The recently offered Art History undergraduate courses are listed on this page (see link below for recent graduate courses). For a complete list of the courses that may be offered in other years, please visit the Academic Calendar.
2023-2024 Academic year
This course forms the foundation for the art history major and minor but is open to all students interested in learning how to look and think critically about visual images. Discover how art and architecture have contributed to, reflected, and shaped issues and ideals in western society from prehistory to the present.
What does The Matrix Trilogy have to do with critical theory? What does Harry Potter tell us about our fascination with the Middle Ages? What is “camp” and what does it have to do with queer culture and representation? As art is freed from the confines of the gallery where it is conventionally located in Western art history, it potentially becomes a “popular”, even democratising medium accessible to anyone with access to television, radio, urban space, and the internet.
Looking into a painting’s genesis: Technical Art History looks closely at the materials and techniques used to create art -- from Early Italian panel paintings to Piet Mondrian's abstract canvases -- and better understand when, how, why and by whom these works were created.
We will explore the first two centuries of the Renaissance in Europe (1300-1500), looking closely at painting, sculpture and architecture, primarily in Italy, but also north of the Alps. The course begins with the “dawn” of the intellectual and cultural movement known as the Renaissance in Tuscany and ends with Leonardo’s Last Supper.
Is fashion art? What is the role of dress in the fine arts? How can visual culture be used to help us grasp the material world of the past? This course considers these questions through an exploration of the relationship between fashion and art from the Renaissance to the present.
This course examines the histories, meanings, and sites of modern arts in a globalizing world. Students become familiar with key art works, transnational and global networks of art, shifts in critical conceptions, and art historical problems surrounding modernity, modernisms, and modern arts.
The Baroque era (c.1580 – c.1800) produced the first truly global arts style. Its greatest artists, from the controversial Caravaggio to the consummate courtier Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, focused more intensely on the viewer than ever before. Baroque art was the product of a world in crisis very like our own, with wars, plagues, power struggles, human trafficking, and colonialism. This course will explore Baroque art in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia.
An examination of architecture as it has developed in relation to the economies, technologies, and social practices of the modern world. Our focus will include architectural aesthetics, materials, structures, technologies, and spaces.
This course aims to discuss the idea of African Diaspora focusing on the works by artists of African descent as well as African artists who have migrated to outside Africa. Considering that the African Diasporas have been shaped by different and common worldviews, we intend to show how artists have been creating their own agendas based on their individual experiences as well as those shared and related to Racism, Colonialism, Exile and the invocation of "Mother Africa”.
The period we now call "Gothic" was one of the most vibrant in the entire history of art. Covering all of Europe and the Mediterranean, parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia (via the Silk Roads), the Gothic might have been the first "international style" in art history. This course looks at the period anew through its art but also its literature.
A study of gender in relation to modern visual culture from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries using theoretical frameworks drawn from feminist art history and gender studies. Topics to be studied include fashion and modernity, consumer culture, gendered and transgendered artistic identities, and the gendering of Modernism.
This course offers an alternative history of visual culture in early modern Europe (c. 1450-1800) through the lens of printmaking. As a new technology that made visual images more widely available than ever before, printmaking revolutionized the art world and contributed to advances in religion, politics, science, and commerce. We will explore the development and consequences of early print media (woodcut, etching, engraving) and the achievements of gifted printmakers such as Albrecht DĂĽrer, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Francisco Goya.
This course examines the city—past, present, and future—and its ability to be ecologically sustaining. We will focus on the design of cities—their buildings, streets, public spaces, communities—as well as on the confluences of nature, culture, technology, and economics in those spaces.
Education in practice: Art History and Fine Art students can apply for a practical internship at a museum or gallery, taking on research or curatorial activities. Applications must be approved in advance by the Undergraduate Chair.
Early Netherlandish paintings, as material objects, are complex layered structures that were produced with a broad range of materials in distinct stages. This seminar will teach you how to use X-rays and infrared to study art. It will focus on the materials and techniques of Jheronimus Bosch (d. 1516).
This course aims to discuss and bring light to some issues related to the presence of Non-Western art in Western collections. By focusing on traditional African art, it intends to problematize the implications of collecting and exhibiting objects that were not necessarily made to be seen by everyone in their original contexts. How do museums deal with issues like these? Is it possible to decolonize African art collections? What strategies could be created to approach African art works in a more meaningful way? The students will address these and other questions through theoretical discussions and the development of an individual project involving a museum database.
