Graduate Studies

The Ph.D. program in art history at USC draws its strength from a dynamic and productive faculty in the fields of American, European, Latin American, and Asian art.  Studying objects in their complex physical, cultural and intellectual contexts, our faculty is committed to a historically situated and theoretically nuanced approach to art history and visual culture.  Faculty research interests include the institutional settings and politics of art; sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, and national identity; the force field of architecture, sculpture and ritual; the viewer’s role in representation; art and language, and the historiography of art history.  As a faculty we are committed to a sustained dialogue between art history and its traditions, novel areas of inquiry, and innovative approaches.  Our program features strong ties to the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute, the USC Program in the History of Collecting and Display, the interdisciplinary initiative in Visual, Literary and Material Culture at USC, and the USC Visual Studies Graduate Certificate.