When the Department of Art History overhauled its introductory course in 2024, the goal was ambitious: give over a thousand students each year a rigorous grounding in art from across time, and do it without sacrificing the intimacy of a small classroom.
The result is “Monuments of Art History.” With approximately 1,200 students enrolled this year, this course is the foundation of one of the largest art history programs in North America. Known around the Department by its course code FAH101, it is both a gateway for future majors and a formative experience for students from across the university, from future architects to commerce students to aspiring criminologists.
The Department entrusted the redesign to three faculty members whose specializations span the history of art: SeungJung Kim (ancient art and archaeology), Adam Cohen (medieval art), and Jordan Bear (modern art and photography). As it happens, all three had enrolled in or taught Columbia University’s Art Humanities course at different points in their careers. Since 1947, every Columbia undergraduate has been required to take Art Humanities, on the premise that visual literacy is foundational to a liberal education.
That proven model gave the FAH101 faculty a starting point. But they saw an opportunity to advance beyond it.
At Columbia, Art Humanities sections are taught by individual instructors, many of them graduate students, each responsible for covering the full syllabus on their own. FAH101 takes a different approach. Bear, Cohen, and Kim divide up lecturing responsibilities based on their specializations, so students receive expert instruction across the full chronological range. Tutorials led by teaching assistants serve as each student’s home base throughout the semester. The result combines the individualized attention of a seminar with the intellectual authority of a large faculty-led lecture course.
The course operates on a conviction that knowledge comes before critique. Students encounter a carefully planned sequence of landmark works, from the Parthenon to the great mosques of the Islamic world to contemporary Indigenous art, building a shared foundation that equips them to pose better questions, draw richer comparisons, and develop their own critical judgments.
“Balancing skills with knowledge, and the canonical tradition with newer interests, was not an easy feat,” notes Kim.
The results validate the course’s approach. “Through FAH101, I realized I wanted to devote the rest of my studies to understanding what art has to say,” says former student Jolene Li. Selena Syed, who is now pursuing graduate studies in art history, describes Monuments of Art History as what set her on that path.
“By focusing on material taught by our own faculty, we encourage students to take more courses in Art History,” says Cohen. “So far the results have been very encouraging.”
The benefits extend to the professional formation of graduate students. The FAH101 professors mentor teaching assistants, offering strategies for leading tutorials and giving constructive feedback on students’ writing. For these grad students, the course amounts to a practicum in art history pedagogy.
The course also looks outward. “I always admired the civic function of Art Humanities,” says Bear. “It turns students into culturally literate citizens and potential art patrons.” Only a small percentage of FAH101 students will become professional art historians, he notes, "but we hope all of them can walk into an art museum and make sense of its artefacts."
Bear, Cohen, and Kim refine the course each semester based on what they learn from students and teaching assistants. The scale of the enrolment gives them room to test new approaches and determine what works best.
“Monuments of Art History trains students’ visual discernment by giving them a shared foundation in art history,” says Department Chair Joseph Clarke. “There’s a recurring debate in our field about whether we should still teach canonical works. We say yes. Students across the university are demonstrating through their enrollment choices that they value this kind of serious intellectual formation.”