Artists such as Rembrandt, Jan Steen, and Vermeer lived at a time long known as the Dutch Golden Age, yet historians increasingly recognize that this era was not "golden" for everyone. Global trade brought unprecedented riches but also depended on exploitation of Black and Indigenous populations. Factors such as social status, gender, and religious faith impacted life experience for everyone. This seminar brings an intersectional focus to social conditions in the lives of 17th-century Dutch artists and their representations of the world around them.
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573–1610) and Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–1654) are two of the best-known and most controversial artists of all time. Discover how their art viscerally reflects the violence, passion, and religious struggles of their day and may even be autobiographical. Their questioning of sexual and gender norms predates more contemporary artists such as Andy Warhol and Tracey Emin.
Through rituals Renaissance people expressed their devotion, pleaded for salvation from devastating illnesses, and structured their lives. Sculptures played a key role in these rituals, many of which are still performed today, a continuous living tradition.
We will investigate the threat to cultural heritage posed by wars during the 20th century in Europe (WWI, WWII, and the Balkans Conflict). Systems to safeguard valued monuments and works of art were established by governments, legal bodies, restorers, and heritage organizations, but wars presented severe challenges. By looking back, we gain understanding of what emerged as viable approaches to preservation, which is important knowledge as we continue to witness the impact of war on cultural sites in many parts of the world, and wonder what can be done.
What does ancient Roman graffiti, Medieval stained glass, and Tik Tok have in common? How are we influenced by the images, screens, and media that we encounter daily, be it in advertising, news media, television, movies, video games, and social media? Delve into the dynamic realm of visual culture, exploring its role in shaping society, politics, and personal identity; and explore theories and ideas to interpret and analyse what we see and experience as visual culture.
We explore the pivotal period of European, North African, and Middle Eastern art history between c. 300-1400. This period not only brought forth our dominant systems of faith and their related artistic traditions (the mosques of Islam, the churches and chapels of Christianity), but also many of our institutions (monarchy, the earliest universities), and gave shape to many of our cities (Paris, London, Rome, Istanbul, etc). This course reframes the period through careful contextual analyses of major monuments and argues for the importance of the medieval world for shaping world art.
Ever wonder why the Mona Lisa smiles or Michelangelo's David has such big hands? Immerse yourself in the beautiful, monstrous, and violent art of the Renaissance and study the lords, ladies, popes, preachers, and pornographers for whom this art was made.
This course aims to present an introduction to the arts and visual culture of the African peoples, encompassing traditional or classic African arts, as well as modern and contemporary African arts. Through theoretical and practical analysis, students will be encouraged to reflect on how the African art field has been shaped by scholars, curators, artists and public interaction.
This class takes the "long" view of Indigenous North American arts, bringing students on a journey from the ancient world, through the shock of the colonial encounter, and into the twentieth century. We critically examine a vibrant and expansive range of "art" – from architecture, basketry, pottery, decorated clothing, elaborate designs on hunting and warfare instruments, sacred and ceremonial visual arts – to deepen our historical understanding and appreciation of the complexity of Indigenous artistic traditions of North America, in the past and up to the present
From the ancient world to Syria and Ukraine today, we examine the impact of military conflicts on art and architecture over the centuries and from a global perspective. Among the topics are: art looting during war, the restoration of damaged monuments, and attempts to protect heritage from destruction.
How can we trace a global history of design through women’s work? What was the place of women in design? How was design made to be gendered? How did it depend on colonialism? How can marginalization and oppression be challenged and subverted through design? This course considers these questions through an exploration of the relationship between identity, place, and design (i.e., architecture, interiors, furniture, textiles, fashion, and material culture).
This course examines modern German architecture as an important part of social practice. Buildings and monuments of modern Germany will be understood according to the values they expressed and perpetuated, through their aesthetics, their materials, and their spaces.
Over the past 60 years, networked computers have radically transformed contemporary life, including ideas about reality, identity, social relations, politics, and more. This chronological survey explores: 1) how artists have used, misused, responded to, and even invented digital technologies; and 2) how art can help us “see” and understand the often-invisible ways that digital technologies––from the internet to AI––function and shape our world.
