My father, David Shatto, wrote a brief essay in 2009 called “Digital vs. Classical Art: Or Rather, Digital vs. Physical Art.” The concepts and ideas presented are succinctly explored with wonderful language. The essay raises questions regarding the existence of art, its form and function and creation, and what art itself means in this modern world.

Here is an excerpt:

You can read it in its entirety on his blog.

Are the fine arts useless or meaningless now that digital art is rising up as a viable, popularly recognized form of art? Or are they part and parcel of the digital world?

These questions will, I think, become more important to art history as time passes and we venture farther and farther into the digital age.

I’ve discussed what art history is and thought I’d follow up with why prospective art history students should choose art history (either as a major or minor) and the different career paths art history majors and minors can take.

Let’s first discuss the merits of an art history major or minor based on the academic experience and personal development it fosters in all students, regardless of career aspirations.

Students of art history become students of the world. They study world history, religion, literature, philosophy, and psychology, among other fields. The broad exposure to so many different areas of study enables the student to fathom art, history and the human condition as a whole, where a change in one of these affects the rest. Students gain an understanding of human thought and emotion, as they are in the present and as they were in the past. Art history explores the governing philosophies behind our visual world: the rules and definitions of aesthetics. The study of aesthetics arms students with the tools to identify artwork, artists, architecture, and the ideology behind them. From this stems an awareness of the interconnectedness of art history and human action. To the appreciative student, the exploration of what it is to be human and the visual expression of humanness that art history offers, makes art history a priceless gem of a subject.

On a less academic note, art history is also generally fun to study. Lectures are spent looking at art (and/or in some cases, watching films); discussing the gore of war, religious, political and sexual scandal; and exploring deeper questions about human action and art: Why create art? Why create it in X specific manner using Y materials? What defines beauty? What makes humans’ opinions about what art is – let alone what beautiful art is – so different? Can we truly, retrospectively study art that is outside of its time? Why bother tracking changes in art via art history? Art history, perhaps moreso than other fields in the humanities, encourages and I daresay requires boldness from its students and professors. Boldness in inquiry. Boldness in research. Boldness in theories and in conclusions. Becoming bold, knowing how to ask bold questions, and making bold discoveries, has merits of its own: Courage. Conviction. A passion for answers.

An art history major provides skills that are useful in most careers: reading, writing, communicating effectively, solving problems, and observation, among other skills. Even if, as an art history major, you can’t find a job that specifically pertains to your degree, you can take comfort in knowing that the skills gained from your degree aren’t being wasted. Luckily, there are many options for art history majors to pursue. The most obvious of these would be work in a museum (in any capacity), education, and working in the entertainment industry. An art history minor, combined with certain majors, also has some fun and fulfilling options.

Art history majors seeking to work in museums will find a plethora of opportunities: docents, fundraising, research assistants, library assistants, visitor services, restoration, curators or curatorial assistants … the list can get very long, very quickly. A quick scan of major museums’ employment pages (such as the Getty or LACMA) will yield varying and interesting results. A slight warning, for students to prepare ahead of time for their career if they know they want to work in a museum: Museum work sometimes requires that a student has taken graduate level courses and/or has an advanced degree. This is especially true of research assistant and curator (assistant) positions. Curatorial positions nearly always require, at a minimum, an MA degree and some years experience in museum work – at best, of course, a PhD. Some museum opportunities yield themselves to a BA degree and few years of experience, but from my experience, these positions are difficult to break into if you don’t have connections. Examples include research assistants (either in libraries or in specific departments) and curatorial assistants, where the employee would conduct research for the already busy curator. Other career options in museums include the financial sphere: raising funds for the museum, writing grants, hosting fundraising events, and so on.

Museum work would be fulfilling for many reasons. Curators are responsible for the display of artwork, which affects the way the general public view and understand art the art. They research and brainstorm ideas for exhibitions, come up with the layout and overall message of the exhibition, and decide which art to safely obtain and display in their exhibitions. That is a hefty duty. Such weighty tasks deserve admiration. Those who write the pamphlets and display tags (in large institutions, the curatorial assistant) that often accompany exhibitions are responsible for making art easily understandable using the written word. This seems simple enough, but some artworks, subjects, and artists have complex histories. Museums often have research departments/institutions that attribute, date, restore and store unknown art. They are artworks’ safe-haven, ensuring the best that they can that the art is not tarnished by vandals, the rigors of weather, or the passing of time.

Education is the other major career option for art history majors. Certain schools teach AP Art History or offer Art Appreciation courses to their students, if the would-be teacher has a passion for 6-12 education. (I say 6-12 because I have yet to hear of an art history course for elementary students. If you know of one, please tell me – such a course would be such an interesting development to explore!) This can be rewarding in its own right: 6-12 educators are in the unique position to assist students academically and personally through the transitions of their formative years –tween to teenager, teenager to… the scary world of adulthood. Students wishing to pursue 6-12 education should look into individual states and school districts to see which schools offer these courses to their students, or if teachers can motion to elect that a course be taught. Students should also keep in mind that teens generally dislike history and find it boring, so for this reason, prospective (and current!) teachers should make history – especially art history – as exciting as possible within the bounds of their district/curricula restrictions.

