Through the creation and interpretation of visual media, the Art, Art History, and Film Department prepares students to engage critically with our image-saturated world. We emphasize individual mentorship, interdisciplinary collaboration, and hands-on learning in varied environments, from studios to museums. Graduates apply their skills of observation, creativity, and intercultural understanding to professions in the arts and beyond, from architecture, museums, and filmmaking to law and medicine.
Our Programs
Art History
Art history encompasses the study of images, objects, and built spaces from a broad range of historical periods and geographical regions, providing a doorway into the many rich and diverse cultures throughout the world.
Film Studies
The Film Studies program has arisen out of a need and desire to assist students in developing critical and technical skills in the area of film. Video, photography, and television also play a supportive role in the development of these skills.
Studio Art
In our increasingly image-laden society, visual intelligence is a paramount skill. The Studio Art program provides students with opportunities for creative exploration in painting, drawing, photography, video, ceramics, and digital media.
Alumni Voices
Meet some of our recent graduates and learn about how majoring in art history, film studies, or studio art enhanced their undergraduate experiences and influenced their career paths.
Margaret Mansfield
Class of 2011
I took the introduction to Art History as a freshman to fulfill my fine arts requirement. From that class forward I was hooked. I enjoyed every course I took for my major and learned so much about the context in which art and material culture were created and consumed.
Hometown: South Bend, Ind.
Current occupation: Completed Ph.D. in Art History (2023)
Favorite class or professor? I remember Professor Craig and his classes so fondly. He introduced me to 17th century Dutch art which ultimately became my specialty. Professor Craig taught in such an engaging way. His passion for the subject matter and his compassion for his students was undeniable.
What experiences related to your major did you pursue as an undergraduate? I was very active in the art club while on campus, curating shows in Bapst Library and running events for the Arts Fest. This involvement with studio art students helped me reach the greater campus community throughout each academic year.
Elisabeth Lobkowicz
Class of 2010
The Art History Faculty was incredibly supportive to me while at BC, and this support continued long after graduating and into my professional career.
Hometown: Natick, Mass.
Current occupation: Specialist in the Old Master Paintings Department at Sotheby's Auction House
Favorite BC professor or class? Northern Renaissance Art with Professor Kenneth Craig. He was the first to introduce me to a genre of art that is now my professional specialty. He will always have a special place in my heart.
Why did you choose BC's Art, Art History and Film program? After completing requirements for an Economics Degree, I found that Art History was a true passion of mine. The combination of the two degrees provided a wonderful academic balance and provided a strong foundation for a career in the Auction Industry.
Nicole Maloof
Class of 2019
I chose BC's Art program due to its intimate nature and fantastic faculty. Because it is a small program, I was able to get one-on-one attention from contemporary artists living and working in Boston.
Hometown: East Greenwich, R.I.
Current occupation: I work at an art gallery in downtown, Washington, DC, called HEMPHILL Artworks.
Favorite BC class or professor? My favorite class is a tie between our Senior Year Thesis with Sheila Gallagher and a Ceramics Independent Study I completed with Mark Cooper. In both instances I was able to fully explore who I wanted to be and what I wanted to make as an artist.
What experiences related to your major did you pursue as an undergraduate? As a sophomore, I studied abroad during the summer in Rome, Italy. Here, I took a Renaissance and Baroque Art History course. We visited churches and museums in the city each day and saw incredible work. This was essential in developing my knowledge of art history so that I could contextualize my own contemporary art practice. It was also a fantastic way to study abroad without taking an entire semester away from campus.
Angelos Bougas
Class of 2021
What I enjoyed most about BC's Art, Art History, and Film program was the exceptional faculty, particularly the mentorship from Professor John Michalczyk, the head of the film department. His guidance went beyond academic instruction; it was a form of mentorship that made Boston feel like a second home, especially when my family was far away in Greece.
Hometown: Athens, Greece
Current occupation: Co-founder, Ocley Group, real estate firm in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Favorite course at BC? My favorite course at Boston College was 'Propaganda Film' taught by Professor John Michalczyk. This class was not only incredibly engaging but also deeply insightful in understanding the intersection of film, history, and sociopolitical narratives. We explored iconic films and unraveled their underlying messages.
