At Tyler, we seek to understand art and visual culture from an inclusive and global perspective, fostering knowledge and awareness of human creativity as a fundamental form of expression in a world where visual literacy and cultural production play a vital role in shaping society.
Complete your degree in two years as a full-time student, or take advantage of our late afternoon and early evening courses to complete your degree as a part-time student.
Guided by accomplished faculty members with diverse areas of expertise, learn from scholars with deep knowledge in their specialties while you benefit from access to the many resources of one of the nation’s top art and design schools. Be prepared to take up a leading role in the art world, as a scholar, researcher, arts manager and more.
Tyler's highly accomplished faculty offer a broad range of expertise, including:
Students have many opportunities to hear from scholars and contemporary artists, to work with emerging artists, and to use regional archives, libraries, and art collections, including hands-on opportunities to work with collections or in internships.
And the vibrant arts scene in Philadelphia is only a launching pad for the opportunities that exist in the wider region which are in easy reach of the city.
The Tyler School of Art and Architecture features its own admissions team, who can provide you with the information you need to make the best decision for your educational and career goals.
Tyler's research track challenges you to develop a broad general knowledge of visual arts, studying their cultural, historical, stylistic and ethical context over time and culminating in a research project that allows you to obtain a deep geographical and chronological understanding of art history. You learn to root your analysis in historical, cultural, stylistic and ethical contexts while employing critical theories. By working closely with individual faculty members, you will graduate with knowledge and skills to:
Conduct original research and organize a sustained project
Work collaboratively with artists, administrators, educators, students and the public
Contribute to the profession and serve communities by elevating artists and ideas
Tyler’s arts management track provides an advanced cultural practice and specialized degree pathway, led by a 30-year veteran of the New York arts world. Learn both the historical and current forces that shape arts institutions:
Along with managing the production and presentation of art, you explore critical issues facing cultural institutions, such as structural bias, missing communities and perspectives, and capitalist structures. The goal? To act as a change-agent and build stronger, more diverse communities surrounding art museums, non-profit cultural organizations or galleries and their:
Values, Roles, and Missions
Economics
Strategic Planning and Governance
Public Engagement
To support master’s degree students in both art history tracks, Tyler provides access to these resources for research, internships, fellowships, and career exploration.
In addition to Temple University’s R1 research university designation, funding opportunities include short-term grants offered by the Tyler School of Art and Architecture. You also can compete for external fellowships, grants, awards or internships from regional and national organizations. Here are a few internal funding resources:
Dolan-Haase Award
Dean’s Grant for Presentation at a Conference
Dean’s Grant for Research
Marcia B. Hall Summer Research Grant
Fox Board Fellowship
Some of our recent students also received internships and fellowships like these:
Philadelphia250
Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice
Princeton Arts Council
William H. Truettner Graduate Fellowship, Smithsonian American Art Museum
Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library
If you want a career in higher education or research, the Research Track serves as a gateway to the best art history PhD programs.
If you imagine a direct path into the arts profession writ large, the Research Track also prepares you for leadership and management roles in museums, galleries, non-profits, archives, libraries or other arts-related institutions.
Doctoral Programs: University of Pittsburgh, Tyler
Emily Chelsea Jewelry, Philadelphia
Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia
Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia
Lansdale Catholic High School
Michener Museum, Doylestown PA
Museum of the American Revolution, Philadelphia
Northley Middle School, Aston, PA
Philadelphia Art Center
Philadelphia Museum of Arts
Salem County (NJ) Historical Society
Tianyu Arts & Culture, Inc., Chicago
University of Pennsylvania Fisher Fine Arts Library
Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia
Tyler’s Arts Management Track prepares you for leadership and management roles in a variety of organizations, where you work to align operations and program decisions with the institution’s mission and social values.
Asian Arts Initiative, Philadelphia
InLiquid, Philadelphia
Monument Lab
Mural Arts, Philadelphia
Museum of the American Revolution, Philadelphia
Philadelphia Film Society
Philadelphia 250
Philadelphia Museum of Arts
Princeton Arts Council, Princeton
Tianyu Arts & Culture, Inc., Chicago
Travel Company (private, co-owner)
Vanguard Charitable, Philadelphia
Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia
Meet the award-winning faculty who teach in Tyler’s undergraduate and graduate degrees in art history.
The Art History Department and community understand that they play a role in your success. To help you feel connected to your peers, browse through these brief profiles.
Meet some of the remarkable graduates of Tyler’s MA in Art History. Our alumni are educators, entrepreneurs, and changemakers shaping the future of the study of art history in a wide variety of arts organizations.
