Diploma in Art History

Diploma in Art History

(This programme will be conducted in online mode.)

Programme details for Academic year 2025-2026

Commencement Date: 14th July 2025
Days: Saturdays
Timing: 9.00 am to 11.00 am and 11.00 am to 1.00 pm

Going back 10,000 years, Indian art evolved over the centuries to reflect the beliefs and culture of each period of this diverse nation’s history. Indian art history reflects an immense diversity of forms, including pottery and sculpture, jewellery, paintings, and textiles in terms of medium, timescale, and geography and their crucial role in defining aesthetics, cultural belonging, political prestige, and intercultural exchange.

The Diploma in Art History offers the students to explore a wide historical and geographical breadth and depth, encompassing architecture, art objects, material culture and their related visual practices from the prehistoric to the mediaeval periods. By following both a chronological and thematic approach in which knowledge of Indian art has historically evolved, this programme enables students to apprehend the vitality of forms in the arts of South and Southeast Asia. Traversing through a range of modules, the extensive course allows the students to shape the degree around the areas that interests them the most – one can either focus on a region or experience a wide variety of themes. Additionally, it encourages students to develop critical thinking on all aspects of visual culture, and promotes an engagement with historical and contemporary cultural debates. The course caters for generalists with broad interests, and those who are coming to art history from another discipline.

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Key Information

Eligibility

 HSC or equivalent.

Pedagogy

Teaching-learning occurs primarily in lecture format, but workshops add a practical dimension, with one of them being offered in the site-based learning mode. 

Differentiators

The Centre for Buddhist Studies has led the field in innovative curriculum design that addresses the learning needs of students who can engage full time, as well as those who pursue their passion part-time, at their own pace.

The K J Somaiya Institute of Dharma Studies has a library with over 30,000 books, which is an important resource.

In addition to the workshops that are an integral part of this programme, students can attend seminars, workshops and field trips that are offered by the institution across the various disciplines. This creates opportunities of learning beyond the classroom and permits interaction with students pursuing different interests: this is a key feature of the learning experience on our campus.

The Diploma in Art History provides a good foundation, based on which a student who has a Bachelor’s degree can pursue an M. A. (Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology) at our institution.

Programme Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the programme, a student will:
  • Gain familiarity with the rich and diverse visual traditions of the Indian subcontinent through exposure to a wide range of artistic media, including painting, sculpture, and architecture.
  • Engage with key debates in the history of Indian art.
  • Think critically about how museums, archaeological sites, and other institutions of learning forms our interpretation of works of art in the present day.

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