Art History

Effective: Fall 2024
Associate in Arts Program Map
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This program map from the 2024-2025 catalog year represents one possible pathway to complete this program. Your pathway may vary depending on your transfer plans and also previous college credit, including AP Test scores, concurrent enrollment courses and high school articulated courses.

I'm ready to get started. What do I do next?

  1. Review this program map to get an overview of the required courses
  2. Meet with a counselor to develop your customized student education plan www.chabotcollege.edu/counseling
  3. Use DegreeWorks, an online student education planning tool, to track your progress toward graduation www.chabotcollege.edu / admissions / degreeworks
Program Description

 

Art History involves the analysis of form, historical context, and meaning in visual images from prehistory to today. Because humans make images to communicate the breadth and depth of the human experience, art historical inquiry can lead to a consideration of widely varied subjects, including cultural, ethnic, social, religious, economic, and political topics, in addition to artistic and aesthetic ones.

The Art History AA serves students seeking to enrich their cultural backgrounds, solidify their knowledge of history, develop analytical and writing skills, sharpen critical sensibilities, and prepare for opportunities in museums, galleries, historical societies, and more. The Art History major is particularly well-suited to those students considering themselves to be visual learners.


What can I do with this major?

First and foremost, an AA degree in Art History prepares students to pursue hands-on art specializations, including: museum curator; art conservator; art authenticator, museum director; and art history lecturer.

However, with its emphasis on writing, cultural awareness, visual acumen, critical thinking, and culture, the Art History degree is also advantageous in the pursuit of many other professions as well, including: librarian, archivist, art therapist, estate manager, historical house manager, heritage manager, teacher, editor, and publisher.


Learning and Career Pathway
  • Arts and Design

Icon Key

= Critical Course = Prerequisite for Other Courses = Prerequisite Required = Required for Major GE = General Education

Semester 1

14-15 units

ARTH 1
Introduction to Art

3 units
Why does art matter? Art matters because human beings make—have always made and always will make—images to communicate the great breadth of human experience. And why does the history of art matter? Because without it, the meaning of our forebears’ images—their messages, teachings, gifts—will be lost to us. In this introduction to art, our class will travel through history and across the globe to learn how we humans use painting, sculpture, architecture, photography and other artforms to respond to our circumstances, to solve our problems, to demonstrate our values, and to make beauty from the materials we find around us. (Formerly ART 1; may not receive credit if ART 1 has been completed.)
Course Details:

List B Course

3 units
Choose one course from List B
See the full list: (Click here)

English 1- Critical Reading and Composition

4 units
GE

Math Course for General Education: see a counselor to choose the appropriate course. MTH 47 is recommended.

3-4 units
GE

General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term. PE Recommended

1 unit
GE

Semester 2

16 units

ARTH 4
Art History-Ancient to Gothic

3 units
This course presents a chronological history of the West using iconic artworks that embody the conditions and values of the people who created them. We begin in prehistory, when Cro-Magnons painted the walls of their caves, and end in the late Medieval period, when artists sought ways to give tangible form to God and the heavens. Along the way, we cover visual masterworks by ancient Arabs and Persians of Mesopotamia, northeast Africans and Nilotic peoples in Egypt, and Greeks and Romans in the Mediterranean region. This course is especially appropriate for visual learners. (Formerly ART 4; may not receive credit if ART 4 has been completed.)
Course Details:
  • Transfers to CSU

    • LIST C Course

    3 units
    Choose one course from List C
    See the full list: (Click here)

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term. ENG 4a or ENG 7A recommended.

    4 units
    GE

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3 units
    GE

    Elective Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate elective course option for this term.

    3 units

    Semester 3

    15 units

    ARTH 5
    Art History - Renaissance to Modern-Day

    3 units
    This course presents a chronological history of the West using iconic works of art and architecture that embody the conditions and values of the people who created them. We begin as Humanism cleaves the Early Renaissance away from a Medieval mindset, and conclude in recent times, as art is radically redefined by modern and contemporary artists to evocatively reflect our unpredictable, challenging times. This course is especially appropriate for visual learners.
    Course Details:
  • Transfers to CSU

    • ARTH 6
    Art History - Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century Art

    3 units
    This course presents a chronological history of the 20th- and 21st centuries in the West (and at times, beyond), using iconic artworks that embody the conditions and values of the people who created them. We examine artworks created in a wide variety of media and targeting a broad range of subjects. Our focus is on major movements and influential ideas of this period, which—more than any other art historical period—were shaped by women artists, indigenous artists, disasporic artists, and artists of color. This course is especially appropriate for visual learners.
    Course Details:

    LIST A Course

    3 units
    Choose one course from List A
    See the full list: (Click here)

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    4 units
    GE

    Elective Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate elective course option for this term.

    2 units

    Semester 4

    15 units

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3 units
    GE

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3 units
    GE

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3 units
    GE

    General Education Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate general education pattern and general ed course option for this term.

    3 units
    GE

    Elective Course- see a counselor to choose the appropriate elective course option for this term.

