Field of Aesthetics and Art History Graduate School of Arts

This field consists of two courses. The course of production requires students to create a graduation work at the end of two-year course. First year students will also be expected to complete at least one work. At the same time, students are required to start academic research for a sub-thesis related to your production theme.
Field of Aesthetics and Art History concentrates on the theoretical study of a wide range of phenomena related to aesthetics and art.
This research ranges from philosophical aesthetics and arts to the history of Japanese, Eastern and Western art, the theory of media culture, the theory of media art, the theory of contemporary art, comparative aesthetics and the studies of comparative art. We also welcome students who wish to carry out historical and theoretical research into photography, video imaging, design, digital media, animation and games, etc..
Studies in this field, in addition to the theoretical research, are also extremely meaningful for people who are interested in art management and wish to become art coordinators, covering the production and cultural aspects of a wide range of artistic activities in the real world.
It is also possible to carry out both theoretical research and the actual production of work in this field. Not only research facilities, we also provide production facilities to students who have continued productions since their undergraduate years in the fields of photography, video imaging, design, digital media, animation and games, and so on.

Educational Goals of this Field

We aim at providing education to be art theory researchers who have a deep understanding of the practical execution of arts.
In more detail, we educate students to be experts such as curators for art galleries and museums and instructors at colleges, universities or other art-related education and research institutions. Or they can work for publishers, newspapers, magazines, broadcasting companies or other similar mass-media companies.
We are sure that studies in this field will also produce art creators with profound knowledge in the theory of art.
The predominant feature of our graduate school is that it creates theoretical specialists in the fields of photography media, imaging media, design media, digital media, animation media and game media, etc.. This means that our main aim is to train students to become expert critics, historical theory researchers, art coordinators and other specialists in each of these fields.

Educational Contents

The curriculum for the Field of Aesthetics and Art History provides lectures in Advanced Science of Arts (4 credits) as a basic compulsory subject for all fields, and lectures in Advanced History of Arts (2 credits,) Advanced Aesthetics (2 credits,) Advanced Practical History of Arts (2 credits), Advanced Practical Science of Arts I (2 credits) and Advanced Practical Science of Arts II (2 credits) as selective subjects.
In addition to earning 12 or more credits from these lectures, including Special Research on the Science of Arts (6 credits) as the basis for writing each master's thesis, students in this field must also take a minimum of related lectures courses on two selective subjects from a choice of Advanced Theory of Contemporary Art (2 credits), Advanced Theory of the History of Modern Japanese Art (2 credits), Advanced Theory of Western Art (2 credits), Advanced Theory of Liberal Arts (2 credits), Advanced Theory of Performing Arts (2 credits), Advanced Theory of Music (2 credits), Advanced Theory of Intellectual Rights (2 credits), etc.
Also, students can take courses of other fields such as photography media, imaging media, design media, digital media, animation media and game media, and the omnibus-style lecture the General Media Lectures (4 credits). These courses allow students to receive practical training under professors specializing in each respective field.
In addition to earning a total of 30 or more credits from the above-mentioned subjects, students in this field are required to submit a final master's thesis based on their research subject, and there are cases in which artwork produced for research purposes or work produced during actual classes will be accepted as part of this master's thesis.