Announcements

News

May 7, 2025

The second volume of see/saw is out!
The second volume of see/saw is out! An undergraduate print journal devoted to publishing original research in art history and art criticism, see/saw was founded at the University of California, Berkeley last year. The 2025 publication (volume 2, issue 1) features work from sixteen contributors, engaging myriad media and formats from documentary photographs found in student periodicals from Native American Boarding Schools to Luzon jars in Manila-based trade to Soviet Neo-primitive folk sculpture.

April 21, 2025

New Publication by Atreyee Gupta

The department is pleased to announce the publication of Postwar Revisited: A Global Art History by Associate Professor Atyeyee Gupta and Okwui Enwezor (Editors).

Congratulations to Atreyee Gupta on her new book

Associate Professor Atreyee Gupta has announced the publication of her new book Non-Aligned: Art, Decolonization and the Third World Project in India.

A revelatory look at modernism in India, exploring art’s role in decolonization and aesthetic discourse across the Global South.

April 17, 2025

Executive actions aim to reshape America’s cultural institutions. UC Berkeley scholars react

On March 27, President Trump signed "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," a directive mandating that the Smithsonian Institution and the Department of the Interior, which oversees national monuments, memorials and statues, rectify "divisive narratives that distort our shared history." This is just one of several actions aimed at changing how arts and humanities organizations tell the story of the country's past and present.

March 12, 2025

Support History of Art during Big Give

Tomorrow is Big Give, and we're shining a light on History of Art.

Your gift propels the cultural and creative experience of Berkeley students, allowing them to learn from global art histories and to craft imaginative skills in the domain of art and culture.

This year, our biggest BIG GIVE hope is to upgrade our event and educational spaces in Doe Library. Our renovation will provide a welcoming gathering space for students, faculty, and community, while also giving them a deeper, multi-sensory experience of the arts of the globe, past and present.

March 5, 2025

Anneka Lenssen has been awarded this year’s Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs!

Congratulations to Anneka Lenssen, who has been selected as a recipient of the 2025 Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs.

This award recognizes faculty (including both Senate and non-Senate faculty) who have provided GSIs outstanding mentorship in teaching at Berkeley and in preparing for teaching in future careers. Faculty receive this award based on nominations from their GSIs. 

February 16, 2025

Grad Student Kim Yu collaborates with first-year MFA cohort

A group exhibition for the first-year Art Practice MFA cohort, titled Revolt Against the Sun, opened in the Worth Ryder Art Gallery on January 29, 2025. In addition to featuring the work of six artists (Eleni Berg, GG, Héctor Muñoz-Guzmán, Kristiana Chan 莊礼恩, Swaleha, Zuhoor Al Sayegh), it features catalog essays written by History of Art graduate student Kimberly Yu. Acting as an interlocutor as well as an interpreter for the exhibition, Kim undertook studio visits and attended meetings with the exhibiting artists.

February 13, 2025

Phi Beta Kappa Selects Shannon Jackson for 2025-2026 Visiting Scholar Program

The Phi Beta Kappa Society is excited to announce that Professor Shannon Jackson is a 2025-2026 Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar! 

January 31, 2025

UC Berkeley Awarded $2.6 Million Grant for “A Counter-Imaginary in Authoritarian Times”

UC Berkeley’s Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry (CICI) and the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs (ICCTP) have been awarded $2.6 million to support a groundbreaking multi-year initiative titled “A Counter-Imaginary in Authoritarian Times.” Through collaborative workshops, conferences, performances, publications, and a dynamic, open-ended digital platform, this project brings together academics, artists, activists, and other community members to develop concrete strategies, tools, and proposals to create a counter-imaginary to authoritarianism.

BAMPFA exhibition, Teaching Wall / After Lives: Drawing As Trace

This exhibition presents works on paper from BAMPFA’s collection, organized in partnership with Todd Olson, Professor of Early Modern Art in the Department of History of Art at UC Berkeley. It offers historical and cultural perspectives on a keystone of fine arts training: drawing the human figure through direct observation of a live model. This display provides students with direct access to artworks and themes connected to their classes in the History of Art and Art Practice Departments.