    3 units

    List A

    Choose one course from the following list:

    ART 2A
    Introduction to Drawing

    3 units
    This course provides direct experience in exploring basic drawing concepts, including the expressive use of contour, value, perspective and composition while using a variety of media. Assigned projects may include still life, landscape, portraiture and figure. Focus on perceptually based drawing, observational skills, technical abilities, and creative responses to materials and subject matter.
    Course Details:
  • Transfers to CSU

    • ART 17A
    Beginning Sculpture 1

    3 units
    Construction methods in clay through design of three-dimensional and relief sculptures. Includes an introduction to ceramic art history and fundamentals of ceramic glaze and firing technology. Elements and principles of three-dimensional design are emphasized in oral and written critiques. This course is designed for art majors as well as general education students.
    Course Details:

    PHOT 1A
    Digital Photography I

    3 units
    Introduction to the processes, principles, and tools of digital photography. Course provides an overview of digital camera functions for automatic and manual exposure, image creation and capture, file management, and image editing. Students may use any appropriate digital camera including; DSLR, mirrorless, point & shoot or smartphone. Topics include the development of technical and aesthetic skills, elements of design and composition, camera technology, materials and equipment, and contemporary trends in digital photography. May not receive credit if PHOT 50 has been completed successfully.
    Course Details:
  • Transfers to CSU

    • List B

    ARTH 7
    Multicultural History of American Art

    3 units
    A multicultural survey of American art from 1800 to the present. Special emphasis on art objects created by Native American, Asian American, African American, and Hispanic/Latino artists and artisans. Considers how art objects express the maker’s identity within the specific historical, social, and political circumstances of his or her life. Addresses how male and female artists and artisans from these groups have used various art forms to assert their gender and ethnic identity in response to historical change.
    Course Details:

    ARTH 8
    Art History - A Global Perspective

    3 units
    This course offers an overview of the rich visual cultures of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Our focus is on perspectives, philosophies, and aesthetics developed before and/or outside the European tradition, thereby providing students visual and intellectual lessons from civilizations with distinctive and exceptional non-white worldviews. Each unit of study addresses a non-Western civilization’s visual cultures and the aesthetics associated with that civilization’s periods/kingdoms, religions, and favored art types. This course is especially appropriate for visual learners.
    Course Details:

    ARTH 20 or PHOT 20 (Choose one)

    3 units

    ARTH 20
    History of Photography

    3 units
    A broad chronological survey of photography from its invention to the present. Considers the medium's dual role as technology and art. Addresses a multiplicity of photographic themes and purposes. Considers the intersections of photography and technology, history, art, and everyday life.
    Course Details:
    or

    PHOT 20
    History of Photography

    3 units
    A broad chronological survey of photography from its invention to the present. Considers the medium's dual role as technology and art. Addresses a multiplicity of photographic themes and purposes. Considers the intersections of photography and technology, history, art, and everyday life.
    Course Details:

    List C

    Choose one course from the following list:

    HUMN 60
    Creativity and the Community

    3 units
    The Arts as an expression of the community; the relationship between creativity and community; the artist as the conscience of society and the role of the audience in completing an artwork. Themes include the artist as prophet, art as transformative experience, the arts and social justice, and the shock of the new.
    Course Details:

    HIS 2
    History of Western Civilization Since 1600

    3 units
    History of the Modern Western World from the end of the medieval period to the present. The course develops the western world, (Europe and the Americas), as these societies develop modern ways of thinking and producing, and tracks the rise of the modern nation-state. Interaction with other civilizations, and globalization will be studied.
    Course Details:

    ARTH 5
    Art History - Renaissance to Modern-Day

    3 units
    This course presents a chronological history of the West using iconic works of art and architecture that embody the conditions and values of the people who created them. We begin as Humanism cleaves the Early Renaissance away from a Medieval mindset, and conclude in recent times, as art is radically redefined by modern and contemporary artists to evocatively reflect our unpredictable, challenging times. This course is especially appropriate for visual learners.
    Course Details:
  • Transfers to CSU

    • ANTH 3
    Social and Cultural Anthropology

    3 units
    How human beings in different cultures meet basic biological, social and cultural needs, including kinship and marriage practices, political and social organization, economic institutions, religious and childrearing practices, social change, as well as other aspects of cultural behavior. Emphasis on understanding other cultures on their own terms. Includes the many subcultures making up North American populations.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1
      2. or
    2. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1A

    ANTH 5
    Cultures of the U.S. in Global Perspective

    3 units
    Issues relevant to understanding constructs of race, class, gender and culture in U. S. society from a global perspective. Factors affecting at least three major U.S. cultural communities (such as African American, Asian American, Latino American and others) including impacts of globalization, patterns of migration, permeability of cultural communities in the U.S., the cultural politics of identity and inclusion and exclusion, and other factors influencing modern U.S. society.
    Course Details:
    1. Strongly Recommended: ENGL 1A
    Total Units: 60-61 units
    This program map is not a guarantee of course availability or financial aid applicability.