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Day 1: Written essay(s) on the general field, 8 hours total—9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Interpretation, Methods, and Historiography. The student answers one or two out of several questions designed to test their grasp of broad art-historical issues.
Day 2: Written essay(s) on the specific field, 8 hours total—9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Interpretation, Methods, and Historiography. The student answers one or two questions designed to bring out their knowledge of sources, both primary and secondary, of historiography, and of methodological issues.
Students are allowed access to campus libraries and to other resources (e.g. personal notes) while taking the written portion of the examination. On each day the students will be given a choice of essay questions, normally answering 1 of 3, or 2 of 5, to be determined in advance consultation with the committee members. Students will have their questions sent by email at 9am—by the Graduate Coordinator—and submit their essay via email to the committee and Graduate Coordinator by 5pm. If a student requires medical accommodations, please contact the Accessible Education Office as well as the exam committee chair and Graduate CoordiatorCoordinator.
Day 3: Oral examination, 2-3 hours. Analysis of visual material. General Field. The student will have one to two hours prior to the convening of the full committee to examine eleven or twelve works of art, slides, or photographs, in preparation for an oral discussion of all but one of them with the examination committee. The discussions may involve such issues as connoisseurship, contexts, iconography, formal analysis, patronage, technique, medium, materiality, and condition. Following the conclusion of the oral examination, the committee members meet in camera to evaluate and review the student’s performance in both the oral and written elements of the general examination. The result will be communicated to the student in the conversation with the Committee that will follow.
No research may be done once the preparation stage of the oral examination has begun. The exam is conducted on an honors code basis.
Students whose performance on the examination is not satisfactory will be given one opportunity to repeat all or a portion of it.
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