Students will learn about the competing claims for realist, impressionist, neo-impressionist, post-impressionist, symbolist, and modernist art, and will work to place this art in its institutional, social, economic, and art historical contexts, while foregrounding critical gender and critical race studies approaches.
This course examines the ways in which visual images can function as a form of social, political, or religious propaganda. With reference to examples produced from the early modern period to the present, it will deal with a variety of media: from fine art paintings to political posters, cartoons, video games, etc. Offered by Arts and Science Online.
The Baroque era (c.1580–c.1800)–a time of social and religious crisis–is characterized by some the most gargantuan, lavishly-decorated buildings in the Western canon. This course will look at how Baroque architects attempted to create a sense of sublimity and authority or a sense of escape by combining painting, sculpture and architecture.
Forgeries have an incredible allure. As with a conjuring trick, we are bemused when we are fooled, especially when our own finances and reputations are not involved. However, on a societal level, rarely do we investigate this phenomenon in more than a superficial manner resulting in little understanding of the depth of a fake’s impact. This class will delve more fully into the world of art forgeries to provide a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of their history, production, identification, and reception. In order to encapsulate the nuances of this phenomenon, this class will take an interdisciplinary approach, including guest lectures, to foster discussion about the impact of art forgeries on a wide range of disciplines including art history, finance, law, museology, and conservation. Through interdisciplinary dialogue, students will attempt to form their own philosophical approach to forgeries based on their fields of study in combination with art history.
An investigation of how cultural heritage has been preserved in different parts of the world in the past and the present, focusing on methods used to ameliorate or prevent damage and destruction caused by the environment, war, looting and restoration. Case studies will be drawn from the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Anthropology’s focus on the social practices of everyday life and the cultural meaning of everyday objects can inform art history's investigations into social identity, material culture, authorship, reception, and the traditional hierarchies of media. This course will examine a range of anthropological theories and will assess their potential roles in art historical analysis.
This course aims to present and discuss key themes and topics related to Curatorship and African arts, such as authenticity, authorship and repatriation. Through theoretical and practical analysis, students will be encouraged to reflect on how African arts have been displayed over time and the urgency of rethinking the role of curator. The students will write an exhibition project taking into account the new political, social and artistic demands related to African arts.
The first style in the Western canon to originate in décor, Rococo is often written off as frivolous. However this attitude is changing as scholars investigate Rococo artists’ preoccupations with conversation, friendship, decorum and spirituality, as well as emotional love and sexuality. Initially limited to the private aristocratic Parisian home, Rococo quickly transformed into one of the world’s most important styles to adorn church interiors, from Germany to Brazil. This course will explore Rococo’s links with society and the salon, its counter-culture rebelliousness and its femininity.
What IS Gothic anyway? It is one of the most visually compelling—even arresting—art forms, yet it often lacks definition and characterisation. Sublime in its most literal sense, it is a lofty art form akin to lofty ideals and lofty deeds. But the Gothic is also an overtly opulent and glamorous art, with its central protagonists prefacing the beautiful and charismatic affect of contemporary fashion models. In coming to terms with the arts of Europe in particular, from Dublin to Prague—but also the Holy Land and parts of North Africa—in the years c. 1200-1400, this class sets a new agenda for the Gothic as an interrogative art form. This course will explore a series of current discourses in the field pertaining to glamour, gender, and “orientalism”, and we will also explore the charisma of figures including the Virgin Mary, who will emerge as predecessors of the femme fatale on the silver screen. We will also discuss the miraculous and the charismatic potential of saints and their material avatars in statues and shrines, the importation of arts from the Holy Land during the crusade, and the elite patronage of art and architecture up to and even beyond the Black Death.
This course will explore how art and visual culture has presented, represented, and invited critiques about increasingly medicalized modern bodies. The course focuses on modernity primarily in Europe and North America, c. 1800 to c. 1950, but will range both geographically and temporally. Over the term, we will be particularly concerned with art’s engagement with medical modernity’s gendered, queer, trans, and racialized bodies.
2023 Winter/Summer Term Undergraduate Courses
Offered jointly by the Departments of Art History and Art Conservation & History, this interdisciplinary course offers students a rare opportunity to learn how to use specialized 3D laser imaging technology to digitally document a National Historic Site, the Kingston Penitentiary.
