Art History
The Art History program aims to provide student majors with a strong historical and theoretical understanding of the visual and material environment created by humankind. Art history is founded on the premise that artifacts embody, engage, and shape the beliefs and values of the persons, groups, and societies who made, commissioned, and used them. Students will learn to document and interpret changes in human society by taking works of art and other objects of material culture as their primary sources. They will also critically analyze and interpret written texts to help reconstruct and illuminate the contexts—social, economic, political, philosophical, and religious—in which artifacts were produced, used, and understood.
2026 Public Events
Check our News & Events page for details.
Venue: Boger 112 | Time: 4:30 p.m..
Senior Talks in the History of Art
April 23, Thursday
"The Delight of Practice"
Arkadiusz Piegdon ’08
Architect, Lynne Breslin Architects
April 29, Wednesday
Ezra Shales ’91
Professor, History of Art, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
May 4, Monday
Art History Faculty News
March 2026:
Professor Katherine Kuenzli’s co-authored book, The Belgian Friendship Building, has been shortlisted for The Architectural Book Awards 2026 by United Kingdom’s Booklaunch magazine. Featured on the Platform Architecture and Design magazine and Style Weekly, the eponymously titled book reveals fascinating stories behind the structure in Richmond, Virginia, where it remains one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks today. The book also took Professor Kuenzli from Ghent University Library's Boekentoren in Belgium to the Library of Virginia in Richmond in late February and mid-March respectively, to attend invited events where she cast light on the complexities of the building’s history. Click here for the Boekentoren Facebook page (post on March 2) and here for the Library of Virginia events page to view photos from the book talks. Check out an interview by the publisher with the authors and find out why The Belgian Friendship Building is a compelling read!
September 9, Tuesday:
Two of our veteran Art History faculty members received well-deserved recognition at the first Faculty Meeting of the 2025 fall semester:
· Joe Siry received a Faculty Leadership Award for his years of steady, thoughtful, and ethical leadership of many committees and academic units, including Advisory, Review and Appeals Board (RAB), Facilities, the entire faculty, and our own department.
· Phil Wagoner received a Commendation for Faculty Scholarship, acknowledging his decades of excellent and innovative scholarship related to the Indic and Persianate cultures of India's Deccan plateau in the late medieval and early modern periods.
The Department of Art and Art History welcome this wonderful news to launch the academic year. Our heartiest congratulations to Professor Siry and Professor Wagoner, two towering figures in the Wesleyan Art History Program!
Click here to read more.