If you aren’t already a strong writer AND interested in art history, do not take this class. This review is going to sound exactly like the other two already posted but I don’t know a single person who took this course and didn’t regret not dropping it. Prof. Kahng lectures very quickly using slides with no info outside of pictures of the art so note taking is incredibly difficult. She doesn’t post these slides online or record/Zoom her lectures, so falling behind is very easy. If you miss something she says, the only way to get that info is to ask another student. Weekly readings are crazy long - the Olympia passage at the beginning of the quarter was over 100 pages. The midterm was okay but your grade was dependent on which TA you had, with some handing out minimal A’s and others giving their students extra credit on top of 100%’s. This class has a final and a final paper and both were time-consuming and difficult. The paper was a 7-8 page original thesis based off of a work of art displayed at the Getty and required an in-person Getty visit (with proof), while the final was an hour and half of straight writing that required you have a strong handle on all of the pieces of art, artists, short films, readings, and movements covered in and out of class. Expectations (especially for the final) were crazy high with very minimal support provided for students (ie slides not being posted, not including vocab terms/quotes/main ideas on slides). Went to every lecture/discussion, took detailed notes, did the readings, scored highly on all of the assignments, and still had to spend 7 hours writing the paper and 5 hours studying for the final.

I'm going to disagree with most of the other reviews here-the class is quite good and interesting, you just need to be a strong writer who is willing to come to lecture and keep up with a rapid pace. The fact that slides aren't posted after class is definitely frustrating, but you can get notes from other people, and most of the grading on the midterms is pretty generous if you remember the key concepts from each class. The readings are *brutal*, but if you can get a consistent rhythm down, you will do just fine. Your TA is going to be a lifesaver here, make sure to come to office hours regularly to catch up on any notes you missed.

I enrolled in the Art History class expecting an engaging and insightful exploration of artistic movements. Unfortunately, my experience with Professor Khang did not meet those expectations. One major drawback was the need for more transparency in course materials and the choice not to share presentation slides, leaving students to take notes on minimal information. When slides were provided, the content could have been more impressive. It felt like a mere formality rather than a meaningful educational tool, making it hard to understand what she was trying to say. One of the most frustrating aspects was the overreliance on the TAs for grades. The inconsistent grading practices among TAs made it feel like a lottery rather than a fair evaluation of students' understanding and efforts. I found a substantial lack of passion in the course, where I had more fun teaching myself than wasting time attending lectures. Her outfits were nice, though, so at least she had that going for herself.

This is your final warning not to take this class!! I picked it up as I needed it for a GE and thought it would be a break from my rigorous bio coursework. I was so wrong. There are 2 painfully long and boring lectures where the professor reads off a script and doesn't interact whatsoever with her audience. The lectures aren't recorded so if you miss one you're screwed. Being able to survive the class is solely based on your TA as they are in charge of your mandatory section attendance and grading your essays. The grading scheme is as follows
20% section participation
20% formal analysis (you get 20 minutes to write an essay on art you've never seen before)
20% midterm
20% final paper
20% final
The tests are horrible as you have to write 4 essays in 1.5 hours for the midterm and 6 for the final and have to have every single painting we've seen memorized by name and artist. You'll barely have any time to study for other finals as you'll be stuck writing an 8-page paper that you have to go to the Getty and show proof for. Like I said I was lucky to have an easygoing TA that didn't grade too harshly but that's just based on your luck. Look please take any other GE, this isn't worth your time unless 100-page readings weekly are your forte.

This is probably the worst GE you could take. The professor appears to assume that if you're taking the class you're an art history major because if you're not, there's no way you'd enjoy the amount of reading or papers you have to write. The lectures are drawn out and insanely boring. I confer Professor Kahng just likes to hear herself speak at times. The topics are interesting and her lecture slides seem planned out but she doesn't post them nor does she record her lectures. If you miss 3 or more discussion sections it's an automatic F (I've had core classes with more lenient attendance). Overall, I wouldn't take this course if art history isn't your thing, The headache and stress just isn't worth it and I regret not switching when I had a chance. ALSO the 7-8 page final where you have to make a Getty visit... BFFR

Please do NOT take this class if you want an easy GE. The professor solely reads off of lecture slides and goes very, very fast. The slides she reads off of are not posted, nor are recordings of the lectures. If you miss one lecture and don't get the notes/recording from someone, you fall significantly behind. Some of Kahng's TA's are nice and reasonable graders, some aren't. But regardless, the workload is VERY heavy and I spent the most time on this class than any other class. There's heavy lectures and LONG readings every week. The readings can be anywhere from 20 pages to literally 80. In week 3, we had to write a formal analysis essay about a painting we've never seen in 20 MINUTES. it was ridiculous. We had the chance to turn this analysis in again to our TA with revisions, but some TA's graded very harshly. The midterm was also difficult as we had to memorize 50 something paintings and their artist, 30+ terms, and know the main idea of all the readings we've been assigned. For the final, we have a 7-8 final paper AND a final exam where we have to do the same kind of memorization as the midterm. This class has very unrealistic expectations and the workload is unreasonable. The subject is interesting, but it is taught very poorly. Don't take this class.

A lot of negative reviews but if you really like art, prepared to skim through a lot of materials, and attend all lectures, this class is not so bad. In fact, it's pretty fun.

I believe this was Dr. Kahng's first class but in my opinion she did a great job teaching the class; she did talk a bit too fast at times but it wasn't unmanageable. There was quite a bit of dense reading, but along the course you learn to skim, highlight the important parts, and move on without trying to understand everything.

More importantly, this class was very very fun and interesting! (Of course, if you have zero interest in art maybe not) Shoutout to Ms.Shi for being an excellent TA.

Professor Kahng is amazing, and her modern art class was by far the best class I have taken at UCLA. She details the content in a way that is both concise but very thorough. She holds the most engaging lectures, and is an extremely fair grader. I loved piecing together the readings, which were carefully selected to compliment the course content. Additionally, she was more than willing to offer a helping hand in office hours.

Professor Kahng was a very good lecturer, albeit a little fast at times. She's very good at clarifying confusing ideas and reiterating concepts that are hard to digest, and it seems that she genuinely wants the class to do well and like the material. She also has an extremely aesthetic clothing style.
Notetaking is crucial in this class, because all the information you are going to get about historical context, opinions, etc., about a painting/artist/art movement will be covered thoroughly during lecture. The weekly texts also offer important information that will be needed for the midterm, final, and research essays, but most of the time, they are very hard to get through and decipher the main arguments. A trip to the Getty is needed, but it was honestly a great experience. Discussions depend on the TA in my opinion. The TA I had was good grading-wise, but I felt like she had a hard time understanding the material just as much as we did, so it made it difficult to clarify the texts and actually have a good discussion about them.
Towards the end of the quarter, we started to get into art movements that tended to cover some fairly unsavory subjects that were hard to listen to (or see), so if you are sensitive to those sorts of things, just be prepared.
Overall, the class is not an easy A. It's manageable and definitely interesting, but you have to be okay with writing pages upon pages of notes, doing timed midterm and final essays, and reading dense texts.

This is a very hard class but is doable if you really work hard for it. The reading are needed so I would urge many to go to office hours and talk to the teacher about the arguments of EACH reading. All you need to do I have a grasp on the materials and you will be fine. Start memorizing paintings right away and since you see them in lecture it's not all that hard to remember them.

some of the art is just creepy so prepare yourself! first half and a lot more normal and interesting.