Major Overview

Description

Art is not a singular entity, but changes in time and space as cultures, that produce it, change. The History of Art major introduces you to art within the whole spectrum of our visual experience. It encompasses studies in visual arts, literature, film and new media, architecture, landscape architecture and the impact of other art and design practice on the history of cultures. Learning to experience aesthetic pleasure through emotional intuition and intellectual learning is an essential means of exploring the serious issues of past and present cultures from many parts of the world including Europe, America, Asia and Australia.

Outcomes

Students are able to:

  1. analyse a range of images, texts and items of visual culture and their social, political, economic, religious or aesthetic contexts
  2. apply the key concepts, theories and methodologies of the discipline of Art History in the study of art
  3. show a good general knowledge of several periods in the history of art as well as more detailed knowledge of particular subject areas studied in the major
  4. communicate by reasoned argument in written texts and general discussion the ideas and approaches of the discipline
  5. undertake independent research in the discipline of Art History
  6. demonstrate understanding of the significance of the visual arts and complex images in the construction of identities, ideologies, social formations and our place in the world
  7. demonstrate understanding of the key contemporary issues of the discipline and their relevance to the study of art of diverse periods and cultures.
Broadening guidelines

All students studying towards a Bachelor's Degree at UWA are required to Broaden their studies by completing a minimum of four units (24 points) of study outside their degree specific major. Broadening is your opportunity to explore other areas of interest, investigate new disciplines and knowledge paradigms and to shape your degree to suit your own aspirations and interests. Many of you will be able to undertake more than this minimum amount of broadening study and we encourage you to do so if this suits your aspirations. Over the next few months you will find here some broadening suggestions related to your degree-specific major. While we know that many students value guidance of this sort, these are only suggestions and students should not lose sight of the opportunity to explore that is afforded by your Broadening Choices. Advice can also be sought from your Allocated Student Advising Office.

Courses

History of Art can be taken as a degree-specific major in the following degree courses:

Example Study Plan

See study plans for more information.

Units

Key to availability of units:
S1
Semester 1
S2
Semester 2
N/A
not available in 2025 – may be available in 2026 or 2027

Level 1

Degree-specific major units

Take all units (12 points):

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S1 HART1000 Ways of Making: The Creative Process and Material History of Art
Incompatibility
Successful completion of
level 1 6 points Unit(s) HART1000 Great Moments in Art
S2 HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art None

Level 2

Degree-specific major units

Take unit(s) to the value of 18 points:

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
N/A HART2001 Curating First Nations Art
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
HART1000 Great Moments in Art
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art
or INDG1150 Aboriginal Encounters: Strangers in our Backyard
or INDG1160 Boodjar Moort Katitjin: Introduction to Indigenous Heritage and Knowledge
Incompatibility
HART3001 Curating First Nations Art
N/A HART2041 The Art of Photography
Prerequisites
HART1000 Great Moments in Art (formerly VISA1000)
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art
N/A HART2043 Zen to Manga: A Survey of Japanese Art
Prerequisites
HART1000 Great Moments in Art (formerly VISA1000)
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art
N/A HART2044 Contemporary Art and Tradition in China
Prerequisites
HART1000 Great Moments in Art
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art
Incompatibility
HART3044 Chinese Art: Contemporary and Traditional
N/A HART2201 Art and Urban Experience
Prerequisites
HART1000 Great Moments in Art (formerly VISA1000)
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art
N/A HART2203 (Inter)national History of Art Study Tour
Prerequisites
Completion of 1 of the following units: HART1000 Great Moments in Art (formerly VISA1000), HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art, ARCT1010 Drawing History, ARCT1001 Art, Technology and Society (formerly HART1001)
or LACH1020 The Culture of Nature
Incompatibility
Students may not be able to complete this unit if they have already completed HART2042/3042 Living Paris: Experiencing and Representing the Modern City and/or HART2283/3282 Rome.
N/A HART2207 Caravaggio and the Baroque
Prerequisites
HART1000 Great Moments in Art (formerly VISA1000)
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art
Incompatibility
VISA2207 Art of the Counter-Reformation
S1 HART2222 Contemporary Art
Prerequisites
HART1000 Great Moments in Art (formerly VISA1000)
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art
Incompatibility
VISA2222 Contemporary Art
N/A HART2223 Global Modernisms: New York to Senegal
Prerequisites
HART1000 Great Moments in Art (formerly VISA1000)
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art
Incompatibility
VISA2223 Modernism and the Visual Arts
S2 HART2274 Introduction to Museum and Curatorial Studies
Prerequisites
HART1000 Great Moments in Art (formerly VISA1000)
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art
Incompatibility
VISA2274 Introduction to Museum and Curatorial Studies
S2 HART2275 Italian Renaissance Art Now
Prerequisites
HART1000 Great Moments in Art (formerly VISA1000)
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art
Incompatibility
VISA2275 Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture
N/A HART2370 Global Art Histories
Prerequisites
HART1000 Great Moments in Art
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art

