About Us

The Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies has three distinct parts: Visual Arts, Art History, and Visual & Media Studies. But all of our faculty and students – undergraduate and graduate alike – are engaged in international research, interdisciplinary learning, and the study of visual culture across geographic and historical categories, experienced through the perspectives of theory and practice, methodology and criticism, and digital technologies.

Graduate Programs

Our Ph.D. program in Art History & Visual Culture is small by design and highly selective. Our graduate students, in various stages of their studies, have distinguished themselves through publications, public lectures, and internationally competitive fellowships. They comprise an intrinsic part of the department's intellectual life.

Also adding to the richness and diversity of our department are students earning an interdisciplinary PhD in Computational Media, Arts & Cultures, an M.F.A. in Experimental and Documentary Arts and our M.A. students pursuing a degree in Digital Art History or Computational Media. We provide these students with the necessary tools to understand the global visual and material cultures of the past and present and with the skills to interpret them for the benefit of the broader community.

Undergraduate Majors and Minors

Art, Art History & Visual Studies offers a path for any creative thinker. Multiple majors and minors are led by accessible, talented faculty who can help you discover and cultivate an intellectual community of peers and scholars. Undergraduates in all areas can get involved in meaningful research early through collaborative project teams, and have ample opportunities to showcase their work across campus. Recent graduates have embarked on a range of adventures after Duke – from graduate school to Google. Some work in museums and others at start-ups.

Connections and Community

We regularly collaborate with others across Duke through interdisciplinary teaching, research in our embedded departmental labs, symposia and digital projects. We have strong relationships with departments and programs including:

  • African and African-American Studies
  • Cinematic Arts
  • Classical Studies
  • Computer Science
  • Economics
  • Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies
  • History
  • Information Science + Studies
  • Literature
  • Medieval and Renaissance Studies
  • Romance Studies
  • Asian/Pacific Studies Institute
  • Center for Documentary Studies
  • Franklin Humanities Institute
  • Nasher Museum of Art