About the Art History Laboratory

Theoretical research on art at Japanese universities has been carried out in departments such as art history departments and philosophy departments in the Faculty of Letters, but since the mid-20th century, in parallel with the expansion of education and research that includes the production of figurative works. , the tendency to emphasize concreteness and demonstrativeness has deepened.

In Europe and the United States, theoretical research on art has developed in an empirical direction, and the position of ``art studies'' that ``beauty'' can be most accurately and concretely expressed through ``art'' was established from early on. Ta.

The first university education in Japan to introduce an "art major" in this sense was the Department of Art, established in 1949 at Tokyo University of Education, the predecessor of the University of Tsukuba.Our Art History Laboratory directly inherits this tradition.

In the ``Art History Area,'' an art specialty school provided by the Art History Laboratory, students learn about art from various eras and Areas of studys, from ancient times to the present day, and learn about the fundamental question of ``What is art?'' Our goal is to develop the specialized ability to empirically solve a wide variety of problems.

Students in this course will deepen their understanding of artistic creation while learning alongside students involved in the production of figurative works and design practices. A faculty member with experience as a museum curator (Rintaro Terakado-Michiko Hayashi) and teachers with experience in excavating cultural properties and conducting field surveys (Kazufumi Takeda-Hiroshi Mizuno), where you can learn practical art history backed up by theoretical research, mainly focusing on art as a "thing". Students view paintings, sculptures, and other works of art at museums, shrines and temples, and artists' ateliers in Japan and abroad, research related literature, and reflect their research results in their graduation thesis. They even make nests.

Students who are interested in pursuing more specialized research beyond their graduation research proceed to graduate school.At our graduate school, many graduate students who have completed the master's program and doctoral program in the field of art history are on the path to becoming researchers or highly skilled professionals.