Pratt’s an exceptional place to study art and design history. From our landmarked campus you’ll have access to NYC’s premier international private collections, libraries, museums, studios, and galleries, as well as leading artists, designers, historians, and theorists.
History of Art and Design at Pratt
Join us in New York City, the art capital of the United States, for an immersive education in the history of art and design. Specialized foundational, art and design history, and liberal arts courses prepare you to conduct research, critically analyze and describe works of art, and place them in their social context. Studios and electives in your chosen concentration provide an in-depth program of study and experiential learning opportunities to practice traditional and new visual arts techniques.
The Experience
Taking specially designed foundation and survey courses, students in the BFA program will engage with a range of liberal arts disciplines including philosophy, literature, and criticism of the history of art and design, as well as studio courses. You’ll collaborate closely with your team, faculty, and community partners to learn the skills needed to create strategies and systems that meet real-world challenges.
Electives and Seminars
You’ll have the opportunity to take electives in film and design, architecture, non-Western, pre-Renaissance, Renaissance to Rococo, and 19th-, 20th-, or 21st-century art, theory and methodology, and chemistry of art. Major-specific seminars are available from your first through senior years, on topics that include the role of New York as a cultural capital, critical and theoretical models, and art and social justice.
Study Abroad
Immersing yourself in another culture is an incredible experience that can extend the boundaries of creativity. Study abroad programs are an integral part of the college experience, and Pratt has deep connections with university partners around the world. Study in Paris with the Pratt in Paris summer program. We also recently celebrated the 35th anniversary of Pratt in Venice, which is a 6-week program that occurs each June and July. For more information on Study Abroad, visit Pratt’s Study Abroad page.
Learning Resources
We develop disciplinary fluency in our program of study and we celebrate the interdisciplinary nature of design critical to address the plurality and complexity of the environments in which we operate. Learn about resources.
Our Faculty
Pratt’s distinguished faculty of outstanding creative professionals and scholars share a common desire to develop each student’s potential and creativity to the fullest. Bringing different views, methods, and perspectives, they provide a rigorous educational model in which students make and learn. See all History of Art and Design faculty and administrators.
Our Alumni
Pratt’s distinguished alumni are leading diverse and thriving careers, addressing critical challenges and creating innovative work that reimagines our world.
Success Stories
Ready for More?
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"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls."
— Pablo Picasso
Art has a unique way of transforming our perspective. It’s more than just an expression of creativity—it’s a means of escape and a way to reconnect with our deeper selves. As Picasso beautifully put it, 'The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.' In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we often forget to pause and reflect. Art offers us that moment of clarity, allowing us to lose ourselves in beauty, and in doing so, find ourselves again. Whether it’s through painting, sculpture, or any form of creative expression, art has the power to refresh our spirits and reignite our passions. So, take a moment today to let art speak to you, cleanse your mind, and inspire your soul.
#ArtInspiration #CreativeExpression #Picasso #ArtQuotes #SoulfulArt #FindingYourself
3 days ago
You’re invited to the Surrealism Tomorrow exhibition, which will be held at the Student Union on Wednesday, April 16, at 3:00 PM. We hope you can join us there to celebrate the creativity and astute psychological insight of our students.
The submissions range from traditional techniques such as oil painting, sculpture, and photography to more innovative approaches like digitized claymation, video game design, and mixed-media installations. The use of materials is equally varied and creative, including textiles, metal, wood, and ceramics, offering a dynamic mix of visual, tactile, and conceptual experiences.
During the opening, a panel of We look forward to seeing you at the openingexperts from leading institutions will review submissions, providing recognition, conservations, and valuable feedback:
Stephanie Weber, Lenbachhaus Munich
Ana Janevski, The Museum of Modern Art
Danielle Drori, Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis
Emir Kapetanović, Los Angeles-based filmmaker
Cacho Falcon, New York City-based visual artist
The opening of the exhibition is preceded by two sessions of Surrealist Games that will take place on April 15th, in the Alumni Reading Room. This event is open to students, faculty and staff.
This event is sponsored by the History of Art and Design Department, Social Sciences and Cultural Studies Departments, Psychology at Pratt, and School of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Refreshments will be provided.
4 days ago
Weekly Design History: The Helvetica Typeface
This week, we celebrate the Helvetica Typeface, one of the most influential and widely used typefaces in modern graphic design. Designed in 1957 by Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann, Helvetica epitomizes the Swiss Style, known for its clean, neutral, and highly legible design.