Naturally, the next level of education is that of higher education: community colleges (which require an MA) and universities (which nearly always require a PhD or at least ABD status.) Community college professors enjoy less emphasis on writing and publication and more emphasis on teaching and student connection (or so I am told). Professors are under restrictions to publish, publish, publish! “Publish or perish,” the saying goes. The split in the road here depends on individual students – if you aren’t so keen on writing, but want to teach on an adult, more academic level than high school offers, community college might be the right career path. If, like me, you love to write, have all kinds of ideas swirling around in your head about art, never stop asking and answering questions (even if no one is asking!), and desperately want the best of both worlds of teaching, researching, and publishing, then, of course: being a university professor is probably for you. I have heard from professors that with the title of professor comes lots of red tape: tenure track requirements (which may include publishing X articles/book[s] per year, good student reviews, etc.), office hours, paperwork, grade deadlines… Perhaps it depends on personality: This sounds exciting to me, and I can’t wait to reach the point where I can hold office hours and step up to the challenge of publishing or perishing. In addition to all the requirements that come with being a professor, there are some finer points that may prove satisfying.

Professors have the task of guiding their students in the pursuit of knowledge and higher truths. Professors may, when asked, share information with students regarding their career path, their current research, their hobbies. Human connection is, I believe, at the heart of all education: the mentor-student relationship. Office hours give both student and teacher the chance to discuss the course material or other subjects on an individual basis, and both gain more understanding of the other. Not every professor does so well, however. Such pursuits may be marred by inaccurate information, textual or lecture bias, disinterest in students versus huge interest in research. The job comes with pressure, this is certain: professors write their own course material (or some read from books – this varies); they are under pressure to publish, write letters of recommendation on time; participate in any organizations or university events/meetings; and, if they are unlucky enough to not have a TA, then they have to grade papers themselves. With the title ‘professor’ comes a commitment to the university, its students, and the professor’s own research interests and pedagogical convictions. Students wishing to pursue higher education teaching opportunities should speak with their current professors about their experiences and seek advice regarding their personal academic situations.

An art history minor, combined with certain majors, can be useful tool for the major itself and in careers. For instance, a chemistry major combined with an art history minor (and probably an advanced degree) could potentially work on artifact, painting and/or sculpture restoration, scientific dating, and/or materials analysis. The minor would provide knowledge of and appreciation for art, artistic modes of production, and ideology that may provide clues to materials or dates. A marketing major with an art history minor could work in a PR, fundraising, or grant writing capacity at museums. English, photography, fashion, or film majors would find their writing, descriptive, and observational abilities strengthened by art history, which can be useful in their own ways in each of those fields.

Hopefully, this brief exploration of the personal value of an art history degree and its ensuing career options has inspired current students to seriously consider their careers and has inspired prospective art history students to take the plunge and choose the field.

Few high schools teach art history, and when they do, the course is often an AP Art History course, designed for rigorous study. Solely teaching AP Art History excludes the majority of students in most schools who may not have good enough GPAs or other requirements necessary to engage in AP study. Art history is not even a solid general education requirement in California for colleges – students are able to choose between art history, fine art courses, and humanities courses. I understand the desire to give students a choice, but art history’s influence is so broad that I feel it should be a general education requirement in high schools and colleges, in addition to the general arts/humanities requirement. Why are exposure to art history and the teaching of art history courses so limited? The answer lies in two parts. The first is that the relevance, importance, and widespread influence of art history is not understood by educators, let alone students. The second is that there is a lack of trained high school teachers, and that people with advanced art history degrees often use their degrees in a museum-oriented capacity, rather than educational one. (Whether this is by choice or by force will not be discussed. I will mention that, when looking through job openings, there seems to be more educational and museum openings in the Midwest and on the East coast than on the West coast.)

You might be thinking that in art history, one only studies old paintings that lack perspective, appear flat and dull, lack excitement on canvas, and, well, how could students possibly be interested in and gain from that? This is only partially true. Studying the “boring” art, introduced and explored in introductory art history courses (and often discussed in detail in upper divisions), is necessary to understand how “exciting” art (and the word ‘exciting’ truly applies to any art that any person finds exciting) came to be. Without Giotto and Masaccio, for instance, perspective in painting would not have been developed (so soon). There is a lot of philosophy and, believe it or not, math behind seemingly “boring” art, which lends itself to the study of world history, philosophy, and geometry. Introductory art history courses have value in their broad, interdisciplinary explorations of world art, cultures, and religions. (For an in-depth look at what art history is, see this post.)

Luckily, for those high school and college students who would resist art history, there is something for every one. If you think dead cats are art, there is an artist (who recently exhibited in Paris) that puts dead cats on display. If you think paint splatters are art, you should and would, in any introductory art history course, learn about Jackson Pollock. If you’re interested in cave paintings and ancient, anthropological forms of art, you’re in luck: such art is among the first to be taught in most art historical introductory courses. Graffiti as art? Some people think so and will tell their students so! These are only examples. There are hundreds of ‘isms’ (subfields of study) for students to explore, and each of those subfields requires thinking on an art-historical, interdisciplinary, broad level.