An artwork's origins: Technical Art History looks closely at the materials and techniques used to create art -- from Classical Antiquity to Piet Mondrian's abstract paintings -- and better understand how and why these artworks were created.
Instructor: R. Spronk.
Backed by the expansive histories of Early Christianity, Islam, and the papacy, this course explores the art and architecture of c.300-1400, including the Arch of Constantine to Hagia Sophia, the Book of Kells, the Great Mosque of Cordoba, and Chartres Cathedral.
Instructor: D. Cunningham.
Ever wonder why the Mona Lisa smiles or Michelangelo's David has such big hands? Immerse yourself in the beautiful, monstrous, and violent art of the Renaissance and study the lords, ladies, popes, preachers, and pornographers for whom this art was made.
Instructor: U. D'Elia.
Can art play a role in creating social change? What are the implications of involving art and its audiences in social justice work?
Instructor: J. Kennedy.
Today alone, more than 100 million new photos will be shared on Instagram—far more than were taken during the first 100 years of photography. Learn how the invention of photography in the 1830s changed the world.
Instructor: M. Rombout.
Immerse yourself in the vast, vibrant, and fascinating art and visual cultures of Africa. This course will introduce you to traditional and ceremonial arts, and bring you up to the contemporary, while examining the changing contexts of cultural objects as they travel outside the continent.
Instructor: J. Bevilacqua.
The tension of the Romanesque period: an up-close look at the art and history that comes out of the cultural battles between kings and popes, monks and theologians, citizens and rulers, and Christians and Muslims.
Instructor: Dr. Dawn Cunningham.
What happens when you mix cameras with social protests and public demonstrations? In this class you’ll explore how photography changes the way we relate to each other, our political worlds, and our social norms.
Instructor: M. Rombout.
A deep dive into 17th-century Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn and his contemporaries, placed against a backdrop of modern colonialism and Dutch artists' responses to issues of race, class, and gender.
Instructor: S. Dickey.
How can our cities be sustainable? We look at the design of cities as well as the confluences of nature, culture, technology, and economics in those spaces.
Instructor: K. Romba.
Education in practice: Art History and Fine Art students can apply for a practical internship at a museum or gallery, taking on research or curatorial activities. Applications must be approved in advance by the Undergraduate Chair.
Instructor: Various.
Early Netherlandish paintings, as material objects, are complex layered structures that were produced with a broad range of materials in distinct stages: This seminar will focus on the materials and techniques of Jheronimus Bosch (d. 1516).
Instructor. R. Spronk.
Did Kim Kardashian ruin Marilyn Monroe's dress? If one of the bulbs in a Dan Flavin installation burns out, can you replace it? Does an artwork retain its meaning and authenticity after conservation?
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Instructor: A. Behan.
The goals of the seminar are inspired by Blueprint for a Counter Education, a 1970 “counter-university,” which took the form of a poster series and accompanying publication mapping the lines of mutual influence between radical political thought, activism, and artistic practices from modernism to the present.
Instructor. J. Kennedy.
Despite traditional misogynist literature, women in early modern Europe created a community where they could defy cultural stereotypes and exchange ideas, be creative, and produce knowledge in arts and sciences.
Instructor: S. Dickey.
2022 Fall Term Undergraduate Courses
This full-year course is a survey of famous and lesser-known works of painting, sculpture, architecture, and other art forms from Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque, and the Modern Age. Themes include politics, religion, mythology, gender roles, techniques, conservation and intersections with non-western cultures.
Instructor: D. Cunningham (Fall), K. Romba (Winter).
Instructor: A. Morehead.
Instructor: J. Russell-Corbett.
From Ancient Mesopotamia to Europe during WWII and Syria today, this course examines the enormous impact of war and other military conflicts on cultural heritage, focusing on monuments and works of art. In lectures that move both chronologically through time and geographically from place to place, several themes are explored: cultural damage and destruction during conflict (Temple of Bel, Palmyra), the looting of works of art (Napoleon and the Nazis), erecting monuments to celebrate military victory (Trajan’s Column in Rome), human responses to heritage destruction including restoration and rebuilding (Coventry Cathedral), the desire for recovery of national heritage (Parthenon Marbles) and the rise of international efforts to safeguard heritage (UNESCO).