What experiences related to your major did you pursue as an undergraduate? As an undergraduate student at Boston College, I was granted the unique opportunity to travel to countries such as Lithuania, Poland, France, Germany, and Greece for documentary productions, thanks to scholarships like the LaMattina and Salamanowitz. These documentary productions were not just academic exercises; they were profound learning experiences that shaped my understanding of global issues and my approach to tackling real-world problems
Annie Maloney
Class of 2014
I felt so supported by the faculty of the Art History department throughout my time at BC. Now that I am working as a professor, I really appreciate how much time each of my professors spent with me in office hours to make sure I thrived in the department.
Hometown: Spokane, Wash.
Current occupation: Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History, Oberlin College
Favorite class or professor? My favorite class was "Loot!" taught by Stephanie Leone and Nancy Netzer in 2013. Being able to research objects in the McMullen Museum collection and envision how they would be displayed in the new museum space was a such a formative experience for me.
What experiences related to your major did you pursue as an undergraduate? While I was an undergraduate, I worked as a Student Ambassador at the MFA Boston, served as an summer exhibition intern for the "Courbet: Mapping Realism" Exhibition, and received an Advanced Study Grant to travel to Rome to research frescoes in the Church of the Gesù for my senior seminar paper. These experiences made me realize that I wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in Art History.
Department News
News
Pope Innocent X and Roma sancta
Prof. Stephanie Leone presented a paper on "Pope Innocent X and Roma sancta," at the Early Modern Rome 5 Conference, which was held in Rome and the Orsini-Odescalchi Castle on Lake Bracciano. Prof. Leone interpreted Algardi's magnificent altarpiece of Saint Leo the Great and Attila the Hun, in St. Peter's, as Innocent X's revival of early Christian Rome for the Holy Year of 1650.
The Art of Sammy Chong
Studio Art professor Sammy Chong's paintings are the subject of a recent essay by Vicente Chong, S.J. entitled "The Art of Sammy Chong as a Revelatory and Symbolic Meditation of a Servant God" in Theology and Media(tion): Rendering the Absent Present, edited by Stephen Okey and Katherin G. Schmidt (Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York: 2024), 210-223.
Hartmut Austen's Divide
Hartmut Austen's mural Divide was on display at WGBH on Thursday, November 14. Divide is an acrylic and oil painting loosely based on Matisse’s “La Danse”. The abstract shapes are derived from the blurry online image of a military “Global Hawk” drone in flight.“It’s an elegant shape, weirdly figurative, and when turned upside down, sculptural,” Austen says. “For me, the drone shapes became a vehicle that helped me reflect on the battles that this country has fought, and still is fighting - with others and with itself.”
Professor David Young Kim, Department of the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, presented the Annual Josephine von Henneberg Lecture in Italian Art.
On October 3, 2024, Professor David Young Kim, Department of the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, presented the Annual Josephine von Henneberg Lecture in Italian Art. He discussed his new research project, "Found in Translation: Giorgio Vasari in Korea," about the interdependence of image and word in art history, the intersecting biographies of artists, writers, and art historians, and questions of identity in contemporary scholarship. Faculty, students, and friends of Boston College and the Boston community filled the lecture room at the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History. This year's lecture was co-sponsored by the Ricci Institute and the Art, Art History and Film Department. The lecture series is made possible by the generous gift of Professor Emerita Josephine von Henneberg.
In Memoriam: Pamela Berger (1940-2024)
Our beloved colleague Pamela Berger (1940-2024) passed away on August 31st, 2024. Professor Berger joined our department in 1974, after receiving her PhD in art history at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She retired in 2021, following nearly five decades at Boston College.