I’ll let you in on a secret: although it is often perceived as boring and just a bunch of people sitting in a dark room listening to their teacher ramble for a few hours each day, art history is actually a fun, non-intrusive way to study art, world history, religious history, and other fields. It can also, if the instructor so chooses, be a very simple, non-intensive form of studying such fields. The very basics of art history involve merely observing – just having one’s students look at an artwork and write about what they see: the materials used, the piece’s geometry, the overall organization of the piece. This is called formalism. Once a student does this, the next step is to look again, and discuss other visibilities: people, emotions, actions, things, places, buildings, and so on. An instructor can use mere student observation, which generally but not always requires little effort on the part of both parties, to introduce the wider spectrum of concepts involved in the creation of art: history, ideals contemporary with art, laws and ideologies, and many other areas of exploration.

Having students write a formal analysis of an art piece is an excellent introduction to more complex forms of analyses, which are often taught in upper division art history courses and perhaps briefly introduced in lower division courses and high schools. The foundation for complex analyses (such as psychoanalysis and semiotics) are actually other fields of study, such as Freudian thought, linguistics, logic, English/essay structure, which furthers the interdisciplinary nature of art history. If an art history instructor neglects to inform their students about at least the basics of these other fields, the student will not be able to satisfactorily – or perhaps ‘properly’ – analyze art on an advanced basis.

Because art history involves other fields of study, it is perhaps one of the wisest general education choices available. High schools should take note of art history’s cyclical value to their students: As the ‘product’ of an AP Art History course, I can testify that my study in art history began to positively impact all my other coursework. To understate, I became a better critical thinker, a better writer, and a better overall student. My test scores in math (a difficult subject for me) increased. My essays for English, already ‘A’s, were suddenly being marked ‘Excellent’ and being saved for future classes. Why? Not because I’m naturally smart and just randomly began to be a better student and suddenly after years of failing, understood math. I still don’t understand math. But the reasoning, analytic, and concentration skills that art history provided me served me in every area of study.

When I got to UCLA and began taking university-level courses, the quality of my thought and papers skyrocketed. Much was demanded of me intellectually, and thankfully, my mind was quick and able to rise to the challenge of answering questions such as the one presented to me in my first upper division art history course by legendary art historian Albert Boime, wondering how and why we track art historical movements the way that we do. What are a group of 20-somethings supposed to say to such a question, and how can the greats of the field demand answers? Because their students are not just any students. With upper division art history should (but not always) come the expectation that students are willing and able to think critically and abstractly. Such skills would be – I hope – well developed by upperclassmen years if an introductory art history course was a mandatory course for all high school and community college students.

To develop analytical and critical thinking skills early on in students, it is imperative that high school teachers teaching art history present the subject in a fun, well-thought out manner while still maintaining academic rigor and keeping the interest of the class. My AP Art History teacher achieved this by having us turn in one “Style Sheet” daily. He gave us five artists for the week and we had to make charts outlining their style and iconography. He’d mix up the artists enough to where there was something close enough for everyone’s interest (it was a small class, and interest was easily discerned – for a large class, I would suggest taking a survey). He would expose us to art outside of the curriculum just because he thought it was interesting – performance art, post-modern “feminist” art, street art. Each of these had to be examined with the same level of analysis that one would use for, say, Bernini or Dali. All art was embedded in history, through the use of primary texts, film, and interesting details and interpretations (e.g., teaching us in depth about iconoclasm or unconventional interpretations of a work.) In this way, he stretched our critical thinking skills, showed art that different people in the class liked (and others didn’t), and made the point that many things are considered ‘art’ by art history, whether you like it or not, and, in some way, they are all a product of earlier art histories, of earlier thought.

To fully understand art, one must understand history. The abandonment of history in art history courses will be the downfall of the field at all levels. Reform and recognition of art history’s importance begins with teachers. Art history teachers at all levels should put the “history” back in “art history” by teaching the laws and ideologies in force during the time of an artwork’s creation. Whenever possible, primary sources should be used: these often contain wonderful language and insight into past times, contemporary perspectives on art/artists, and “rules” regarding the creation of art in certain times. Biographies of artists and their patrons can be useful, too, to further interest in art as a “thing” created by a person who was human just as you and I are. History tells us for what specific purpose an artwork was made, for whom, and under what guidelines. Draw observations and analyses from contemporary and current scholars in history, religion, and politics. Find ways to creatively and accurately represent and teach the study of art.

Hopefully, teaching methods and course curricula that utilize an interdisciplinary approach will lend evidence to the value of art history as a required general education course, and will encourage educators to institute the subject in their schools. More publicity about the field, its value, and teaching methods is needed to raise public and academic awareness of the many merits that come from studying art history. I hope that this blog, which is but a small piece of art history content on the web, can assist.