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Visual and Performing Arts > Art History, Criticism and Conservation

Art History, Criticism and Conservation

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The discipline of art history examines works of visual art and other forms of cultural expression across time and different artistic movements. Even though art historians used to focus mostly on visual arts such as paintings, drawings, sculptures, buildings, ceramics, and decorative arts, they now study a wider range of topics relating to visual culture. Art history studies visual artifacts from all cultures and eras constructed to communicate meaning, significance, or practicality. Art theory or "philosophy of art," which is concerned with the fundamental nature of art, and art criticism, which is concerned with establishing a relative artistic value upon individual works about others of comparable style or sanctioning an entire style or movement, distinguished art history as a discipline. Aesthetics is a subfield of philosophy that seeks to answer questions about the nature of beauty and the sublime. The art historian uses historical methods to answer questions like, "Who were the patrons? Who were the artists' teachers? Who were the artists' audiences and students? What historical forces shaped the artist's oeuvre, and how did they and the creation affect the course of artistic, political, and social events?" However, it is debatable whether many concerns of this kind can be answered properly without discussing fundamental issues concerning the nature of art. 

Top Colleges
Top Colleges Curriculam
Industry Association
  1. American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC)
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  2. Art Libraries Society of North America (ARLIS/NA)
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  3. Association for Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS)
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  4. Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA)
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  5. Association of Art Historians (AAH)
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  6. Association of Print Scholars (APS)
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  7. College Art Association (CAA)
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  8. International Association for Visual Culture (IAVC)
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  9. International Association of Art Critics (AICA)
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  10. International Association of Conservators-Restorers of Cultural Heritage (IAC-RC)
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  11. International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art (CIMAM)
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  12. International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage (TICCIH)
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  13. International Council of Museums (ICOM)
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  14. International Council of Museums Committee for Conservation (ICOM-CC)
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  15. International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)
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  16. International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC)
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  17. International Network for the Conservation of Contemporary Art (INCCA)
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  18. Society of Architectural Historians (SAH)
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  19. The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI)
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  20. The International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR)
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Top Journals
  1. Art Bulletin
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  2. Art History
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  3. Art Journal
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  4. Journal of Art Historiography
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  5. Journal of the American Institute for Conservation
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  6. Leonardo: International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology
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  7. Oxford Art Journal
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  8. Studies in Conservation
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  9. The Burlington Magazine
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  10. Visual Resources: An International Journal of Documentation
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