What is Art History?
Art history is the study of art over various periods of time. Art historians may be able to identify the material that created the art, which could say a lot about people during an era. By researching and understanding how and why art was created, one may have a better understanding of humanity and what was valued at the time the art was produced.
How is Art History used?
Zippia reviewed thousands of resumes to understand how art history is used in different jobs. Explore the list of common job responsibilities related to art history below:
- Organized, researched, and managed the art and art history department's digital image collection.
- Assist Curator of Visual Collections with digitizing slide collection for the Art History Department.
- Created digital images for Art History faculty to incorporate into class lectures.
- Studied the art history of contemporary Japanese printmaking.
- Provided Art History faculty with hardware and software instruction and demonstration as well as assisted with incorporating digital images into PowerPoint.
- Developed and maintained slide and digital image collections for Art History staff.
Are Art History skills in demand?
Yes, art history skills are in demand today. Currently, 409 job openings list art history skills as a requirement. The job descriptions that most frequently include art history skills are assistant curator, curatorial assistant, and museum educator.
How hard is it to learn Art History?
Based on the average complexity level of the jobs that use art history the most: assistant curator, curatorial assistant, and museum educator. The complexity level of these jobs is basic.
On This Page
What jobs can you get with Art History skills?
You can get a job as a assistant curator, curatorial assistant, and museum educator with art history skills. After analyzing resumes and job postings, we identified these as the most common job titles for candidates with art history skills.
Assistant Curator
Job description:
Assistant Curators primarily assist the chief curators in their tasks at museums. The curators maintain art collections, perform research, and educate the public about art in different settings. They help research, plan, and implement new exhibits for the museum. This job may ask them to oversee permanent galleries, provide support to the restoration work, and establish guides for educators. Also, they may serve as supervisors to the employees of museums and teach art students.
- Art History
- Museum Exhibits
- Collections Management
- Educational Programs
- Photography
- Curate
Curatorial Assistant
- Collection Database
- Art History
- Photography
- Collections Management
- Press Releases
- Museum Collection
Museum Educator
Job description:
Museum educators develop and carry out all the museum's education and public programs. They are in charge of the community outreach programs and writing curriculum around their museum's collection institution. Part of their task is to present educational programs to enhance the public's understanding of the various STEM subject areas. They are responsible for duties under general supervision, develop instructional activities and materials, apply basic organizational and problem-solving skills, document program evaluations, and make recommendations for prompt improvements.
- Educational Programs
- Art History
- K-12
- Public Programs
- Outreach Program
- Public Speaking
Artist-In-Residence
Job description:
An artist-in-residence instructs and supervises elementary school students' multi-disciplinary art classes. The artist-in-residence takes part in the planning and implementation of musical theatre and in-school playwriting residencies. The artists coordinate and provide lessons for parents after the school ESL classes. They establish an innovative interdisciplinary curriculum that integrates arts to academic topics and courses. Also, they demonstrate enhanced literacy skills, graphic skills, classroom management, art history, and communication skills.
- Fine Arts
- Graphic Design
- Art History
- Printmaking
- Sculpture
- Community Outreach
Study Abroad Advisor
- Spanish Language
- Financial Aid
- Classroom Presentations
- Abroad Program
- Art History
- Public Speaking
Visiting Faculty
- Architecture
- Mathematics
- Undergraduate Courses
- Art History
- Physiology
- Chemistry
Art Educator
Job description:
Art Educators are hired to enhance humanities subjects and give students different ways to appreciate art in various forms. In museums, Art Educators work as both curators, guides for visitors and art lovers. They shape a community's culture, and it is their job to enrich the minds of people and enjoy the sheer beauty of art.
- Classroom Management
- Curriculum Development
- K-12
- Fine Arts
- Art History
- Visual Arts
Art Teacher
Job description:
An art teacher is responsible for teaching students of art history, disciplines, and techniques to bring out the learners' maximum potential and creativity. Art teachers develop engaging plans for art strategies, ensuring the adequacy of art tools and materials for the learners' use, and design art development courses. An art teacher must have excellent knowledge of the art industry and communication and organization skills to address the different learning methods of the students and identify their areas of improvement.
