Students may take courses at our consortium partner institutions which include Columbia University (COL), Cooper Hewitt, Parsons School of Design (CH), the City University of …

Independent study offers students the opportunity to pursue research in areas beyond the range of the standard curriculum. Through independent study, students further their knowledge …

This two-and-a-half week August session includes introductions to resources at Bard Graduate Center, as well as required digital and writing seminars, and language classes, if …

Early modern Europe has been dubbed the "Age of Exploration" or the "Age of Discovery," but exploration and discovery included people from the Americas, Africa, …

What is a doll? This is the first in a series of courses to conceptualize and design “Welcome to the Dolls’ House,” the spring 2025 Focus …

This course will introduce students to the exhibition “Staging the Table in Europe, 1500–1800” that will open at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery in February, 2023.  …

Sylvester Manor is a Georgian-era plantation home on Shelter Island, New York that was built in 1652 to act as a provisioning plantation for the Barbados …

This course surveys the cultures of Central and South America and the Caribbean from 1500 to the present. The course will attempt to serve as a …

This course examines in depth the formation and transformation of Tang-dynasty (618–907) gold and silversmithing. How exactly did it become one of the trendsetting crafts of …

In September 2023, the Bard Graduate Center Gallery will host “Peace, Power, & Prestige: Metal Arts in Africa.” The exhibition will be the first of its …

This course will examine the art and material culture of the “Golden Age” of the Tudors, a defining era in British political, religious and cultural …

This course considers the importance of materiality in healing practices in a broad range of cultures and time periods, including our own. We will examine …

This two-semester, team-taught course introduces incoming students to major historical developments in decorative arts, design, and material culture from antiquity to the present. Monday evening …

This fall-term course is required for entering MA students, and for PhD students who have not taken a course deemed comparable. Drawing on the expertise …

This two-semester practicum on Tuesday afternoons develops techniques for effective graduate-level writing through practical exercises and workshop sessions. Drawing on the assignments and readings in 500…

All MA students are required, during the course of the two-year program, to attend at least 10 lectures, symposia, or talks given by leading scholars in …

This seminar investigates the creation, growth, and changing meanings of the palace and gardens of Versailles from the seventeenth century to the present. After exploring …

Politically speaking, the Qing era can be divided into three distinct epochs: a short transformational seventeenth century defined by the Manchu conquest of China and …

The objective of this course is to use object-centered historical and interdisciplinary research to explore the role of material things in the emergence of disciplines …

Decades before the opening of the Bauhaus School in 1919, German design asserted its remarkable power and presence, endowing everyday things with a unique agency within …

This course will provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to conceive of and implement an exhibition. We will consider, analyze, and critique different …

Colonization, enslavement, urbanization, immigration, industrialization, westward expansion, community—these are complicated and contested topics central to the history and identity of the United States. People …

The standard textbooks of ancient art tend to present its history either in narratives concentrating on great artists and their inventions or as a succession …