Instructor: C. Hoeniger.
Instructor: G. Bailey.
Instructor: A. Behan.
Instructor: K. Romba.
Instructor: J. Bevilacqua.
Instructor: J. Kennedy.
Instructor: U. D'Elia.
Instructor: R. Spronk.
Instructor: A. Behan.
Students in Art History and Fine Art can apply to take a practical internship in a museum or gallery, where they would undertake research or curatorial activities. All internships must be approved in advance by written application to the Undergraduate Chair. Approval will depend on the quality of the proposal and the academic record of the applicant. Students are required to write a report about their experience and are evaluated jointly by the employer and a faculty member from the Department of Art. It is the responsibility of students to arrange internships. Please review the Internship Guidelines and Internship Application Form and Internship Description Template.
NOTE: Depending on location, substantial travel and subsistence costs may be involved. All internships must meet COVID-19 related public health guidelines.
Download the ARTH 395 Course Description (76KB)
Instructor: Various
Cultural heritage preservation will be examined both in an expansive way and through specific case studies drawn from all over the world. Emphasis is given to the damage of cultural sites in war and natural disasters, and to different approaches to restoration, as well as to the looting of portable heritage objects, often during periods of conflict. We will focus on the 20th-century achievements in heritage protection, involving international laws and legal conventions, the development of ethical practices in art and architectural conservation, and the rise of organizations such as UNESCO to protect cultural and natural sites worldwide. Students will be introduced to the subject through weekly readings and discussions of important themes, and they will also gain more specialized knowledge and research skills by investigating independently a pair of World Heritage sites. The course format is a seminar with discussions of the readings and presentations of student research.
Download the full course description (200KB)
Instructor: C. Hoeniger.
Instructor: J. Bevilacqua.
Instructor: K. Romba.
Instructor: G. Bailey
Instructor: U. D'Elia.
2021-2022 Academic Year
An introduction to the arts of the Middle Ages (c.300-1400) from the origins of Christian art under the Emperor Constantine, through the Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic Periods. The focus will be on major monuments and personalities. PREREQUISITE: Level 2 or above or permission of the Department.
Instructor: M. Reeve.
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A study of Renaissance art and architecture before 1500 within the context of the social, political and economic history of Western Europe. Key monuments, themes and concepts will be stressed. PREREQUISITE: Level 2 or above or permission of the Department.
Instructor: C. Hoeniger.
A study of Renaissance art and architecture after 1500 within the context of the social, political and economic history of Western Europe. Key monuments, themes and concepts will be stressed. PREREQUISITE: Level 2 or above or permission of the Department.
Instructor: D. Cunningham.
Winter 2021 course will be fully asynchronous.
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The course presents an introduction to the arts and visual culture of Africa, encompassing traditional or “classic” African arts, as well as modern and contemporary African arts. It explores the diversity and shifting concepts of African art over time, and the ways objects related to specific African communities circulated and gained new meanings outside the continent. Through theoretical and practical analyses, students will be stimulated to reflect on how the African art field was shaped by scholars, curators, artists, and public interaction during its main turning points. PREREQUISITE: Level 2 or above or permission of the Department.
Instructor: J. Bevilacqua.
A survey of the visual culture of Europe and its colonies in the Baroque age (ca. 1580-1750). Attention is given to developments in all aspects of the visual arts, with emphasis on painting, sculpture, architecture, and the graphic arts, and on the achievements of artists such as Rembrandt, Rubens, Poussin, Velasquez, and Bernini. PREREQUISITE: Level 2 or above or permission of the Department.
Instructor: N/A
An investigation of the impact of war on art and architecture, as well as human attempts to preserve cultural heritage. A chronological or thematic approach may be taken, with focus placed on one or more case studies, such as: the Sacks of Rome, the Napoleonic wars, Nazi looting, the Cultural Revolution in China, Afghanistan under Taliban rule. PREREQUISITE: Level 2 or above or permission of the Department.
Instructor: C. Hoeniger.
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This course will introduce students to the history of craft and design since the seventeenth century in the context of the spread of industrialization and colonialism. Students will consider frameworks and key concepts for understanding design and craft, including production, consumption, style, use, materials, technology, ornament, expression vs. standardization, and authorship. PREREQUISITE: Level 2 or above or permission of the Department.
