Pratt’s an exceptional place to study art and design history and theory. From our landmarked campus you’ll have access to NYC’s premier international private collections, libraries, museums, studios, and galleries, as well as the opportunity to work with leading artists, designers, historians, and theorists.
Join us in New York City, the art capital of the United States, for an immersive education in the history of art and design. Explore the effects of gender, class, politics and religion intersect with art and cultures that created it. Gain a wide perspective in theory and design methods and artistic expression in art, architecture, film, and literature. The liberal arts curriculum, including foreign language study, prepares you to research and critically analyze art and literature.
The Experience
IXD students Wuke Zhou, Yuki Shimano, and Olivia Turpin at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (photo by Shih Wen Huang)
Interdisciplinary and socially engaged, the History of Art and Design BA provides a broad foundation from which students build critical and analytical capacities to confront complex questions. Drawing on disciplines ranging from sociology, anthropology, linguistics, and economics, students go beyond aesthetic consideration to consider complex questions and evolving challenges.
With class sizes of just 8-12, 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, design, 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
Mosaic restorer Giovanni Cucco explains his work at SS. Maria e Donato to graduate student Amy Ungricht (photograph by Kate McElhiney)
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.
Learning Resources
We develop disciplinary fluency in our program of study and we celebrate the interdisciplinary nature of art and 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.
Join us at Pratt. Learn more about admissions requirements, plan your visit, talk to a counselor, and start your application. Take the next step.
You’ll find yourself at home at Pratt. Learn more about our residence halls, student organizations, athletics, gallery exhibitions, events, the amazing City of New York and our Brooklyn neighborhood communities. Check us out.
HAD Faculty Conversations by Jennifer Miyuki Babcock, “A Work in Progress: Mapping the Wandering Goddess”
* This event is for Pratt community.
Date: Wednesday, �February 26th, 2025
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Venue: Main 212
About the Project: Hathor, one of the world’s first imperial goddesses, absorbed numerous Egyptian, Nubian, and Levantine divinities into her multifaceted identity. The ancient Egyptians described her as “wandering” due to her many mythic journeys and manifestations. This digital project, born from my 2022 book, centers Hathor to foreground the divine feminine in Egypt and to explore the deeply intertwined nature of ancient Egyptian religion at both national and local levels. In this lecture, I will discuss the project’s origins, current status, and long-term goals.
About the Speaker: Jennifer Miyuki Babcock specializes in ancient Egyptian and Nubian art and archaeology. Her research explores cross-cultural parallels with other ancient and modern African cultures, examining how material and visual culture support the concept of divine kingship. She is �also interested in artifacts and imagery that reflect personal piety, offering a compelling contrast to the royal and elite experience.
Rebecca Houze will be giving a lecture about “From World’s Fair to National Park: Heritage and Fantasy in the Design of the American West�(works in progress)”
* This event is for Pratt community.
Date: Wednesday, Feb 19th
Time: 5:30 to 6:30 pm
Venue: Engr 307
About the Project: This talk by Rebecca Houze, Professor of Art and Design History, Northern Illinois University, argues that Yellowstone, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Parks were initially constructed as open-air museums of cultural heritage. As unique expressions of national identity, the parks were designed into the landscape and promoted to tourists by transcontinental railroad companies with sophisticated advertising programs and an emerging vocabulary of corporate identity.
About the Speaker: Professor Houze is an art and design historian whose research focuses on Central Europe with an emphasis on women designers. Her first book, Textiles, Fashion, and Design Reform in Austria-Hungary Before the First World War: Principles of Dress (2015) was supported by a Joint Austria-Hungary Fulbright Fellowship. Her collection of essays, New Mythologies in Design and Culture: Reading Signs and Symbols in the Visual Landscape (2016) explores our designed world with stories of familiar brand marks and popular objects such as the McDonald’s Golden Arches, Apple iPhone, and Nike Swoosh. She is currently working on a new book, which investigates the design of heritage at world’s fairs and national parks in Europe and North America.
📢 Calling All Pratt Artists!
How does art unlock the surreal, the unseen, challenge power structures, or reimagine the future of the self? 🔮 Submit your work to Surrealism Tomorrow – The Next 100 Years, an exhibition celebrating 100 years of surrealism while imagining what’s next.🌀
🔥 Why Submit?
💡 Receive exclusive feedback from curators at MoMA & Lenbachhaus, psychoanalysts and artists
🏆 Win monetary prizes + one-on-one sessions with the judges
✨ Get your work featured in a week-long exhibition
📖 Be published in the zine Surrealism Tomorrow: The Next 100 Years
🔹 Deadline: February 28, 2025
🔹 Exhibition Dates: April 14–21, 2025 (Opening April 16)
🔹 Open to all Pratt students
Let’s push boundaries, challenge rationalism, and tap into the unconscious—just like the surrealists before us. Submit your work today! 🎨🔮
#SurrealismTomorrow
Design Evolution Monthly:
Typography Through the Ages
Typography began as a labor of love in illuminated manuscripts, where each letter was a work of art.