Level 3

Degree-specific major units

Take unit(s) to the value of 18 points:

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
N/A HART3001 Curating First Nations Art
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
one level 2 Unit(s) MJD-HYART History of Art
or INDG2300 Indigenous Knowledge: Mind, Body and Spirit
or INDG2600 Indigenous Representation
Incompatibility
HART2001 Curating First Nations Art
N/A HART3040 The Lives and Deaths of Objects
Prerequisites
at least one Level 2 unit from the History of Art major sequence
Incompatibility
HART2040 Breaking Art
N/A HART3044 Contemporary Art and Tradition in China
Prerequisites
At least one Level 2 unit from the History of Art major sequence.
Incompatibility
HART2044 Chinese Art: Contemporary and Traditional
N/A HART3203 (Inter)national History of Art Study Tour
Prerequisites
At least one level 2 unit from the History of Art major sequence
or ARCT2010 Parallel Modernities in Art and Architecture
Incompatibility
Students may not be able to complete this unit if they have already completed HART2042/3042 Living Paris: Experiencing and Representing the Modern City and/or HART2283/3283 Rome.
N/A HART3276 Prints from Dürer to Toulouse-Lautrec
Prerequisites
at least one Level 2 unit from the History of Art major sequence
Incompatibility
VISA2276 The Art of Printmaking: a Cultural History, HART2276 Prints from Dürer to Toulouse-Lautrec
N/A HART3301 Manet and the French Avant-Garde
Prerequisites
at least one Level 2 unit from the History of Art major
N/A HART3330 Art Writing
Prerequisites
at least one Level 2 unit from the History of Art major sequence
Incompatibility
VISA3330 Art Theory
N/A HART3333 Picturing the Self: Portraiture in Nineteenth-century Europe
Prerequisites
at least one Level 2 unit from the History of Art major sequence
Incompatibility
VISA3333 Special Unit: The Shifting Subject: Portraiture in Nineteenth-century Europe
S1 HART3361 Decolonizing the Dutch Golden Age
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
any one level 2 6 points Unit(s) MJD-HYART History of Art
Successful completion of
level 2 6 points Unit(s) MEMS2001 Classical Traditions and Transformations in Medieval and Early Modern Europe
Successful completion of
level 2 6 points Unit(s) HIST2345 Renaissance, Reformation, Revolt: Europe 1450–1650
Successful completion of
level 2 6 points Unit(s) ARCY2100 Heritage Futures
Successful completion of
level 2 6 points Unit(s) INDG2600 Indigenous Representation
Incompatibility
Successful completion of
level 3 6 points Unit(s) HART3361 The Dutch Golden Age and the Art of Exploration
S2 HART3371 The Northern Renaissance
Prerequisites
at least one Level 2 unit from the History of Art major sequence
Incompatibility
VISA2297 Special Unit: Studies in the Renaissance, VISA3371 The Northern Renaissance
N/A HART3375 Twenty-first Century Art
Prerequisites
at least one Level 2 unit from the History of Art major sequence
Incompatibility
VISA2265 Twenty-first-century Art, VISA3375 Twenty-first-century Art
S1 HART3666 Australian and Aboriginal Art
Prerequisites
at least one Level 2 unit from the History of Art major sequence
Incompatibility
VISA2266 Aboriginal Contemporary Art, VISA3300 Australian Art, HART2266 Aboriginal Contemporary Art, HART3300 Australian Art, HART2666 Australian and Aboriginal Art