Instructor: A. Behan.
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An examination of modern architecture in the western world, from 1900 to the present. PREREQUISITE: Level 2 or above or permission of the Department.
Instructor: K. Romba.
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From ancient Egyptian mummies to contemporary selfies, portraits have reflected and shaped ideals of personal and collective identity in diverse cultures and historical periods. This course explores the art of portraiture and its significance in human society. Specific case studies may vary. PREREQUISITE: Level 2 or above or permission of the Department.
Instructor: S. Dickey.
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A study of selected objects with a focus on materials and meanings. PREREQUISITE: Level 3 or above.
Instructor: A. Behan.
This survey examines key German buildings and monuments from the beginning of German Confederation to the end of the Third Reich. Emphasis will be placed on situating this architecture in its broader cultural and social context. PREREQUISITE: Level 3 or above.
Instructor: K. Romba.
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This course examines the changes in European art later known as â€Gothic’. With a focus on England, France, Spain, Italy and Germany, this class will consider major monuments across the media, from manuscript painting to architecture, stained glass, sculpture and ars sacra. Throughout, monuments will be placed in their appropriate social, historical and patronal contexts. PREREQUISITE: Level 3 or above.
This course will examine the connections between art, art history and intersectional feminisms. Students will be introduced to a number of the key issues and critical frameworks that have informed diverse, transnational feminist approaches to art, art history and art criticism. PREREQUISITE: Level 3 or above.
Instructor: N/A.
A study of gender in relation to modern visual culture from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries using theoretical frameworks drawn from feminist art history and gender studies. Topics to be studied include fashion and modernity, consumer culture, gendered and transgendered artistic identities, and the gendering of Modernism. RECOMMENDATION: ARTH 226/3.0 and ARTH 228/3.0. PREREQUISITE: Level 3 or above.
Instructors: E. Cavaliere, M. Reeve.
An examination of the impact of networked digital technologies on the production, display and reception of global contemporary art. From artists’ early experiments with computers in the 1960s to the post-internet and algorithmic arts of the 21st century, students will be introduced to key practices, technologies, theories and debates. PREREQUISITE: Level 3 or above. It is recommended that students have taken ARTH 120.
Instructor: J. Kennedy.
Through lectures, readings, and research, this course explores the nature, practice, and impact of photography in Canada between 1839 and 1939. By examining how the new medium was used to confirm, complement, and contest older forms of aesthetic expression, written documentation, or visual evidence, it traces the role of photography in Canadian society during this critical period of Canadian nation building. PREREQUISITE: Level 3 or above.
Instructor: J. Schwartz.
This course will examine the sculptures that filled Italian cities from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, some heroic, others pathetic or erotic. We will explore how sculptors worked with a variety of materials to bring to life effigies of diverse bodies, in relation to Renaissance debates about gender, sex, religion, class, and politics. PREREQUISITE: Level 3 or above.
Instructor: U. D'Elia.
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This course will examine the ways in which visual culture can function as social, political or religious propaganda. With reference to examples produced from c.1600 to the present, it will deal with a variety of media and the ways in which developments in technology contribute to the spread of propaganda.
Instructor: J. Russell Corbett.
Baroque and Rococo architecture and urbanism of Europe and beyond including Italy, France, Iberia, Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, New Spain (Mexico), Peru, Brazil, India, Macau, Phillipines. Includes Italian bel composto, impact of theater, salon culture in Paris, indigenous contributions outside Europe, ephemera, gardens. PREREQUISITE: Level 3 or above.
Instructor: G. Bailey.
This course examines the phenomenon of the city, a settlement of high density that has, throughout history, offered many distinctive social and cultural experiences. The focus of this course will be urban art, architecture, planning, and material culture, and their relationship to those experiences. Specific urban case studies, Western and non-Western, will provide the foundation for our study. PREREQUISITE: Level 3 or above.
Instructor: K. Romba.
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This project-based seminar explores the interface of digital technologies, museums, and cultural heritage interpretation. Students build practical knowledge and theoretical understandings around technology, audience interpretation and knowledge creation. PREREQUISITE: Level 4 and registration in an ARTH Major or Medial Plan and a GPA of 1.9 and 24.0 units in ARTH.
