West Coast MA Programs - 19th C. American and European

[napoleon87]

Hello All,

 

In the process of diversifying my applications.  I've promised my significant other to at least research programs in the western states, particularly CA, WA, OR.

 

I'm looking at MA programs and my two areas of interest are 19th Century American decorative arts and material culture (primarily), and 19th century French art and material culture.  I'm not really looking at PhD programs right now (clearly my focus is not narrow enough), though I would consider them.

 

Does anyone have suggestions for programs that could fit either bill?  Any opinions welcome.

 

Also, does anyone out there have an opinion about ASU's program? 

 

Thanks in advance.

[tangerine15]

Hi,

 

UC Davis offers a terminal MA; Strazdes is their 19th c. American art and material culture professor. 

 

UC Riverside also offers a terminal MA, so I would check who is on faculty there.

Edited August 16, 2014 by tangerine15

[napoleon87]

Thanks for the leads!

[anonymousbequest]

Dec. arts isn't taught much on the west coast, it's concentrated at Winterthur and Bard. However, UCR's Americanist is Jason Weems whose scholarship runs more toward visual culture so he might be a good fit. The closest major museum to Riverside is the Huntington Library (90 minutes away), which happens to have good collections of American and French 19th C decorative arts. I would say that Riverside is the terminal MA program with the best reputation in CA, over Davis. Most students also receive at least some funding, either stipends or TA-ships or both.

[cafeamericanooo]

I am currently a student at the University of Washington, and from the sound of your interests, I would look into UW's M.A. program and working with Susan Casteras.  She is truly amazing and takes on at least a couple grad students each year.  The program doesn't fund very much from the first year, but fellowships are available to apply for.  Hope this helps!

[m-ttl]

Dec. arts isn't taught much on the west coast, it's concentrated at Winterthur and Bard. However, UCR's Americanist is Jason Weems whose scholarship runs more toward visual culture so he might be a good fit. The closest major museum to Riverside is the Huntington Library (90 minutes away), which happens to have good collections of American and French 19th C decorative arts. I would say that Riverside is the terminal MA program with the best reputation in CA, over Davis. Most students also receive at least some funding, either stipends or TA-ships or both.

 

Yeah you're going to be extremely limited on the West coast. UC Irvine discontinued their Appraiser's decorative arts courses some years back http://unex.uci.edu/areas/arts_culture/appraisals/

 

Your dec arts specific programs are limited in general: Winterthur/U Delaware, Bard, George Mason/Smithsonian, and Parsons/Cooper Hewitt. 

 

The amount of scholars working not in one of these above programs (or are simply in a general Art History department) but whose interests intersect with them are a fair few more, but concentrated on the East Coast. This was great for me because I wanted to move east, and the options are essentially, NYC, DC, or Delaware (which lies between the two cities). 

 

ASU does not have a program in decorative arts, however as an alumna I A.) found the faculty to be absolutely wonderful B.) found them extremely helpful. If you can afford to pay for ASU (I don't know that they award much for MAs in Art History), I think there are some pluses and minuses. I liked my professors and the ease of visiting local museums, and enjoyed the seminars I took. However, ASU is a big institution and acts like one. The professors will get to know you, but the administration of the university may be complicated. The 19th century scholar Julie Codell mostly works in Victorian/Pre-Raphaelite stuff and material culture, but covers france in coursework. The Americanist is Betsy Fahlman, and she has recently had a lot of interest in Public Art and women's art. She is also the point-person for all internships and work experience. However the only 19th century American decorative arts specific collection in AZ is two hours south in Tucson Museum of Art's decorative arts home. The Phoenix Art Museum may have paintings of interest, and the Heard may have things related to Native American dec arts but you'd need to be flexible enough to also look at history museums or just interning summers as a two hour commute is not practical. 

 

If, on the off chance, you mean ASU's Museum Studies/Material Culture MA, it is not actually connected with the art history department or even the museum studies BA degree, but with the Anthropology school. It's a bizarre flaw in the system, but there you go. If you're interested in more anthropological/historical work with material culture, you might look into it. 

 

in interest of disclosure I'm on the East coast in an art history program with scholars who also study dec arts. 

Edited October 11, 2014 by m-ttl