC) general education requirement.
Survey of the visual arts and architecture of Japan from prehistory to the present. Includes consideration of the core values that are expressed through Japanese art.
AD 280 History of Photography
4 credit hours
Offered: Fall
A study of the photographic medium as a means of political, technological, philosophical and creative endeavors from the invention of the daguerreotype to digital imaging. The history will be presented within the context of the development genres demonstrating the reciprocal effect of the medium with society.
AD 281 History and Culture of Animation
4 credit hours
Offered: Fall
Applies toward the Human Expression (HUME) general education requirement.
An introduction to the historical development of world animation from early optical devices for creating the illusion of motion to the latest computer-animated movies. While the history and culture of 2D animation is featured, stop-motion animation, 3D animation, and experimental animation (19th-21st centuries) are discussed as well.
AD 285 History of Graphic Expression
4 credit hours
Offered: Fall
Chronological exploration of the history of graphic design and illustration from the era of the illuminated manuscript to the present. Emphasis is given to graphic expression in modern society from the mid-19th century on. Digital design and illustration are included.
AD 300 Art and Ideas in Asian Civilizations
4 credit hours
Offered: Winter of odd-numbered years
Applies toward the world cultures university requirement (WC) general education requirement.
Prerequisite: EN 211 with a grade of “C” or better or HON 102 and HON 112 and junior standing.
Engages the formative ideas and artistic traditions of India, China and Japan. Considers the intersection of social forms, intellectual patterns, religious beliefs and aesthetic expressions within each cultural tradition.
AD 355 Twentieth Century Art and Architecture
4 credit hours
Offered: Winter, odd numbered years
Applies toward the Human Expression (HUME) general education requirement.
Prerequisite: EN 211 with a grade of “C” or better or HON 102 and HON 112 and sophomore standing.
Survey of visual art and architecture in the Western world from the second half of the 19th century through the present decade. The conceptual basis of the arts and their place in society is examined within a historical framework.
AD 365 History of Modern Craft and Design
4 credit hours
Offered: Winter
Prerequisite: Junior standing.
History of modern craft and design considers the course of progressive design in the applied arts (craft, product and furniture design) from the nineteenth century to the present. Major movements in design history including the arts and crafts movement, art nouveau, modernism and postmodernism are investigated within a chronological framework. Social issues affecting design—from the relationship between design and consumerism, design and modern management practices, and design and national identity, to design ethics—will be considered within their historical contexts.
AD376 Art, Gender, Psyche
4 credit hours
Offered: Winter
Applies toward the Perspectives on Society (PERS) general education requirement.
Iconographic and contextual exploration of visual images in historical and contemporary artworks through critical integration of two distinctive approaches: gender and psychoanalysis. Issues include creativities and struggles of major women artists in history, visual expressions of gender and sexuality, and imagery of the unconscious mind.
AD 377 Making in the 21st century.
4 credit hours
Offered: Winter semester, even numbered years
Applies toward the Human Expression (HUME) general education requirement.
Prerequisite: EN 211 with a grade of "C" or better or HON 102 and HON 112; and sophomore standing.
Identity, the body, time, place, memory, language, spirituality, and science are just some of the subjects addressed in artworks since 1980. Focusing on thematic connections and cross-disciplinary intersections, this survey-based art history course covers the range of ideas explored in contemporary visual art, design, craft, and architecture.