The invention of the printing press revolutionized typography, making books accessible to the masses and standardizing typefaces.
During the Renaissance, typography saw a surge in creativity, with the development of elegant serif typefaces.
The Industrial Revolution brought bold, eye-catching typefaces used in posters and advertisements, reflecting the era's dynamism.
From pixels to vectors, typography has come a long way. Modern digital fonts offer endless possibilities for creative expression.
Image 1. Book of Kells Illuminated depiction of the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, chi and rho; from the Book of Kells, c. 800 AD.
Image 2. Gutenberg Bible A page from the Gutenberg 42-line Bible, 1456.
Image 3. Robert Estiennes Bible in latin, 1545.
Image 4.Poster for the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, 1854.
Image 5. Slovic – variable font by Fontfabric
We are honored to announce the first HAD Faculty Conversation of the semester by Akiva Sanders, "Freedom and Equality in the Early Bronze Age: Clues from Household Items”
* This event is for Pratt community.
Date: Wednesday, February 19th, 2025
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 pm
Venue: Main 212
About the Project: Freedom and equality are fundamental values in our society. But are they fundamentally at odds? Are there times and places where they can coexist? Where equality can be maintained over multiple generations without drastically restricting self-expression? This lecture, drawn from my recently published book, looks at how local communities reconstructed society in the centuries following their destruction of the world's earliest known palace (ca. 3200 BCE) at the site of Arslantepe in the Upper Euphrates Valley of Eastern Turkey. We will explore their houses that served as communal places of gathering and locations of self-expression that were both unique and imaginative. However, for five hundred years, none of these places became institutionalized in a way that removed agency from the following generations.
About the Speaker: Akiva Sanders is an archaeologist and art historian who tries to understand the past through the varied experiences and attempts at self-expression of those who inhabited it. His research focuses on the assembly and disassembly of monumental central institutions in Mesopotamia: the changes in daily life, sources of meaning, and interpersonal relationships that accompanied these pivotal moments, methods of resistance to institutional authority, and the creative aftermath of institutional collapse. He approaches these questions with evidence from settlement archaeology, art history, population genetics, and ancient fingerprints.
Happy Lunar New Year!
This festive season, we explore the fascinating world of Nianhua (年画)—traditional Chinese New Year prints that have decorated homes for centuries.
A Glimpse into Art History: Nianhua, meaning 'New Year Pictures,' originated during the Han dynasty and flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties. These vibrant woodblock prints were not just decorations but also talismans believed to bring good luck, ward off evil spirits, and ensure a prosperous year ahead.
Each piece is a testament to the skill and artistry of traditional Chinese craftsmen, who painstakingly carved and painted these intricate designs.
#LunarNewYear #Nianhua #TraditionalChineseArt #ArtHistory #CulturalHeritage #HistoryOfDesign
Image Courtesy: METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
Nianhua, 19th–20th century. Polychrome woodblock print; ink and color on paper.
Welcome Back, Creatives!
A new semester means fresh opportunities to learn, create, and inspire. Let’s make this semester one of growth, creativity, and innovation!
Stay tuned for exciting content, tips, and community highlights throughout the term. Here's to an art-filled adventure ahead!
#WelcomeBack #NewSemester #ArtAndDesign #CreativeJourney #InspirationAwaits #PrattInstitute
For over 40 years, the Distinguished Teacher Award (DTA) celebrates exceptional teaching, and recognizes the recipient's commitment to Pratt's students and mission. The Distinguished Teacher is nominated by students and the award is conferred by the Academic Senate, the Administration, and the Board of Trustees.
Student nominations are underway for Pratt Institute's 2025 Distinguished Teacher Award via emails with a unique link for each student, voting closes on Friday, February 21, 2025.
The BA program affords a grounding in the philosophy, literature, and criticism of the history of art and design. Students will take specially designed foundation courses and the survey classes. They will continue with additional credits in liberal arts (English, humanities, sciences, social sciences, and foreign language) and electives. Majors will take upper-level 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. The BA also features major-specific seminars from the first year through the senior year. Seminar topics include the role of New York as a cultural capital, critical and theoretical models, and art and social justice.
Undergraduates have an understanding of their own cultural environments as well as their places within them.
Undergraduates are able to use tools of critical inquiry to explore gender, class, politics, religious practices, conditions and materials of production, aesthetic expression, and the economics of the market within their larger geographic, historical, theoretical, and social contexts.
Undergraduates in the B.A. degree will be familiar with a foreign language after four semesters of study.