Sahiti is a Project Manager at Mural Arts Philadelphia. She manages a variety of murals, closely collaborating with artists, and engaging with community partners and stakeholders to contribute to the vibrant, ever-growing public art scene in the “mural capital of the world”. Her management skills and knowledge of the arts and culture sector was cultivated through her time pursuing her MA in arts management at Tyler. While at Tyler, Sahiti studied Tyler cultural policy, arts administration, South Indian art history, cultural heritage management, and non-profit governance through shadowing the board at Asian Arts Initiative. She also oversaw the operations of the Graphics Media Center at the Student Center, a student-run business for graphic design and print production. Because of her experience at Tyler, Sahiti feels able to tackle a multitude of public art projects through creative problem-solving, empathy, and care. Her mural projects can now be found across Philadelphia.
After earning her B.A. in Visual Art from Rutgers and working in the arts in Philadelphia for several years, Kristina came to Tyler to pursue her interest in global modern and contemporary art history. Since graduating with her M.A., she has used her artistic and research skills as Curatorial Project Manager and Administrative Coordinator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania (ICA). Kristina supports the Curatorial and Curatorial Affairs Departments and coordinates cross-departmental communication related to ICA’s exhibitions and programming. She has supported many notable exhibitions, most recently Carl Cheng: Nature Never Loses, Joanna Piotrowska: unseeing eyes, restless bodies, and Where I Learned to Look: Art from the Yard. Previously, Kristina was a Contemporary Art Curatorial Intern at The Baltimore Museum of Art, where she assisted with research for the exhibition, Joyce J. Scott: Walk a Mile in My Dreams.
Zixiao is currently pursuing a PhD in the Department of History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. His research focuses on the representation and imagining of China in Italian Renaissance art. At Tyler, Zixiao studied under a group of early modern scholars specializing in European art. In 2022, he completed his master’s thesis, The Jesuits in China: Translation, Localization, and Failure. His time at Tyler, working closely with Professors Ashley West, Marcia Hall, and Tracy Cooper, laid a strong foundation for his current research. He credits his time at Tyler for nurturing his curiosity about cross-cultural encounters and shaping the questions that now guide his doctoral work. Zixiao is especially committed to exploring underrepresented histories in early modern art and contributing to a more expansive understanding of the global Renaissance.
Marie currently uses the skills she acquired in her time at Tyler as the Marketing Manager at the Woodmere in Chestnut Hill (Philadelphia), a museum and cultural hub that focuses on the arts and artists of Philadelphia. While at Tyler, Marie concentrated her individualized studies on the role of artists and non-profit institutions in the greater Philadelphia area, working with the Arts Council of Princeton, while collaborating on a digital mapping project of the Philadelphia art world. Because of those skills, Marie now oversees the development of digital guides, a new website, and social media messaging for the Woodmere. In her work, Marie seeks new ways to connect with new audiences for artists and change the way that people think about, view, and understand art.
Sara is the Development Officer for Stewardship at the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The museum focuses on the regional art and culture of the Delaware River Valley and Southeastern Pennsylvania. While at Tyler, Sara pursued the dual-track MA, splitting her studies between studying the multifaceted approaches to non-profit leadership and ethics through the Fox Board Fellows Program—one of the first Tyler students accepted into the program—and completing a Qualifying Paper on the shifting depictions of gender roles in the prints of Mexico's Taller de Gráfica Popular in the mid-20th Century. Sara shares the vision of the museum with current and prospective donors through developing cultivation events, mailed communications, and initiating the museum's new Young Friends program. In her work, Sara seeks to showcase the impact accessibility and diversity initiatives have in creating an educationally rich, engaging, and welcoming museum environment.
Tara is currently Associate Curator of Clothing and Textile Arts at History Colorado in Denver, a state-run museum that serves Colorado's diverse communities. At Tyler, Tara specialized in modern and contemporary art and focused her research on environmentally motivated artists working across different media. From Tyler's expert faculty, she learned how to refine her writing, research, and thinking, skills that have guided her career. She also benefited from Philadelphia's lively art scene and cultural experiences available within the city and along the East Coast. After graduating from Tyler, Tara was awarded the 2019 William H. Truettner Graduate Research Fellowship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., where she continued her research into art and environmentalism. This opportunity led to a position at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. There, she worked as an Assistant Curator before moving to her current position in Denver …
In addition to Tyler’s specialized admissions team, you’re welcome to contact these art history program leaders.