- Classroom Management
- Professional Development
- Art Curriculum
- Student Learning
- Art History
- K-12
How much can you earn with Art History skills?
You can earn up to $47,498 a year with art history skills if you become a assistant curator, the highest-paying job that requires art history skills. Curatorial assistants can earn the second-highest salary among jobs that use Python, $48,577 a year.
Job Title  | Average Salary | Hourly Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Assistant Curator | $47,498 | $23 |
| Curatorial Assistant | $48,577 | $23 |
| Museum Educator | $40,399 | $19 |
| Artist-In-Residence | $53,528 | $26 |
| Study Abroad Advisor | $40,741 | $20 |
Companies using Art History in 2025
The top companies that look for employees with art history skills are CDM Smith, San Jose State University, and Univ. Of Texas Cancer Ctr. In the millions of job postings we reviewed, these companies mention art history skills most frequently.
| Rank | Company | % Of All Skills | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CDM Smith | 69% | 14,788 |
| 2 | San Jose State University | 3% | 148 |
| 3 | Univ. Of Texas Cancer Ctr. | 2% | 1,327 |
| 4 | Los Angeles County Museum of Art | 2% | 15 |
| 5 | Emory Healthcare | 2% | 2,135 |
Departments using Art History
| Department | Average Salary |
|---|---|
| Education | $55,373 |
| Art/Design | $50,696 |
12 courses for Art History skills
1. Art History Renaissance to 20th Century
The history of art from 1300 to the 20th CenturyThis is part two of a year-long college-level survey course in art history. This course covers art history from the European Renaissance around 1300 A. D. until the Mid 20th CenturyThis course is designed as a basic college-level survey of art history. I provide an online textbook as well as study guides and worksheets. This course covers the language used to discuss art. A complete overview of art, culture, and architecture from the Renaissance to the 1950s. Each work is covered in depth, the works physical or formal properties are discussed such as technology used to create the work, color, medium, materials, composition, and shading. The symbolism of each work is discussed and how to interpret the interrelationship of symbols in a work of art. This course is the actual content of a course I teach at an accredited college in California called Ohlone college. I designed this course as a series of clear, non-jargon laden video lectures and texts designed to help any student who wants to pass AP art history and or any beginning level art history survey course. This course now has professionally created captions in English on 98% of all the videos...
2. Art History Prehistory to the Renaissance
The history of art from Prehistory to the Early RenaissanceThis is part one of a year-long college-level survey course in art history. This course covers art history from the Prehistoric Era to the beginning of the European Renaissance. This course also covers ancient non western art in the Americas, Asia, and Africa. This course is designed as a basic college-level survey of art history. I provide an online textbook as well as study guides and worksheets. This course covers the language used to discuss art. A complete overview of art, culture, and architecture. Each work is covered in depth, the works physical or formal properties are discussed such as technology used to create the work, color, medium, materials, composition, and shading. The symbolism of each work is discussed and how to interpret the interrelationship of symbols in a work of art. This course is the actual content of a course I taught at an accredited college in California called Ohlone college. I designed this course as a series of clear, non-jargon laden video lectures and texts designed to help any student who wants to pass AP art history and or any beginning level art history survey course. STUDENT PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES: To assimilate a working knowledge of the periods traditionally known as Ancient, Classical, Medieval, African, Asian (India, China, Japan, or Southeast Asia), MesoAmerica, etc. To develop an awareness of the monuments, techniques and media used during these periods. To discover the stylistic differences and modes of of expression peculiar to different cultures. To introduce to the student, significant examples of the visual arts pertinent to gaining a working knowledge of Ancient Art and Architecture. To prepare students for ensuing courses of Art History. To increase a student's sensitivity to the art of both the European and non-western cultures...
3. Ancient Egypt: Art, History, and Mystery
This course explores the arc of Egyptian Art History from a fresh perspective that integrates traditional art history with some of the most controversial theories proposed by recent historians. Be prepared to learn about aspects of Egyptian art, religion, astronomy, and civilization which you won't find in any other survey!...