A renowned scholar of medieval art history, Professor Berger published a remarkable four books in her career, the most recent of which was Hebrew Psalms and the Utrecht Psalter: Veiled Origins, published in 2020. Much of her research engages iconography and iconology, analytical approaches she found particularly effective for understanding the meaning of a work of art in its own time. Pamela was also active as a screenwriter, filmmaker, and playwright. In 1987 she wrote and produced Sorceress, a film based on a thirteenth century Latin text about a medieval female healer accused of being a heretic. She went on to write and produce two more films, The Imported Bridegroom (1989) and Kilian's Chronicle: The Magic Stone (1994). Instead of slowing down after her retirement from Boston College, Professor Berger shifted her energy towards adapting The Imported Bridegroom into a musical, which was performed off-Broadway in New York City in 2023. At Boston College, Professor Berger taught a wide range of courses in Art History and Film Studies, including the introductory survey in art history, seminars on early and later medieval art, and several film courses, including “Cinema of the Greater Middle East,” “Cinema of Revolution and Revolt,” and “French Cinema.” The great breadth of Pamela’s teaching and scholarship reflects her profound intellectual curiosity and expertise. As Professor of Film Studies John Michalczyk put it, “Very quietly and calmly she lived several professional lives.” Beyond Boston College Pamela will be remembered as one of the founding members of Our Bodies, Ourselves, a pioneering feminist organization intended to empower women through conversations about their bodies, health, sexuality, and reproductive rights. She helped write the chapter on alternative modes of healing in early editions of the publication of the same name. In both her professional work and personal life, Professor Berger strove to raise up the voices of the underrepresented. I will never forget the kindness and support she showed me as an often unsure and insecure new faculty member in our department. She had a loving heart and a brilliant mind, and was always the voice of reason. Her contributions to our department, and to this world, were enormous and we will miss her greatly. – Aurelia Campbell, Associate Professor, Art History; Chair of the Department of Art, Art, History, and Film
Pamela was always a kind, smart, and respectful colleague. – Mark Cooper, Professor of the Practice, Studio Art
When I reflect on my time at Boston College, I cannot help but think of the dedicated educators that shaped my experience, especially those of the Art, Art History, and Film Department. Prof. Berger, or Pamela (as she implored me to call her after I graduated) was no exception. Pamela was always pushing the boundaries of what it meant to be a scholar and creative. An art historian, filmmaker, and lyricist, she never stopped pursuing the projects passionate to her, even in retirement. Her kindness, genuine care for my well-being, and her mentorship in both my academic and personal life, even after I graduated, are things for which I will always be deeply grateful. I know she will be dearly missed by her former students and colleagues, as she will be by me. – Matthew DiBenedetto, Class of 2021
Pam Berger was am incredibly kind colleague, creative scholar and feminist who was guided by the highest ethics on both a macro political level and a micro personal level. When I first came to Boston College, I was the only full-time woman in the Studio Art Area. I am so grateful that Pam was always looking out for me, not only encouraging my creative scholarship but always making sure that as a young artist, mother, and newly minted academic that I and everyone she encountered was treated with fairness. I love that she chose to be buried in a natural shroud. In death as in life, Pam had her eye on the prize of doing the right thing for others and the earth. She is sorely missed. – Sheila Gallagher, Associate Professor, Studio Art
Professor Berger was my instructor in ART1101 during my senior year at BC. It was not until studying for my General Exams in grad school that I came to know the sheer variety of Pamela’s research interests and creative works. Around that same time, Pamela was invited to Princeton to deliver a public lecture on her book, The Crescent on the Temple, about the medieval conflation of the Temple of Solomon and the Dome of the Rock. This material, and the conversation we had afterwards about the Old City of Jerusalem, has stayed with me for a decade---students in my Holy Lands course will read selections from Pamela’s book this fall. Reading through Pamela’s bibliography, one sees how at home she was seeking out the complexities and paradoxes of life in the Middle Ages, as reflected in visual and material culture, naturally set across continents and confessional boundaries. I am very heartened to share in her field and to continue in the pedagogical track where she left off. – John Lansdowne, Assistant Professor, Art History
