Master of Arts in Art History and Criticism

The M.A. in Art History and Criticism is a two year 36-credit flexible degree program with a strong emphasis on modern and contemporary art and visual and material culture. In their second year, students must pass a comprehensive exam, and work with a faculty advisor on a written thesis or project that serves as a capstone requirement for the degree. Part-time study is allowed in this degree program. The M.A. in Art History and Criticism is appropriate preparation for Ph.D. degrees in art history or other fields. Students also move on directly to careers in gallery and museum work, education, publishing, non-profit foundations and business. The Graduate Programs in Art History & Criticism at Stony Brook University focus on modern and contemporary art and visual culture. We aim to produce scholars, critics, curators and practitioners who can address global artistic production through contemporary issues and paradigms. Media aesthetics, art and technology, public art and social practice, politics of the avant-garde, photography, film and critical curatorial studies are currently areas of departmental research. We offer a dynamic, interdisciplinary curriculum along with individual mentoring from faculty whose work has won national and international recognition. Students benefit from engagement with the department's studio programs and with faculty and students from other programs including Philosophy, History, Music, Computer Science and Engineering, and are able to pursue Graduate Certificates in Media, Art, Culture and Technology, Art and Philosophy, Creative Writing and Literature, Women's and Gender Studies, and Writing and Rhetoric, among others

Admission into the M.A. and Ph.D. programs is at the discretion of the art history and criticism faculty with the final approval of the Graduate School. Admission is usually for the Fall semester. Part-time study is permissible for qualified M.A. candidates only. Admission to the program assumes a minimum of a B average in undergraduate work and meeting the standards of admission to the Graduate School (including English Proficiency Requirements).

It is recognized that M.A. and Ph.D. applicants may come from a wide variety of backgrounds that will require individual structuring of their programs to suit their needs. Applicants will ordinarily have a bachelor’s degree with an art history major or minor; however, this requirement may be waived at the discretion of the graduate faculty. All applicants are encouraged to submit a sample of written work with their application.

English Proficiency

IELTS: Overall score of 6.5, with no subsection recommended to be below 6; and TOEFL iBT: Overall score of 90 for doctoral applicants and 80 for master’s applicants.