Art History is an academic discipline dedicated to the visual analysis, historical contextualization, and interpretation of artistic production across cultures and time. Like all fields, it has evolved in response to new methods and perspectives. Today, it is undergoing another transformation through its encounter with new digital tools, cultures, and ways of organizing knowledge. 

Last spring, Adair Rounthwaite, Professor of Art History and Chair of the Division of Art History at the University of Washington, taught "Introduction to Digital Art History," a course in which students explored open data from art museums and cultural institutions. The class took an interdisciplinary approach to a rapidly developing area of study. Students examined contemporary art created with or about digital technologies, discussed how digital methods are reshaping art historical research, and developed basic competencies in the Digital Humanities.

In addition to theoretical discussions, students collaborated on group projects that applied digital tools to art historical questions. Each group moved through the full research process—from dataset curation, to digital tool selection, to troubleshooting and presenting their project. Along the way, innovative writing assignments helped students learn to draft and revise their writing, while gaining a better understanding of the possibilities and limitations of AI for academic work. 

Explore a selection of student projects:

• Portugal Street Art
• Art Across the University of Washington Seattle Campus
• #corecore
• Women Artists & Geographic Patterns
• The Art of Influence: WWII Edition
• Taiwanese Modern Sculpture
• Indigenous Art in WA Public Arts Collections
• Where Art Lives: A Seattle Public Art Map 

The course had support from two TAs who are training in the Digital Humanities: Nikoloz Nadirashvili, a third-year Art History PhD student who is writing his dissertation under Professor Rounthwaite’s supervision, and Jingrui Yan, a third-year PhD student in Cinema and Media Studies. Reflecting on the experience, Nadirashvili noted “The course reaffirmed the inclusive nature of digital humanities, a discipline open to everyone regardless of educational background or prior skills. Through their final projects, students gained firsthand experience in generating new and meaningful knowledge within the humanities and social sciences.” 

The collaboration between Rounthwaite and Nadirashvili continued into the summer, when they participated as principal investigator (PI) and research assistant (RA) in the Humanities Data Science Summer Institute (HDSSI), a five-week UW program that brings together students, faculty, and staff to work on data-focused projects in the humanities. Their project examined the use of AI to detect bias and politically sensitive content in a dataset of tweets featuring the internet meme Pepe the Frog. 

Read more about their work here: Humanities Data Lab.