Instructor: N. Vorano.
An investigation of how cultural heritage has been preserved in different parts of the world in the past and the present, focusing on methods used to ameliorate or prevent damage and destruction caused by the environment, war, looting and restoration. Case studies will be drawn from the UNESCO World Heritage list. PREREQUISITE: Level 4 and registration in an ARTH Major or Medial Plan and a GPA of 1.9 and 24.0 units in ARTH
Instructor: C. Hoeniger.
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This course traces the global flows of textiles and focuses on understanding how labour, desire, and economics shape textile production, circulation, and consumption. It will trace changes in economics, technology, and taste from the mid-sixteenth century to the present day. PREREQUISITE: Level 4 and registration in an ARTH Major or Medial Plan and a GPA of 1.9 and 24.0 units in ARTH
Instructor: A. Behan.
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A detailed study of one area or topic in the history of medieval European art. PREREQUISITE: Level 4 and registration in an ARTH Major or Medial Plan and a GPA of 1.9 and 24.0 units in ARTH
Instructor: M. Reeve.
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A consideration of the history of collecting and public collections; of museum policy and practice; and of Western notions of art and culture as they are applied in the museum to non-Western art. PREREQUISITE: Level 4 and registration in an ARTH Major or Medial Plan and a GPA of 1.9 and 24.0 units in ARTH.
Instructor: A. Behan.
This course will examine a range of anthropological theories and will assess their potential methodological roles in art historical analysis. PREREQUISITE: Level 4 and registration in an ARTH Major or Medial Plan and a GPA of 1.9 and 24.0 units in ARTH.
Instructor: K. Romba.
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This seminar focuses on historical and contemporary critical writing to explore historical and contemporary perspectives on the nature, theory, and practice of photography. It is a course about ideas rather than images - ideas about photographs, about looking at photographs, and about reading photographs - ideas that have governed the way we look at, respond to, and draw meaning from photograph. PREREQUISITES: Level 4 and registration in an ARTH Major or Medial Plan and a GPA of 1.9 and 24.0 units in ARTH.
Instructor: J. Schwartz.
Explores Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi and contemporaries in Baroque Italy. Considers issues such as naturalism/idealism, patronage, populist piety, gender. One of the goals is to look at the ways in which these artists' personalities have been projected onto their work by scholars, essayists, novelists, and filmmakers. PREREQUISITE: Level 4 and registration in an ARTH Major or Medial Plan and a GPA of 1.9 and 24.0 units in ARTH.
Instructor: G. Bailey.
This seminar, held at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, integrates historical, theoretical, and practical approaches to contemporary curatorial issues.
Anne Whitelaw has suggested that: “While the object is the fundamental component in the study of the visual arts, we come to know that object through the mediation of art institutions.” Those very same art institutions fundamentally shape curatorial practices. Each week this course will investigate the formation and significance of one type of art institution in the Canadian context – archive, history museum, public gallery, university gallery, artist run center, heritage center, commercial gallery, publishing – thinking about issues such as mandate, funding, collecting practice, exhibition design, community relationships, and the role of the artist as shaping curatorial practices. Throughout this course you will be offered opportunities to research your own emerging specialized curatorial interests as they might be shaped by institutional forces, as well as assignments that provide practical experience with curatorial tasks. You will come away from the course with the ability to think critically about exhibition policy and practice, and with a working knowledge of the ways various institutions shape art collection and drive artistic practices in the Canadian context. PREREQUISITE: Level 4 and registration in an ARTH Major or Medial Plan and a GPA of 1.9 and 24.0 units in ARTH.
Instructor: J. Bevilacqua.
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The study of how words and images interact in visual and material culture. Topics may vary to address a selected theme, historical period, artist, movement, or art form, such as: illustrated books or manuscripts; art as inspiration for literary works or vice versa; scientific and technical illustration; words as images; film and digital media. PREREQUISITE: Level 4 and registration in an ARTH Major or Medial Plan and a GPA of 1.9 and 24.0 units in ARTH.
Instructor: J. Schwartz.
A study of selected topics in the art of the 17th century. PREREQUISITE: Level 4 and registration in an ARTH Major or Medial Plan and a GPA of 1.9 and 24.0 units in ARTH.
Instructor: G. Bailey.