Art History
The Ph.D. Program in Art History at the CUNY Graduate Center is dedicated to the development of scholars, teachers, museum curators, art critics, and other arts professionals.
Request InformationDegree Offered
Ph.D. in Art History
Full-time
Admissions Deadlines
January 1 for fall enrollment
(No spring enrollment)
Founded in 1971, the Ph.D. Program in Art History at CUNY Graduate Center is one of the foremost programs of its kind in the United States. Dedicated to the development of scholars, teachers, museum curators, art critics, and other arts professionals, our program provides students with a general background in the history of art to prepare them to serve their discipline and their communities in all areas of cultural endeavor.
In Fall 2019, we were awarded a $650,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to fund New Initiatives in Curatorial Training, a five-year project in the Ph.D. Program in Art History that aims to enhance the diversity of curatorial training at the Graduate Center and ensure the sustainability of the initiative beyond the end of Mellon funding.
We are proud to have produced a robust network of alumni, many of whom hold senior positions at esteemed universities, museums, and cultural institutions across the country and abroad. For more information about our program, its faculty and students, as well as our alumni, please follow the links below.
Our Program
Our doctoral program provides students with a general background in the history of art to prepare them to serve their discipline and their communities in all areas of cultural endeavor. Courses given at the Graduate Center cover the broad spectrum of the history of art; courses given at the senior colleges in their master’s degree programs are also open to doctoral students, as are courses given at universities within the Interuniversity Doctoral Consortium.
Review our curriculum
Faculty
The doctoral faculty consists of professors drawn from the Graduate Center and from the CUNY senior colleges. Courses given at the Graduate Center cover the broad spectrum of the history of art; courses given at the senior colleges in their master’s degree programs are also open to doctoral students, as are courses given at universities within the Interuniversity Doctoral Consortium.
View our faculty
Student Highlights
Find out more about our current doctoral students, their research interests, academic accomplishments, and professional careers. We work closely with our students to assist them with professional placement upon graduation. Many of our graduates hold prominent positions at cultural and educational institutions in the U.S. and abroad.
Read about our studentsArt History Announcements
More Like This
Alumna Claudia Calirman (Ph.D. Art History 2004) is 2022 Millard Meiss Publication Grant Recipient
Alumna Claudia Calirman (Ph.D. 2004) was awarded a 2022 Millard Meiss Publication Grant Award for her new book-length project Dissident Bodies: Brazilian Women Artists, (1960s-2020s), Duke University Press. The College Art Association awards grants through the Millard Meiss Publication Fund to support book-length scholarly manuscripts in the history of art, visual studies, and related subjects that have been accepted by a publisher on their merits, but cannot be published in the most desirable form without a subsidy. Professor Calirman has also written on art in Brazil under the dictatorship and is an advisor at El Museo del Barrio, NY.
- Congratulations/Kudos
Art History Student Has Award-Winning Exhibition Catalogue
Nina Stritzler-Levine, a student in the GC Art History program, has received the Society of Architectural Historians' Exhibition Catalogue Award for 2022 for her catalogue Eileen Gray, which she coedited with Cloe Pitiot, Bard Graduate Center, 2020. The book also won the DAM Architectural Book award and a design award from AIGA the professional design association.
- Announcement
Art History Student Named a Winner of the 2022-23 Rome Prize
Saskia Verlaan, a doctoral student in the GC Art History program, has been named a winner of the 2022-23 Rome Prize, presented by the American Academy in Rome.
These highly competitive fellowships support advanced independent work and research in the arts and humanities. Verlaan will receive a stipend, workspace, and room and board at the Academy’s eleven-acre campus on the Janiculum Hill in Rome, starting in September 2022.
- Announcement
Program News
Jul 18, 2022
STUDYING ARCHITECTURE AND BLACK IDENTITY ON A SMITHSONIAN FELLOWSHIP
An Art History Ph.D. candidate receives significant support for her “sobering” study.
- GC Stories
- Student News
Jun 29, 2022
Three Art History Scholars Awarded Metropolitan Museum of Art Fellowships
The fellowships, won by two Ph.D. students and one recent graduate, give “unparalleled access” to labs, artifacts, and mentors.
- GC Stories
- Student News
- Alumni News
Jun 14, 2022
Four CUNY Professors Win Grants for Latino Humanities Research
The faculty members will lead interdisciplinary research projects as part of the Crossing Latinidades Collaborative.
- GC Stories
- Faculty News
May 26, 2022
‘22 Grads Blaze Ahead Into New Jobs and Opportunities
From nanoscience to queer criminology, our graduates are launching careers and bright futures with their new skills
- GC Stories
- Student News
- Alumni News
Program Events
Student Handbook
Review our student handbook for our policies and procedures, resources, and other important information.
View handbookRequest Information
Tell me more about Art History
Thank you for your interest in the Graduate Center. Please fill out the form below to be added to our mailing list.
Contact Us
Jennifer Ball
Marilyn Mercado
