Department of Art History

Most scholars of art history are deeply invested in artists and the art works they create, be it in the past or the present. Thus, as the Department of Art History set out to present itself, we commissioned artist David Hartt, educated and long based in Chicago, to create a photographic essay of the Cochrane-Woods Art Center that houses the department, its offices, and classrooms. The art can be seen digitally here and throughout this website, representing the physical space of the department but also its work and community.

David Hartt’s artwork utilizes the capacity of photography to capture moments in the physical space, to create a moment that an eye alone could never experience, “the kind of transitory moment that may only exist as a photograph,” as Hartt put it in an interview with Darby English for his Museum of Contemporary Art exhibition catalog Stray Light. Much of Hartt’s work focuses on the importance of site as it conveys a community’s identity and ideology. He presents these artworks without titles. An original print from this series, selected by Hartt, can be found in the Smart Museum's collection.