Course Descriptions
Principles of Gallery Management I: Gallery Design and Operations
Examines principles of art administration. Considers commercial art establishments: their facilities, design, exhibition and storage requirements, staffing, taste and price levels. Site visits to galleries and auction houses. 3 credits
AM 512
Principles of Gallery Management II: The Business of Art
Addresses collection management, business practices, and ethics in the administration of commercial art establishments. Examines procedures for acquisition, registration, inventory, exhibition, and applications of computer technology in gallery management. 3 credits
AM 521
History of Modern Art: 1870 to 1945
Focuses on significant artists and movements in Europe from Realism through Surrealism. Weekly reading assignments provide the topic of discussion for each class. Students come to class prepared to discuss the week's reading, and will be evaluated on the basis of class participation, as well as a term paper on an art market-related subject. 3 credits
AM 522
History of Contemporary Art: 1945 to Present
Provides a comprehensive survey of the art and culture of postwar Europe and America. Abstract Expressionism, Pop, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Performance Art, Earth Art, and Postmodern strategies of representation are explored using major critical and theoretical models. The impact of contemporary market practice is also considered. Where possible, museum, gallery and studio visits are integrated into the course. 3 credits
AM 531
Marketing Art For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Organizations
Introduces students to the basic principles of integrated marketing communications as they apply both to not-for-profit institutions, such as museums, and for-profit retail art establishments. Surveys sales techniques, advertising, merchandising, publicity, special events, and media relations as they apply to the art world. Students organize and develop a marketing plan. 3 credits
AM 532
Starting an Art Business
Introduces students to the principles of entrepreneurship and the different types of business structures. Explores those planning, financial, legal, managerial, marketing, and operational skills needed to open a small retail art or professional art- service business. The course is structured around the organization, development, and completion of a business plan together with an analysis of market factors and financial projections. 3 credits
AM 541
Writing about Art
A practicum in art writing in which students read a variety of art texts and apply the lessons learned from them to their own writing. Emphasis is placed early in the semester on developing observational skills, and then using them to write about art. As the semester progresses, some of the strategies, methodologies, and critical models employed by historical and contemporary art writers are investigated. Students will analyze the positions taken in different forms of art writing -- from the promotional catalogue essayist or auction-house writer to the critical stance of the reviewer -- and develop their own writing skills in a series of exercises, which will be turned in as a final portfolio at the end of the semester. 3 credits
AM 571
Computer Technology for the Art World
Provides an overview of the constantly expanding role of the computer as an arts management tool, including gallery management, inventory and collections management, publishing, accounting, information retrieval, and internet marketing and sales, through a combination of lectures and hands-on laboratories. Students entering the course are expected to have already achieved basic competence in word- and data-processing, computer graphics, and internet use. 3 credits.
AM 613
Principles of Gallery Management III: Valuation and Appraisal
Considers appraisals, market values, authentication, forgeries, antiquities, collectibles, and import and export of artistic and cultural objects. Includes lectures by visiting specialists. 3 credits
AM 623
Seminar: The New York Art World
Explores the different elements of the art market with particular emphasis on how they are connected to the New York art world and the larger context of the global art market. Through class discussions and presentations by arts professionals including administrators, curators, dealers, critics, consultants, and collectors, students expand and deepen their understanding of the roles that each participant plays, and analyze the complex interconnectedness of the different components of the art world. 3 credits
AM 633
Seminar: Art, Law, & Professional Ethics
Considers the legal and ethical questions particular to art galleries, auction houses, museums, collectors, and artists. Topics covered include taxes, title, commissions, copyright, contracts, estates, reproductions, forgery, artists' rights, and the legal status of the art object. 3 credits
AM 641
Art Now: Communicating Current Trends in Art
This class examines up-to-the-minute ideas, trends, and movements in art. Special attention will be paid to the work of the last twenty years in order to equip students with the theoretical concepts and the language necessary to develop meaning in new art. Oral and written assignments will help students learn to quickly assess and evaluate art, and the strategies employed in its exhibition, as well as, to eloquently express their critical understanding. 3 credits
AM 651
Exhibition & Interpretation: Theory, Planning, & Design
Provides an overview of current practices in exhibition interpretation and design. Students examine gallery exhibitions and explore a variety of approaches, seek and review artists and determine an exhibit theme, search for an appropriate exhibition space and participate in the negotiation of the rental agreement. Concludes with a theoretical plan for implementation. 3 credits
AM 652
Exhibition and Interpretation: Practicum
Prerequisite: AM 651 Following a theme selected in AM 651, students collaborate on the planning, design, and interpretation of an exhibition. Students create a budget for the exhibition and track its costs; organize a publicity plan; visit artists studios and select works; request loans; arrange insurance, packing and shipment; design the exhibition layout, lighting and graphics; research, write, and design the catalogue; install the exhibition; and plan the opening event. The press is invited to the opening. 3 credits
AM 691
Internship
Supervised field experiences in galleries, archives, auction houses, art foundations, and museum management departments. Completed individually for a minimum of 135 hours during any given semester. In the fourth semester, students will take an evaluation and assessment workshop course that includes oral and written presentations of their internship experience. 3 credits
AM 692
Independent Study in Art Market: Principles and Practices
Under the guidance of a faculty member, each student undertakes advanced work in a particular subject, pursues an individual project, or combines both of these activities. Proposals for independent study must adhere to school guidelines. Variable credit (3 credits maximum)
AM 701
Qualifying Paper
With the approval of faculty advisors, students develop individual topics and research and write s qualifying paper, following school guidelines. 3 credits
AM 702
Maintenance of Matriculation per Term
Students must maintain matriculation after completion of their coursework and until the qualifying paper has been approved.