Pamela was a wonderful and supportive mentor and colleague to me. She inspired me with her endless curiosity and her enthusiasm and energy for scholarship, creative work, and teaching. I vividly remember an exchange about our research a few years ago: She wanted to hear all about the method of historical network analysis that I was using--how I collected my historical data, how network analysis worked, and what I was learning--and I relished hearing details about her innovative interpretation of the much-studied Utrecht Psalter, which she published as a book with Penn State Press in 2020. Pamela will always be a great model of the love of learning. – Stephanie Leone, Professor, Art History
Pamela and I developed a close collegial bond over the last five years. She was a welcoming, warm, and deeply interested presence in our department, and I felt this from the moment I arrived in 2020. An intellectual with a fierce curiosity and openness, she welcomed my questions about her time in Paris as a graduate student in the 1960s and the important friendship she and her husband, Alan, developed there with the crucial American painter Bob Thompson. It is to Pamela's credit as an art historian that she recognized the importance of Thompson's interventions in the privileged histories and skills of easel painting--and this, years if not decades before Thompson would gain widespread recognition either within the discourse of art history or the art system at large (indeed, Thompson made a portrait of Pamela and Alan which hangs in their Cambridge apartment). We also talked about her art historical training with Erwin Panofsky and other key emigre art historians in mid-century New York; these are the founders of some of our field's structuring methodologies. Finally, I was endlessly fascinated to hear about her truly history-making role as a founder of Our Bodies, Ourselves and as a founding author of the legendary book of the same name. Pamela was a supportive and serious thinker with whom one could talk about anything intellectual. But beyond that, I was grateful to her for taking an interest in me and my family, especially my three-year old daughter Opal, whom she let run around her family's backyard. I will miss her. – Kevin Lotery, Assistant Professor, Art History
Pamela often spoke of her great mentor, the German-Jewish emigree Erwin Panofsky at the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU. He fled Germany as the National Socialists were coming to power to begin a prestigious career in art history. His major focus was on iconography, and then iconology, the analysis of images and their deeper often historical or contextual meaning. Pamela shared her love for the image in all of its venues--art history, cinema, and theater. Her life was a brilliant tapestry, like “La Dame à la Licorne,” woven with colorful images from all of these rich experiences in the arts.Sometime in 1986 or so, Pamela came to me asking if I had a published script on hand to see how it is sketched out. Having taught film history since 1978, I had a few, and she was most interested in the medieval script for Ingmar Bergman’s Seventh Seal which I had used after writing my recent French book on the director. We also discussed the “medieval” film, Return of Martin Guerre (1983), with Gérard Depardieu and its historical recreation of the period. Little did I know that this art historian and professor would soon launch out into her own vibrant career in film. With a spark of an idea in mind for a French film on a medieval subject, Pamela applied for, and was awarded, a coveted National Endowment for the Arts grant. A second coup came with her recruiting Suzanne Schiffman, Assistant Director for French New Wave pioneer François Truffaut (The Last Metro, Day for Night) for her project. In pre-production and production, as a good art historian, Pamela insured the authenticity of the storyline and artifacts or props for the film, on and off the set. Her labors were rewarded with the nomination of The Sorceress for a César, a French Oscar. Pamela moved naturally from writer and art consultant on the set, to director, adapting Abraham Cahan’s immigrant story for the screen. I recall her extensive search for locations that existed after the turn of the 20th century, that led to her keen choices of the grist mill at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, and Harvard’s Memorial Hall. Pamela received critical praise from The Village Voice, for her 1989 directorial debut of The Imported Bridegroom: “Berger has, with her first film, leapt into the ring with James Ivory,” the American director who adapted E. M. Forster’s novel, A Room with a View and directed Remains of the Day with Anthony Hopkins. Her film went on to have two other lives, as a theatrical play and a musical staged at the 14th Street Y Theater in NY. Her generosity of spirit, as an educator and mentor to students and colleagues continued, and I offer here two examples: sharing her film pre-production experience with students in courses on preparation for feature films in terms of story, location, artifacts, etc., and supporting my screenplay for a potential film “Anya: Black Diamond” about a young girl in 1939 in the coal region of Pennsylvania. In her next foray into film direction, Killian’s Chronicle: The Magic Stone, Pamela utilized her historical knowledge of the Vikings, her solid sense of storytelling, and her keen commitment to recreating authentic images on screen. Pamela was able to capture the Viking narrative and the New England Native American with accuracy and warmth. In all of these cinematic experiences, Pamela remained true to the primacy of the icon, the image on screen, in a medieval painting, and on stage. Her iconic humanity remains with us. – John J. Michalczyk, Director of Film Studies
