nyu art history phd

Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works/History of Art and Archaeology (MS/MA)

Program description.

The Graduate School offers a dual degree for students interested in exploring conservation of historic/artistic works, and the history of art and archaeology. Candidates for the Institute of Fine Arts must have a background in the liberal arts, normally including at least four courses of undergraduate art history.

Beginning in their second year of study, students specialize in one of the following primary areas of study: conservation of paintings; objects, including textiles; paper and photographs, including library and archive (books); and time-based media. Many sub-specialties exist within these areas. Students may additionally declare a special interest in modern and contemporary or archaeological art conservation and take coursework towards these areas. Upper-level courses in each of these areas, as well as individualized instruction from conservators and scientists in the New York City area, are available.

All applicants to the Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS) are required to submit the  general application requirements , which include:

• Academic Transcripts
• Test Scores  (if required)
• Applicant Statements
• Résumé or Curriculum Vitae
• Letters of Recommendation , and
• A non-refundable  application fee .

See Fine Arts for admission requirements and instructions specific to this program.

Program Requirements

The program requires the completion of 73 credits, comprised of the following:

Program Details

Beginning in their second year of study, students specialize in one of the following primary areas of study: conservation of paintings, objects, and paper/photographs, including library and archive (books). Many sub-specialties exist within these given areas. Students may additionally declare a special interest in modern and contemporary art conservation and take coursework towards this specialty. Upper-level courses in each of these areas, as well as individualized instruction from conservators and scientists in the New York City area, are available. An internship is completed over two semesters during the fourth and final year in a conservation establishment either in this country or abroad, selected to afford the best possible training in the student’s area of specialization. Arrangements are made in consultation with the Chairman of the Conservation Center and the student’s primary advisor. All other requirements for the Institute’s M.A. and M.S. degrees, including language, academic standards, timing, and the Master’s Thesis apply equally to the students in the dual degree program.

Sample Plan of Study

Learning outcomes.

Upon successful completion of the program, graduates will:

Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works

• Use generally accepted conservation terminology to describe the common materials and techniques of art and archaeology, conservation materials, conditions of deterioration, environmental measurements, and basic conservation condition assessments.
• Understand conservation history, ethics, and philosophy to identify past conservation treatments and evaluate their effects on the aesthetic, conceptual, and physical characteristics of works of art, to identify whether treatments comply with ethical standards, to articulate ethical issues in treatment and the history of technology, to identify the relationship between restoration/conservation materials and the history of technology. to be familiar with the history of various conservation treatment practices and their rationales, to be familiar with the history of environmental standards, and to be familiar with the history of preventive care as deriving from minimum intervention and responding to cost benefit demands.
• Incorporate values and significance in their work, recognize unique physical and conceptual values and significance of objects and that they may be altered by treatments, storage or display methods, and scientific studies, and recognize that technological innovations and materials represent social and cultural values.
• Understand the history of Technology of Cultural Heritage to accurately identify a selected range of materials and techniques used in the creation of works of art and historic artifacts, to be acquainted with a selected range of artists’ methodologies, workshop practices, and the history of materials, and understand their connection to connoisseurship principles, to be prepared for more advanced study of materials and techniques used for the creation of works within the student’s specialty, and to address specific environmental needs based on materials and/or techniques of fabrication.
• Understand access and Use of Cultural Heritage to consider how conservation treatments might need to accommodate social functions of works of art, identify and evaluate technical alterations subsequent to original manufacture, evaluate preservation versus access in areas including display, storage, travel, and on archaeological or historic sites and become familiar with sustainable methods of conservation and preservation.
• Understand and comply to Health and Safety policies and regulations so that they are exposed to conservation treatments and preventive strategies that are safe for people and the environment, are aware of health and safety issues associated with present and former conservation treatments, and understand how to safely conduct practical exercises at the Conservation Center, ranging from micro-chemical testing to treatments.
• Apply scientific principles and methods to the understanding of original and conservation materials, apply scientific principles and basic analytical techniques in the study of the technology of art, apply scientific principles and basic analytical techniques in the development of conservation treatments, evaluate and apply data derived from scientific publications to treatments, history of technology, and preventive care, and apply scientific principles and methods to an understanding of environmental agents of deterioration, including their measurement, effects, and control.
• Understand processes of deterioration and change to be able to identify changes that result from environmental causes, by learning which materials are at greatest risk to each agent, typical alteration products, and methods of detection, identify deterioration and change that is inherent in certain artists’ materials and processes, demonstrate an understanding about how to identify biological deterioration, demonstrate an understanding about the concepts of disaster planning and management, and demonstrate an understanding of the basic principles behind risk assessment.
• Understand preventive care to be able to handle objects in a manner that insures safety, identify the reasons for the need to collaborate with site managers, archaeologists, architects, exhibition designers, and/or administrative, buildings, and collections staff to provide collections safety, identify how to recommend proper environmental conditions that reduce the need for interventive treatments or re-treatment, identify basic methods for protection from pollutants in outdoor monuments and sites, indoor collections, and collections in enclosures, identify basic methods for controlling temperature and relative humidity, identify basic methods for controlling light and ultraviolet radiation, identify basic methods for controlling biodeterioration, and identify basic methods of disaster preparedness and recovery.
• Apply examination methods to carry out standard methods of examination and testing in order to devise appropriate conservation treatments, identify the principles and limitations of analytical techniques as aids in examination, ask relevant questions when faced by a work of art—regarding dating, provenance, artist’s materials, methods, production of materials, workshop practices, etc., identify his or her own limitations in regards to the analysis, in particular the interpretation of data, and collaborate with conservation scientists, art historians, archaeologists and other professionals to start to answer these questions.
• Demonstrate Documentation Skills: clear writing skills, digital photographic skills and correct storage protocols for digital data, skills to conduct library and archive-based research, to be able to articulate the importance of documentation for the future preservation, interpretation, and treatment of the object, produce effective written and pictorial procedures for recording in a permanent format the before, during and after treatment appearance of the object, and identify and articulate the relationship between environmental monitoring, documentation format, interpretation of data, and mitigation.
• Identify and articulate treatment approaches that are informed by an understanding of artists’ materials, methods, workshop practices and the history of technology, identify and articulate how the following general conservation approaches/procedures are applied to a variety of works of art and historic artifacts: adhesion, consolidation, structural support, cleaning and/or washing, and loss compensation, and carry out under supervision conservation treatments in accordance with professional ethics and safe laboratory procedures on a range of objects within the student’s specialty (paintings, works of art on paper, library and archives materials, photographs, decorative objects, ethnographic and archaeological objects, sculpture, time-based media art, or modern and contemporary art).

History of Art and Archaeology

• Critically investigate the role of the visual arts in culture through object-based examination as well as historical and theoretical interpretation.
• Effectively communicate original, independent research and interpretations of secondary material through written and oral presentation.  
• Demonstrate an advanced understanding of critical issues in the field of art history or archaeology through the composition of an essay on a single topic.

NYU Policies

Graduate school of arts and science policies.

University-wide policies can be found on the New York University Policy pages .

Academic Policies for the Graduate School of Arts and Science can be found on the Academic Policies page . 

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