The Program

The MFA Art Criticism and Writing program provides a broad spectrum of courses taught by experts in their respective disciplines. Course work both informs and guides students toward their personal and professional goals in art criticism and its writing.

Degree candidates must successfully complete 60 credits, including all required courses. A residency of two academic years is required. In the final semester, each student completes a thesis, which must be reviewed and approved by the thesis committee and the department chair in order for the student to be eligible for degree conferral.

The curriculum assists students in the development of both a professional engagement with the visual arts and a professional body of work. These objectives are achieved through training in and exposure to contemporary critical practices, and the simultaneous development of a solid foundation in cultural histories and philosophies, both ancient and modern. The second year concentrates on the refinement of critique and writing skills to enable each student to achieve a personal style of commentary.

Bases of Criticism I and II; Writing I, II and III; Thesis Seminar and Thesis are all required courses. The curriculum is also designed to accommodate specific areas of interest through the elective courses, which relate to major issues in contemporary art criticism. Students work with their academic advisor to create a course schedule that is tailored to their individual academic objectives.

In addition to the core faculty, the program includes visiting lecturers from around the world. These lecturers will both discuss the backgrounds of their traditions as they relate to creative expression and share their perspectives on the relationships between the artistic practices of their cultures and the global significance of these practices.

Sample Program

Bases of Criticism I & II

Required of all first-year students, these courses will provide background to the history, theory and criticism offered through the elective courses. Foundational texts and other sources will create a base for further studies and assist students in understanding the prominent theoretical positions of art criticism—past and present—and their sources.

Writing I & II

These courses will lead to the writing of the thesis in the final year of the program. Students will study examples of critical writing, such as reviews of current exhibitions. As the process advances, students are encouraged to dig deeply into ideas without ever losing sight of the value of clarity.

Writing III

This course is a continuation of Writing I & II, with an added element. In conjunction with writing and revising exhibition reviews for possible publication in the department's online journal Degree Critical, instructors will consult on thesis issues such as selection of a topic, prognosticated outlines and review of written drafts.

Thesis Seminar

Thesis faculty from various backgrounds and fields will discuss what is important about a thesis from their points of view. Students will submit drafts of their work for discussion and review.

Thesis

Each student will meet with his or her advisor and work on a one-to-one basis throughout the semester. Meetings are used for the instructor to read drafts of the thesis-in-progress followed by discussion on its development.

Note: All elective courses are offered for four credits each.

Archaeology of Modernism (1863-1924)

This course will explore the intellectual and historical background, primarily in France from 1863 to 1924, which lead up to and defined all the "isms" of 20th-century modernism (e.g., Fauvism, Futurism, Expressionism, Dada and Surrealism). Art Magazines

In this course, we will use the art magazine as a lens through which to read art history. Organ of the establishment, mouthpiece of the market, vehicle for revolution, with a history stretching back more than two centuries, art magazines have been all of these things and more. Art magazines not only record changes in the way art is made, bought and understood, but often help to drive such evolution.

The Art of the Interview

The interview is an important tool of the art writer. In this course, we will discuss and practice what it means to conduct a successful interview. Students will learn how to prepare properly, how to read a person and use dialogue as a creative form, and how to fashion the interview material after the fact.

Artists' Writings

The significant interventions that visual artists have made through art writing into the art criticism of their time, is the focus of this course. It will examine artists' writings, including journals, manifestos, letters and artist-run publications. We will concentrate on some key artists' writings from artists who have bridged the gap between art practice, artwork and critical theory such as Wassily Kandinsky, Barnett Newman, Louise Bourgeois, Donald Judd, Adrian Piper and Carolee Schneemann, among others.

The Critical Evolution from Modernism to Postmodernism

The relationship of postmodern theory and media to modernism as it was espoused by artists and art critics of the last half-century will be examined in this course. The writings of artists and critics of the last 50 years will accompany discussions on the media ironies of pop art, the anti-institutionalism of environmental art, the anti-formalism of postminimalism, the deconstruction of originality and authorship in appropriation and simulation art.

Marxism and Art Criticism

This course aims to acquaint students with significant figures and texts in the tradition of Marxist art theory and criticism. In additon to Marx, readings include works by Trotsky, Plekhanov, Raymond Williams, Simmel, Georg Lukacs, Ernst Fischer, Jameson, Althusser, Marcuse, T.J. Clark and Adorno.

Media Critique and Aesthetics: Adorno on Television, Photography, Film, Radio and Music

Adorno wrote extensively and importantly on all areas of mass media. This course is an in-depth presentation and discussion of his writings with particualr emphasis on their relation to his general theory of society and aesthetics in Aesthetic Theory, as well as to several of Walter Benjamin's writings.

Science and Art Criticism

Over the last century, art has been moving gradually away from the realm of religion and drawing closer to the realm of science. From Marcel Duchamp to Dennis Oppenheim to Agnes Denes and Nam June Paik, this course will consider recent significant texts that examine the incorporation of science and art.

Sexual and Gender Dissidence in Art Criticism

Art has changed since the politics of feminism, queer activism and gender bending in the 1980s. The art of sexual diversity and transgendering has been a presence in art since the ancient Egyptians, so why are sexual and gender politics rocking the art world so resoundingly today? We will examine the historical, economic, ideological and cultural dynamics that have shaped homoerotic and homopolitical productions of the 20th century to the present.

Short History of Reading

Reading is a skill that has shaped society and the human brain in a manner we are just beginning to understand. But what is it to read? We will learn about the impact of the printing press, the book, the novel and the Internet. But of primary importance, we will use the history of reading to explore whether reading is "dead" or simply approached differently in contemporary society.

The Sublime and the Beautiful

This course will conduct a literary and visual examination of the concepts of the sublime and the beautiful, as one of the greatest dichotomies in Western theory and criticism. We will examine the sublime (Burke, Kant, Turner, Newman) and the beautiful (Bell, Greenberg, Heidegger, Habermas) as well as some of the images on which their theories are based.

This Moment

Contemporary issues in art criticism will be examined, including the positions and attitudes of writers today—a kind of prosopography of contemporary art criticism. Important recent authors, books and essays will be consulted and discussed. The current state of criticism will be appraised through texts, art trends, publishing ventures and politics.

Virtual Curating

The premise of this course is that students will conceive of a thematic, biennial-style exhibition and select the artists and works for the show. The class will write all texts that would be required for such an exhibition, including letters of invitation, press releases, catalog essays/entries and wall text. All aspects of curating, short of actual physical installation, will be covered.

Degree Critical