Ten years ago, Pamela approached me to co-teach al-Andalus/Sepharad/Islamic Spain, a topic that did not fall within either our respective fields of expertise. But, she had acquired a new passion: Sephardic poetry. As customary of Pamela, she had to satiate her appetite by taking up the topic seriously, hence, teach a course on it. She and I spent the summer studying for the course. At that earlier stage of my career I had the predilection to pedagogical experimentation and she was established with her own tried and true teaching methods. One would have thought that our generational differences risked creating friction, or at the very least, a power dynamic resulting in the resentment of the junior party. Not with Pamela. The workload was meticulously equally divided. And rather than resisting my ideas, she watched me intently with curiosity and admiration. Indeed, she empowered me. Pamela and I became friends and she and her husband Alan would invite me to their house, which I discovered was a meeting place for progressive Jews and Arabs. She gave me plant cuttings and I lent her books. We exchanged recommendations about contractors, real estate agents, and the best morning exercises. We had a sweet, light friendship and her energy was infectious. – Dana Sajdi, Associate Professor, History
From the moment that I arrived at Boston College, Pamela was such a warm and welcoming presence. Whether we were discussing the complexities of iconology or the pleasures of parenthood, she always conveyed a joyfulness and curiosity that left me feeling more alive to the world. I miss her dearly. – Oliver Wunsch, Assistant Professor, Art History
Show More For more information...'Drawing in HMart" Solo Exhibition by Cathy Della Lucia at Framingham State University
Cathy Della Lucia's solo exhibition "Drawing in HMart" opened this week at the Mazmanian Gallery at Framingham State University. The opening reception will be held next Wednesday, September 11 at 4:30PM with an artist talk to follow at 5:30PM. All are welcome.
The show runs through October 25. Open hours are M-F 10-6PM at the McCarthy Center - 93 State St. Framingham, MA- 3rd floor. (The third floor is the main floor when you enter from State St).
Stephanie Stigliano's Now and Then at Bromer Gallery
At Bromer Gallery we are delighted to announce our latest exhibition, “Stephanie Stigliano: Now and Then.” The show serves simultaneously as a retrospective view of a long career of artistic exploration, and as a showcase of current activity and experimentation. Stigliano’s deft play with material and structure imbues a sense of continuity between her flat work on the walls and her artist’s books, which in their complex folds and structures demonstrate the progression between single sheet to bound volume. To unfurl the origami-like puzzle of one of Stigliano’s volumes is to collaborate in the book’s construction, to build it up again and again out of its parts. Collaboration and community inform two of the exhibit’s largest book projects, “At the Edge of the Ocean” and “Four Women for Freedom,” which both adopt sculptural formats, each building a literal scaffold around concepts that can seem nebulous, difficult, or elusive.
Stephanie Stigliano’s work is held at Harvard University, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Museum for Women in the Arts, and she has participated in exhibits as local as Yarmouth and Florence, Massachusetts, and as global as Iceland and Poland. She is a professor at Boston College, where she teaches, “Making Prints/Making Books.” She is a longtime member of The Boston Printmakers and is a co-founder of New England Book Artists.
“Stephanie Stigliano: Now and Then” will be on exhibit at Bromer Booksellers & Gallery from June 27 to November 15, 2024, with books and prints available for sale.
Show MoreDid Auguste Rodin Steal From Camille Claudel?
What went so wrong that the brilliant sculptor’s work became so little known? Simply put, she entered Rodin’s studio. Read Mary Sherman's article in full at Hyperallergic.
Show MoreBrian Reeves Featured in Poster Show
Brian Reeves' work will be featured in the Design for Good poster show at Space Gallery in Portland, Maine.
The opening is 5-8pm on Ocobert 6. The show lasts through November 15.
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