The Department of Art History offers a lively range of courses on art and architecture from antiquity to the present. Our superb faculty often utilize the excellent museum resources in Houston, which are among the best in the nation. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston contains an encyclopedic collection of art from antiquity to the present. Bayou Bend, the American decorative arts center of the MFAH, is the largest repository of early Americana west of the East Coast of the United States. The renowned Menil Collection has important examples of modern painting and sculpture, as well as significant holdings in Antiquity, Byzantine and Medieval, Tribal, and Twentieth-Century Art (with a concentration in Surrealism). The department offers several fellowships that allow students to work with the collections and curatorial staff at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Menil Collection (see under “academic” and "fellowships"). In addition to museum fellowships, the department is able to offer students summer travel funds for trips in the U.S. and abroad.
     Our on-campus educational resources are among the best in the nation.  The Brown Fine Arts Library, on the third floor of Fondren, is a major research library in the field. The department's Visual Resource Center, on the second floor of Herring Hall, makes available to the Rice faculty over a million images of art works for use in teaching. Our classroom facilities are new and fully equipped with first-rate projection systems.
     Those at Rice for whom art history is their primary major go on to attend the best graduate schools in the field and achieve professional success as academics and curators. Other art history majors use their knowledge in a broad variety of career paths, including law, medicine, and business. In a world increasingly dominated by visual imagery, the study of art history provides invaluable training, and art history majors at Rice also develop strong writing skills and analytical abilities.
     I am happy to announce that the Department of Art History, supported by recent grants from the Brown Foundation and generous individual donors, is in the process of establishing a doctoral program in the history of art. The first students will enter in the Fall of 2009. Those interested should consult this website beginning in February 2008 for information about the program and to download instructions for applying. In the meantime, any questions about the program should be directed to me at manca@rice.edu.

- Joseph Manca, Chairman, Department of Art History