Helvetica quickly became the go-to typeface for corporate branding, signage, and transportation systems around the world due to its versatility and modern aesthetic. Its simplicity and clarity make it timeless, continuing to be a favorite among designers.
Fun Fact: Helvetica was originally called Neue Haas Grotesk but was renamed to reflect its Swiss origins, as "Helvetica" is the Latin name for Switzerland.
#Helvetica #Typography #SwissDesign #DesignHistory #WeeklyDesignSpotlight
5 days ago
You are invited to “Climate Change and the New Polar Aesthetics: Artists Reimagine the Arctic and Antarctic.“
If you are interested in attending, Please RSVP.
* This event is open for public.
Date: Monday, April 21st, 2025
Time: 5:30 to 7:00 pm
Venue: Alumni Reading Room
A Talk by Lisa Bloom
In Climate Change and the New Polar Aesthetics, Lisa E. Bloom considers the ways artists, filmmakers, and activists engaged with the Arctic and Antarctic to represent our current environmental crises and reconstruct public understandings of them. Bloom examines feminist, Black, Indigenous, and non-Western perspectives to address the exigencies of the experience of the Anthropocene and its attendant ecosystem failures. Bloom’s examination and contextualization of new polar aesthetics makes environmental degradation more legible while demonstrating that our own political agency is central to imagining and constructing a better world.
Lisa E. Bloom is the author of many femi- nist books and articles in art history, visual culture, and cultural studies including Gender on Ice: American Ideologies of Polar Expeditions (University of Minnesota Press), With Other Eyes: Looking at Race and Gender in Visual Culture (University of Minnesota Press) and Jewish Identities in U.S. Feminist Art: Ghosts of Ethnicity (Routledge). She has taught and had been a researcher at numerous universities and art schools over the years including the University of California, Berkeley, (2018-2024) where she was recently a scholar-in-residence at the Beatrice Bain Center in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies.
6 days ago
Art History 101: Part 4 - Impressionism to Post-Impressionism
The Birth of Impressionism
Emerging in the late 19th century, Impressionism focused on capturing light and everyday moments, often painted en plein air (outdoors).
Example: "Impression, Sunrise" by Claude Monet (1872)
Key Figures
Artists like Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir were pioneers of this movement, experimenting with color and brushstroke techniques.
Example: "Luncheon of the Boating Party" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1880-1881)
Post-Impressionist Innovations
Post-Impressionists like Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne expanded on Impressionist ideas, using bold colors and unique forms to express deeper emotions.
Example: "The Starry Night" by Vincent van Gogh (1889)
Iconic Examples
"Water Lilies" by Monet showcases the beauty of nature through light reflections, while "The Starry Night" by Van Gogh expresses emotional turbulence through swirling skies.
Example: "Water Lilies" series by Claude Monet (1920-1926)
1 week ago
Weekly Art Spotlight: The Ardabil Carpet
This week, we delve into the exquisite craftsmanship of the Ardabil Carpet, one of the most celebrated pieces of Persian Islamic art. Created in 1539-1540, this carpet is renowned for its intricate design and remarkable size, measuring 34.5 by 17.5 feet.
Commissioned for the Ardabil Shrine in Iran, the carpet features a stunning medallion design surrounded by a series of intricate floral and geometric patterns. The meticulous craftsmanship is a testament to the advanced weaving techniques and artistic vision of the Safavid period.
#IslamicArt #ArdabilCarpet #PersianArt #ArtInspiration #DesignHistory #WeeklyArtSpotlight
1 week ago
You are invited to our next HAD Faculty Conversation featuring Diana Gisolfi and Sarah Wilkins.
Diana Gisolfi, “The Scuola dei Mercanti (1570) in Venice: A case study of societal and artistic loss occasioned by Napoleon’s decree of 1806”
Sarah Wilkins, “Exterior Shrine to Interior Altarpiece: Rinaldeschi, the Madonna de’ Ricci, and the Desecration of Street Art”
* This event is for Pratt community.
Date: Thursday, April 10th, 2025
Time: 12.00 – 1:00 pm
Venue: Main 212
“The Scuola dei Mercanti (1570) in Venice: A case study of societal and artistic loss occasioned by Napoleon’s decree of 1806”
This presentation looks at the example of the Scuola dei Mercanti as one of the many institutions in Venice whose societal role was destroyed and patrimony confiscated after Napoleon’s decree of 1806, which suppressed the scuole of the Venetian Republic. One of the larger of the “scuole piccole”, also called confraternities, the Mercanti’s building, which had been renovated c. 1570-72 and decorated in the early 1570’s- 1592, was stripped of its furnishings and paintings. I offer a partial reconstruction of the complex and discuss the functions of the three halls. Palladio, Veronese, and Tintoretto were among the artists commissioned by the board of the Scuola.
