From the Beaux-Arts Model to the University Degree

Today, respected visual artists all over the world dedicate time (typically two to three years) to pursuing a Master’s of Fine Arts (MFA) degree to deepen and define their practices as well as achieve one of the credentials required to teach in higher education institutes. But the idea of getting a degree in the visual arts, let alone a graduate degree, is relatively recent and signaled a cultural shift in how working artists were trained in the United States.

Until the 1930s, instruction in painting and drawing was still deeply rooted in the 17th-century French beaux-arts model, in which novice artists trained in masters’ workshops and ateliers were critiqued, and gained skills and mastery over time. Yet by the 1930s, artists were also expected to study and draw on art history, theory, and methodology in ways that would not only help them develop artistic statements and conceptual messaging but also enable them to teach art at the collegiate level. 

Suddenly, the visual arts and design were viewed as academic disciplines that belonged in a university setting, had their own canon, and required related degrees from accredited institutions. The University of Iowa pioneered the Master’s of Fine Arts in 1938, and other institutions followed over the coming decades. By 1977, the College Arts Association had established formal guidelines for MFA degrees. 

The School of Museum of Fine Arts first partnered with Tufts University in 1945 to jointly offer a popular Bachelor of Science in Art Education degree (which later developed into the MAT in Art Education), and formalized its Bachelor’s of Fine Arts program in 1956. Yet, it didn't begin offering a Master’s of Fine Arts degree until 1959–most likely to accommodate its first class of official Bachelor’s of Fine Arts graduates who wanted to continue their education. 

The 1959 MFA is the same degree, albeit with different requirements, that continues at SMFA today. While the BFA degree was and continues to be dedicated to letting artistic experimentation in the studio take center stage academically, an MFA serves a different purpose.

The MFA challenges students to take the findings that emerged from their BFA-era practice to further develop their own unique set of expressionistic skills under the mentorship of practicing faculty who encourage and push them alongside a cohort of peers.

“At SMFA, students don’t come into the MFA program expecting to declare a medium and work within it. Instead, they choose our program with the understanding that they’ll go deeper into their practice, and that their practice can be interdisciplinary in its approach and its materiality,” Scheri Fultineer, Dean of SMFA says. 

Over the years, thousands of students from all over the world have graduated from SMFA with an MFA, going on to break into the art world and establish careers as interdisciplinary artists, educators, curators, critics, dealers, non-profit leaders, and more. Others have leveraged their MFA degrees to build careers in product design, graphic design, advertising, and as entrepreneurs. 

Image: Alonso Nichols for Tufts University