Art History and Criticism

Faculty
H. Rafael Chacón, Professor
Valerie Hedquist, Associate Professor
Toni Matlock, Adjunct Instructor

Graduate Students :
Sarah Melville
Christina Mills
Kevin Wright

Program

Offerings in the art history and criticism area complement the studio curriculum in the School of Art, the College of Fine Arts and liberal arts courses across campus. Students may take introductory Art History and Criticism as well as a variety of upper-level courses in Western and Non-western art history. Subjects include: African, Ancient American, European Art of the 19th anc 20th Centuries, Ancient Greek, Latin American, Medieval, Renaissance, Spanish Art, specialized topics such as Art and Insanity, and Women Artists and Art History.

The school offers a 30-credit M.A. degree in Art History for individuals wishing to deepen their knowledge of the field. The degree is designed to provide students with a broad knowledge of the history of the visual arts. It serves as preparation for advanced graduate work at the Ph.D. level and careers in art-related professions in museology, gallery work, and conservation. It is intended to foster a dialogue between art history, the fine arts, and other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. The degree has a thesis and non-thesis option. Art History and Criticism classes are taught in two refurbished classrooms in the historic Fine Arts Building, a landmark structure built in 1935 and listed on the National Register. One of the rooms is a state-of-the-art multi-media classroom. The school also has an Art History and Criticism Resource Center.

The school also encourages and oversees internships in museums and galleries across campus and in the community.

The Art History and Criticism Resource Center

January 2009
If you have checked out or know the location of the following items, could you please contact the Resource Center staff? Thank you for your help.
Aspect V.2: Artists of the West Coast
Aspect V.3: The Artist as Content
Art: 21 Season Three
Louise Bourgeois: C’est le murmure de l’eau qui chante Agnes Martin: With My Back to the World A Conversation with Damien Hirst

The School of Art Resource Center contains materials for the use of students and faculty in the School and the University community. Its holdings include: 26 subscriptions to studio art, art history, and art criticism journals, over 1,000 books, videos, and DVD’s, and a comprehensive collection of almost 50,000 art history slides. In addition, it houses a collection of some 800 archival photographs and glass plates as well as the school archives. The Resource Center is located in a suite in the Fine Arts building (Rooms 201-204) that includes a public reading room, slide library and work room, a study room, and faculty offices.

Policies

The center is operated by work/study students and keeps regular weekly hours. It is closed for all University holidays. Members of the community and students and faculty with a valid Griz card or I.D. may check out materials whenever the center is open. Books, videos, DVD’s, and journals may be checked out for 1 week by undergraduate students and 1 month by graduate students. Archival materials do not circulate and new journals are for in-house use only. Clients are held responsible for the replacement of materials not returned by the due date. The center does not lend Audio/Visual equipment, including slide trays and/or projectors. (For equipment scheduling, please contact the Presentation Technology Services at 243-4072.) University classes and groups are welcome to schedule meetings in the center. Please contact us at art.history@mso.umt.edu or speak with one of the center assistants if you have any questions.

Resource Center Hours for Fall 2009 - tba

The Resource Center is closed for all University holidays. The Center is open during the summer term by appointment only.

Our Alums

2008
Shandy Lemperlé
Thesis: "Kings and Courtesans: A Study of the Pictorial Representation of French Royal Mistresses."

Carlie Magill
Thesis: "Gifford Pinchot's Photographic Aesthetic."

Kathryn Rodriguez
Professional Paper: "Henry Meloy: The Portraits: A Narrative of the Exhibition."

2007
Theodore Hughes
Thesis: An Analysis of Wars of the Romans, A Flemish Tapestry from Circa 1575."

2005
Hattie Jo Lehman
Thesis: "Textiles of the Chimu and Chancay Cultures of Coastal Peru: A Comparison of Processes and Techniques."

2004
Paula Duncan
Thesis: “Michelangelo and Leonardo: The Frescoes for the Palazzo Vecchio.”

Eric Josef Munch (Posthumous)
Thesis: “The History of the Diorama in Western Museums.”

Edgar Smith
Thesis: “Pieter Bruegel’s The Beekeepers, Protestants, Catholics, Birds, and Bees: Beehive Rustling on the Low Plains of Flanders.”

2003
William Todd Bliss
Thesis: “Alone with Everybody: A Critical Evaluation of the
Pioneer American Romantic Painter Albert Pinkham Ryder.”

2002
Gaelen Curtis
Thesis: “An Examination of the Iconography of the Minoan Goddess as a Nature Goddess.”

Julie Wills Sleightholm
Thesis: “On the Need for a Subsumptive Evaluative Approach:
Societal Evaluation and Devaluation of Art Works and Artistic Practice.”

2001
Naomi R. Fox
Professional Paper: “Analysis of a Teaching Assistantship in the Arts in Culture Course,
Fine Arts 266, The University of Montana, Missoula, Spring 1999.”

Alumni News

The art history and criticism area invites our alumni, undergraduate minors and M.A. students to stay in touch with the program by writing us at art.history@mso.umt.edu or the faculty addresses. Drop us a note and we shall disseminate news about your activities, whereabouts, and contact information. Remind us what class you belong to, what degree you received, and tell us if we may publish your address. Thank you.

Ted Hughes (M.A. 2007) is currently working as a curatorial assistant at the Montana Museum of Art and Culture.

Hattie Jo Lehman
"I am a Museum Educator for the Southern Allegheny Museum of Art and travel to schools in three counties, carrying the museum with me! We have a wonderful education collection that I have built lessons around. I teach all grades and in all socio-economic areas."

Edgar Smith (M.A. 2004) is currently teaching as an adjunct instructor at The University of Montana.

Gaelen Curtis (M.A. 2002) has recently retired from 20 years of teaching at Malta High School. She plans to continue traveling, taking groups to Europe, and substitute teaching in her retirement.

Julie Wills Sleightholm (M.A. 2002) is the proud mother of Penn Jasper Sleightholm, born on December 29, 2007.

Kelley Robinson, (B.F.A. 2001), has been accepted to the Masters Program in the History of Decorative Arts at the Corcoran in Washington, D.C.

[top]