Northwestern

[_Hodor_]

Anyone willing to share their thoughts on this school and its Art History PhD program? 

[bosie_dearest]

@_Hodor_ I don't know much about the program in general, but I've heard things about a few of the profs. Who's your POI? 

[betsy303]

What would be your area of study? Historically, people seem to go there for 19th century and Middle Ages/ early modern. The 19th century folks seem to on the corner of retirement. They are also super driven by social art history (not particularly theoretically driven). They hired some new folks as well as Zorach, which should be interesting. Huey Copland would be an interesting person to work with if you study contemporary. 

[poliscar]

They have really young, stellar Modern/Contemporary scholars right now. Between Christina Kiaer, Hannah Feldman, and Huey Copeland I imagine it will be one of the top programs in the area very soon. Rebecca Zorach, though she is technically an Early Modernist, is also doing some super cool 20th century work right now. 

& I can't speak for all subfields, but I am not sure if I'd really see the department as leaning more towards "social art history" than "theoretical" work (not sure why the split, honestly). The scholars I've mentioned all do very theoretically engaged, social art history. Feldman's recent From a Nation Torn being a great example...

Edited March 4, 2016 by poliscar

[BRead_JAm]

I have studied at Northwestern as an undergrad as well. I can talk about some professors that are not mentioned above, so let me know!

[betsy303]

Other words middle ages and 20th century is where Northwestern is headed...