4. Art School Boot Camp: Expanding Your Style with Art History
Welcome to the next session of Art School Boot Camp! I’m Christine Fleming illustrator at Might Could Studios. In this installment of boot camp we’re focusing on all the artists who came before us and diving into Art History...
5. Ancient Aegean Art History: Roots of Civilization
This course covers the art history of four ancient Aegean civilizations: Neolithic Helladic, Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean. Already lost civilizations by the time that Homer wrote down the oldest Greek epics, the art and culture which we look at in this course are the distant ancestors of Greek civilization. If you want to learn more about the Minoan Snake Goddess, the Treasury of Atreus, or the Mask of Agamemnon, this is the course for you!...
6. From Caves to Cities: Prehistoric Art History
Out of Africa and through Arabia to Europe is the trajectory which this course follows in its survey of Prehistoric artwork. We will integrate very recent discoveries into a broad discussion of the development of images and, indeed, the earliest examples of what we label art. We'll be looking at iconic artworks like the Venus of Willdendorf as well as delving into less-explored corners of Art History and even Magical Philosophy in this original lecture...
7. Art History for Designers: Learn & Make a Collage
By combining theory and practice this class will teach you what all creators should know about art history...
8. The Etruscans in the Art History of Ancient Italy
Before the Roman Empire, there was the Etruscan civilization on the Italian Peninsula which produced masterpieces of bronze, terra-cotta, sculpture, gold tablets, amazing rock-cut tombs, and long-gone wooden temples. "Etruria" is a region which today occupies parts of several regions of modern-day Italy: Lazio, Umbria, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and stretching as far north as the Veneto. We recall that in antiquity, Archaic Greek civilization had established colonial outposts in southern Italy and Sicily, while another ancient power, the Carthaginians, controlled Sardinia and the coast of north Africa. Like the Minoans and the Mycenaeans, the Etruscans didn't call themselves Etruscans. Ancient Greek writers called them versions of Tryrrhenoi, the same root word for the Tyrrhenian Sea on Italy's west coast. There are scattered Prehistoric sites around Italy, so the question of whether the Etruscan culture evolved from these indigenous people or whether it was imported from afar (a Near-Eastern origin) still remains a topic of debate. One tenacious theory which has survived from antiquity is that the Etruscans' point of origin was a Lydian kingdom of Asia Minor. The Etruscan language, for instance, has a completely different structure from Indo-European languages (and it has baffled historians from antiquity through the present). Nevertheless, there was considerable migration and mixing going-on throughout antiquity, and the most probable model is that the indigenous Italian peoples mixed with groups which landed and settled their own communities, keeping some original elements (like the language) while introducing customs and artistic conventions from the wider world of antiquity from the late Bronze Age through the Classical period. This lecture is an overview of the distinct Etruscan civilization's works in the larger context of the Mediterranean Basin and Near Eastern civilizations...
9. The History of Graphic Design - Influential Style & Art Movements
We are very lucky to be in our position and to be able to draw on such a wonderful rich design history. To understand the future of design we must understand the past. This class will review long-lasting design and art movements of the 20th and 21st century that helped to shape the graphic design industry today. Style and art movements happen rarely; sometimes just once in a generation and they depend heavily on events occurring in global politics culture and history. They are broad sweeping changes in how artists and designers view and interact with the world around them...
10. Gods and Kings: The Art History of Mesopotamia and Arabia
In most Art History surveys, the earliest advanced civilizations which appeared in the region called Mesopotamia (between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day Iraq) produced significant artwork which would set the tone for the history of art, literature, legal theory, and many aspects still-relevent in modern society. However, while these powerful kingdoms are well-studied by every student in an Art History 101 class, at the same time in Arabia, an analogous history was unfolding which is almost totally unknown. This course presents original research which illustrates how the epic kingdoms of ancient Arabia possessed clear ties to the model of divine kingship we see in Akkadian, Neo-Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian civilizations across the Persian Gulf. This course is a must for anyone who wants to learn about the art, architecture, and glories of the vanished, highly organized kingdoms of a much broader area of the Middle East than traditional art histories cover...