PhD in Art History in Urbana United States | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Art History PhD Program prepares exceptional students with specialized knowledge, analytical abilities, and theoretical frameworks tailored to their chosen research focus. This doctoral program cultivates skilled researchers, critical thinkers, and articulate writers whose academic work, museum practice, and scholarly publications will influence visual arts discourse within and outside academic circles. Admission requires an MA in Art History or a cognate discipline, along with proven foreign language proficiency. Doctoral candidates must demonstrate reading ability in two languages through departmental examinations. After fulfilling coursework requirements, students undertake comprehensive written examinations in their primary and secondary fields. Successful exam completion leads to dissertation research, an original scholarly work that exhibits complete command of the subject while advancing knowledge in the discipline. Recent dissertation subjects have explored Ray Johnson's correspondence art, photographic practices in the Soviet Union, visual representations in medieval university foundations, Queen Charlotte's artistic patronage in England, and architectural terracottas from Etruscan sanctuaries.