“Exterior Shrine to Interior Altarpiece: Rinaldeschi, the Madonna de’ Ricci, and the Desecration of Street Art”
An infamous event involving street art occurred on 11 July 1501 in Florence. Having lost while gambling at a tavern, the frustrated Antonio Rinaldeschi smeared dung on a fresco of the Virgin in a street tabernacle, a decision that led to his execution. Previously unremarked, the Madonna de’ Ricci was immediately acclaimed as miraculous and became the focus of intense devotion. Interestingly, though its cult was directly due to the image’s accessibility enabling Rinaldeschi’s desecration, within months the church took action to enclose it within a chapel and control access. This talk explores the processes and reasons for this transformation.
2 weeks ago
You are invited to an HAD Faculty Conversations by Evan Neely, “The Logic of Diagrams and the Illogic of Vision: Russell and Fry, Peirce and Obscurity.”
* This event is for Pratt community only.
Date: Thursday, April 3rd, 2025
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 PM
Venue: Main 212
About the Project: Diagrams have been central to scientific and technological development since methods to print them in mass quantities were invented. Yet in modern logic, the language of choice has been the symbolic notation Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead devised from the initial efforts of the Italian mathematician, Giuseppe Peano, not the explicitly diagrammatic “Existential Graphs” that Charles Sanders Peirce proffered at the same time. This talk will suggest not only that the reasons why logicians preferred Russell’s notation to Peircian diagrammatic methods have everything to do with assumptions about the nature of vision and its connections to mind and epistemology, but that foundational texts in formalist art theory by Roger Fry and Clive Bell were influenced by the communal ideals they shared with Russell, as Cambridge Apostles and members of the Bloomsbury Group. Formalism, an effort to theorize a new norm for talking about representational and non-representational art alike, will be treated as an analogue to the efforts of the authors of the Principia Mathematica to construct a symbolic language that would be normative for the practice of scientific theory.
About the Speaker: Evan Neely is Assistant Chair of the History of Art and Design Department at Pratt Institute. He received his PhD from Columbia University in 2010. His recent book is Political Economy, Race, and the Image of Nature in the United States, 1825-1878 (Routledge, 2024). He has two current book projects: The Semiological Economy of New York City, 1848-1918 (in contract with Routledge) and a project on the theoretical connections among logic, the philosophy of science, and formalist art theory at the turn of the twentieth century tentatively titled The Logic of Diagrams and the Illogic of Vision.
2 weeks ago
Artwork Analysis: Pablo Picasso’s "Guernica" (1937)
Overview: "Guernica" is one of Pablo Picasso's most renowned works, created in response to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. This monumental black and white mural conveys the horrors of war and the suffering it inflicts on individuals, particularly innocent civilians.
Visual Elements:
Monochrome Palette: Picasso chose a stark black, white, and gray palette, reminiscent of newspaper print, to evoke the immediacy and gravity of the tragic event.
Composition: The chaotic arrangement of fragmented figures, animals, and objects creates a sense of disarray and urgency, reflecting the chaos of the bombing.
Symbols: Key elements include a bull (representing brutality), a wounded horse (symbolizing the people of Guernica), and a woman holding a lamp (a beacon of hope or truth amidst the darkness).
Interpretation: "Guernica" is a powerful anti-war statement. The painting does not depict the event literally but instead uses symbolic imagery to convey the universal suffering caused by war. Each figure and element contributes to a narrative of pain, resistance, and the stark reality of human cruelty.
Symbolism:
Bull and Horse: The bull may represent the brutality and darkness of war, while the wounded horse represents the anguish of the people. The interplay between these two figures is central to the painting’s emotional impact.
Broken Sword and Flower: At the bottom, a broken sword with a small flower sprouting from it symbolizes hope and the resilience of life even amidst destruction.
Disembodied Parts: The scattered and distorted human forms reflect the physical and emotional disintegration caused by the violence.
Legacy: "Guernica" has become a universal symbol of the tragedies of war and a reminder of the human cost of conflict. It remains a powerful piece of political art, demonstrating how art can serve as a tool for protest and remembrance.
2 weeks ago
