University of South Florida

School of Art & Art History

USF College of The Arts

Art History

MA Grads 2922Congratulations to the class of 2022! Madeline Axlund, Iris Gonzales, Mia Reich, Vanessa Gilette, John Fraunfelter (not pictured).

Immerse yourself in visual culture, past and present. Engage in the study of art from various social and cultural contexts. Develop the skills to critically look at and interpret works of art, architecture, and design.

Overview

The USF School of Art & Art History offers a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Arts (MA) in Art History from the medieval period to the present. We see art history as an integral part of social and cultural history in a global context: fields of study include American, European, Middle Eastern, and Asian art. Students receive individual attention from an active, award-winning research faculty, who expose students to the most recent theoretical and methodological approaches in area surveys and in small, writing-intensive seminar-style courses that are highly interdisciplinary in scope.

For non-majors interested in studying art history as a supplement to an outside area of study, the School of Art & Art History offers a Minor in Art History and an Undergraduate Certificate in Art History.

Student internships can be pursued at several outstanding area museums. At the University of South Florida, the Contemporary Museum of Art features international exhibitions, visiting lecturers and symposia; Graphicstudio, an internationally acclaimed contemporary printmaking studio, is the only university-based program of its kind in the United States, with its complete production archived by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Not far from the USF Tampa campus, the Tampa Museum of Art has a significant antiquities collection and each year features an exciting program of exhibitions of modern and contemporary art; dynamic programming and exhibitions also occur at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts. In St. Petersburg, the Museum of Fine Arts is a universal survey museum with particular strengths in modern European and American art and photography, while the Salvador Dalí Museum is home to the largest collection of works by Dalí outside Europe. A major collection of Renaissance and Baroque art is housed at the nearby Ringling Museum in Sarasota.

Our students have had great success in obtaining admission to selective graduate programs, competitive museum internships, and employment in the field.

Faculty

Esra Akın-Kıvanç, Ph.D. (The Ohio State University)
Associate Professor, Islamic art and architecture; Islamic art of calligraphic design, Muslim visual and material culture; Islamic art historiography, Islamic theories of aesthetics and visual perception.
Phone: 813.974.2360
Email: eakinkivanc@usf.edu
Office: FAH 251

Pamela Merrill Brekka, Ph.D. (University of Florida)
Associate Professor of Instruction, Northern Renaissance and Baroque art and cartography
Phone: 813.974.2360
Email: pmerrill@usf.edu
Office: FAH 252

Sheramy Bundrick, Ph.D. (Emory University) Professor, Greek and Roman art, art of the ancient Mediterranean
Phone: 727.873.4062
Email: bundrick@usf.edu 
Office: Harbor Hall 128 (St. Petersburg campus)

Elisabeth Fraser, Ph.D. (Yale University)
Professor, art in Europe and the Ottoman Empire, 17th-19th centuries; cultural contact and global exchange; art and gender; Mediterranean studies; colonialism and the history of collecting.
Phone: 813.974.9325
Email: fraser@usf.edu
Office: FAH 272

Riccardo Marchi, Ph.D. (University of Chicago)
Associate Professor, Stuart S. Golding Endowed Chair, 20th-century art, criticism, and historiography in Western Europe and in the US
Phone: 813.974.2360
Email: rmarchi@usf.edu
Office: FAH 265

Helena Szépe, Ph.D. (Cornell University) (Faculty Coordinator)
Master of Arts in Art History Program Coordinator 
Professor, Late medieval and Renaissance art in Europe; history of manuscripts, prints, and books; word and image studies; Venice
Phone: 813.974.9325
Email: szepe@usf.edu
Office: FAH 266

  • Art history student on study abroad program

    Undergraduate Program

    Students interested in an undergraduate program, find out about the BA in Art History program details, curriculum and course offerings.

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  • Art history student looking at artwork in a museum.

    Graduate Program

    Students preparing for graduate studies can learn about the MA in Art History program details, curriculum and course offerings.

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  • University of South Florida's academic seal at the front entrance of the Tampa campus.

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