As the workforce is growing in its appreciation of intersectionality, there are many occupations that benefit from having a background in analyzing art.
Initially, occupations that come to mind are those within the museum field. Such as curators, art programming and education, as well as conservationists; those who restore and preserve professional artistic works.
Aside from roles in museum institutions there are a variety of roles that require a well trained eye, one that is able to create meaningful visual connections. This could include roles in interior design, and various forms of architecture; including interior architecture as well as outdoor/public design.
In a world where the use of technology is increasing, I find that many people with art backgrounds have success in roles involving graphic design, advertising, marketing, social media, and art direction; such as brand representatives for an online platform. These roles require an understanding of the creative process and histories, generally requiring studies and experience in art focused university studies.
A background in art analyzation gives one the tools to analyze and critically understand visual elements that are prominent influences in our contemporary culture. Developing an analytical and critical mindset is important in most career roles, therefore it can be applied to a plurality of positions.
In any class you take, no matter what the topic or level, you will come away with both non-transferable and transferable skills. In no field is this more true than in the arts. Take a course in 19th century European art history, for example, and you’ll come away knowing the significance of Manet in modern art, be able to identify the works of the Impressionists from those of the Expressionists, and maybe pick up some critical, analytical skills for interpreting the meaning of a painting and articulating your feelings and opinions about it.
The first two skills are not easily transferable outside the fields of art and art history. As a tour guide, for example, you could put these skills to use in an art gallery but not on a city tour. The third is a transferable skill, and it is the most useful thing anyone can get out of studying art. This skill is called visual literacy. If you’re a tour guide and you know how to analyze and interpret visual images, you can use this skill equally in reading a painting as you can in appreciating a scenic view or the architecture of a building.
Visual literacy skills can be applied in a broad set of professions, often in ways that are not immediately apparent:
Law enforcement and criminal justice: be able to recognize important details in a crime scene, describe details about evidence from a photograph, and to understand the relationship between the part and the whole.
Advertising and marketing: make compelling arguments by transforming raw data into visual charts and diagrams.
Engineering and architecture: represent systems and structures in visual diagrams and be able to read and examine complex ideas in the forms of plans and schematics.
Medicine: identify details in a patient’s symptoms to be able to diagnose illness. Being able to understand what you’re seeing in a cell on a slide under a microscope is a transferable skill that one borrows from learning how to analyze art.
Graduate with a degree in art history, fine art, or studio art, and you will be qualified to work in an arts-related profession like museum science (curation and conservation), library science (visual resources management, special collections and digital collections), art publication and periodicals (i.e. "Art Forum"), and talent management.
But taking a single class in art history or visual culture will equip you with some basic skills that can be applied in many real-world settings. You'll be able to identify important visual details, understand and articulate the significance of a detail in its context, and interpret the meaning of visual images.
Art is more than a visual medium. It involves all of our senses. When we analyze art, we are taking into account all that the artwork is: Does it have a smell; Does it look soft or hard; Does it feel scratchy; What does it taste like (yes, art can be food!)?
And through these senses, a thoughtful and careful professional in art analyzing can make out the subtle subconscious that is at play. This is the basis for Art Therapy.
The field of Art Therapy was developed in the mid-twentieth century as modern psychology was rounding into form. It was meant to help patients coming back from WWII with (what we now call) PTSD. This was a revolutionary form of treatment and it is in wide use today for many different emotional needs.
The training to become an art therapist must involve analyzing art on a deeper level than most untrained audiences can or will do in a museum. It is an intimate connection between the therapist and the patient with the art serving as a vehicle of attachment between the two. Analyzing art with delicacy and compassion are cornerstones to being a good art therapist.
When one chooses to study art, particularly from a critical or analytical vantage point, a larger door opens into a multitude of professional possibilities. The necessary skills of having keen perception coupled with an ability to assess a visual rendering, naturally lend themselves to many areas.
Upon receiving an art education, the natural inclination is to seek employment within the art world. These positions include things like museum curatorship, restoration and repair, art therapy, fine art handling and teaching.
It is the fields outside of the immediate art world that are in need of the specialized skill set that analytical art historians possess. These include critical thinking, attention to detail, razor sharp research abilities, and creative problem solving in a visual way. Areas such as marketing and advertising require strategic thinking to tell a specific story, a fundamental skill for the analytical art historian/theorist mind. There are several governmental jobs including assisting Law Enforcement that require the assistance of analysts who can decipher the specific source material at hand. Not all jobs need be such high profile as the aforementioned, yet necessary all the same. Project Managers, Event Planners, Interior Designers, Florists, and Merchandisers all possess a strong understanding of organization and composition.
The prevailing thought that a degree in Art History is limiting and ignores the very building blocks obtained through obtaining the degree. One may be able to correctly identify an obscure Rembrandt painting, and deftly navigate a power- point presentation like no other.
As the late educator and President of the Carnegie Foundation for the advancement of teaching one stated " Art helps us see connections and brings a more coherent meaning to our world."
Because visual matters play such a central role in our lives, many occupations would benefit from the study of art. Obvious professions such as an architect and fashion designer generally require art and art history studies as part of their preparation.
Many computer related jobs are heavily visually oriented. Web design depends on a good sense of 2D design. Numerous aspects of game design are inherently visual, especially the characters and settings.
Many aspects of film and video production, as well as theater, similarly would utilize art-related skills and appreciation.
Any type of job that utilizes 3 dimensional spatial orientation, such as urban transportation system design, would be helped by an art background. Garden design and landscape design similarly depend on having people with well trained eyes.
There are many occupations involved in the arts which can emphasize art analysis in various ways. First, it is important to know which art discipline you want to study and work with. If you are interested in analyzing the visual arts, there are a number of positions within museums, galleries, universities, government agencies, auction houses, and insurance companies that require a familiarity with art objects. Some of these positions, such as a museum curator, professor, and auction house appraiser require PhD's in Art History whereas fields like conservation require the completion of a specialized program.
Within dance, music, and theater, most of the job opportunities are for artists, directors, designers, and production. Most theorists (full-time analyzers) are professors or artists who teach at a conservatory. While it may seem as though there are fewer positions for non-artists in these artistic disciplines, there are options outside of the art field. For example, art analysis skills are used by critics, reviewers, and column writers at magazines, news organizations, and blogs.
If you are unsure about where to begin looking for a position, you can look for art foundation websites such as this page, https://www.nyfa.org/jobs , for the New York Foundation for the Arts.
There are several occupations that could benefit or even thrive from having an art background. Knowledge of the arts and the history of them could tremendously help a writer. The creative thinking that both a writer and an artist possess can work to benefit a writer in their career. For example, a writer who wishes to write art reviews would be much better off if they had a background and knowledge in art.
Additionally, design occupations, such as an interior or architectural designer, can benefit from having a background in art. Even though there are varying types of art, it can be beneficial to understand more forms than just the medium that a designer is drawn to. A designer can pull inspiration from their background in art and use it to their advantage in their design career.
The first occupation that comes to mind as being one that would benefit from the background of analyzing art is a museum curator. A museum curator would benefit from having knowledge about artistic works because it would help him or her to know which pieces of art were valuable and how much they were worth. It would also help the curator explain the significance of each individual piece of art to the visitors of the museum.
Another occupation would be that of a an appraiser. An appraiser determines the value of a work of art. Having background knowledge in the analyzation of art would help the appraiser to decide on a monetary value for a piece by determining what time period the piece comes from, who created it, and if the artwork is real or fraudulent.
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