Students in the MA program are required to take the comprehensive exam.  During this exam, 25 slides are shown and students must identify each slide as fully as possible and indicate their knowledge of the historical significance.  The exam includes works in various media—painting, sculpture, architecture, prints, and photography—and Non-Western art as well as Western art.  Its purpose is to determine whether the student has sufficiently wide knowledge of art history to comprehend, contribute to and benefit from advanced courses.  We therefore urge that it be taken as soon after matriculation as possible, and the exam must be passed by the time of the mid-program evaluation (18 credits).

 
The next Comprehensive Exam will be offered on August 13, 2025, at 6pm.  
The following comprehensive exam will take place on January 14, 2026 at 6pm.
 

Current students may sign up for the exam here: MA Comprehensive Exam RSVP

Format of the Comprehensive Exam

You will be shown 25 slides for four minutes each.  You should identify the works as follows:
  • Artist / Architect / Creator (or Unidentified Creator where appropriate)
  • Title or subject of image, or name of building*
  • Date 
  • Period: art-historical period, movement, and/or culture 
  • Give location of building or of work if in situ/relevant

You should then briefly discuss the work to illuminate its historical significance.  You can consider such issues as the prevalence, function, and meaningfulness of the work within its culture; the kind and degree of impact this work made upon other artists; or other important issues.  Try to be as precise as possible. You have four minutes to answer each question. Answers must be typed in a Word document. Please bring a laptop.   

Guide to Studying for the Comprehensive Exam

Most students set aside time to prepare for this examination.  We recommend a thorough study of museum websites, Smarthistory.org, and standard survey textbooks, including:
  • Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History, 16th Edition.  
  • Davis, J.E. Penelope, Walter B. Denny, Frima Fox Hofrichter, Ann S. Roberts, and David L. Simon. Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition. Reissued 8th Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2021.  
  • Honour, Hugh and John Fleming. The Visual Arts: A History. Revised 7th edition, Laurence King Publishing, 2023.
  • Elsen, Albert. Purposes of Art: An Introduction to the History and Appreciation of Art. London: Forgotten Books, 2022.
  • Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael W. Cothren. Art History. 6th edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2021.

To facilitate your study, a list of monuments has been prepared from which the exam selections will be taken. This list will be shared with all students upon their admission to the MA Art History program.

Grading Rationale

Passing grade is 80%.

There are 25 questions, each worth 4 points:

ID counts 2; essay counts 2; each item in ID counts 0.5.