Art History

Consideration of the stylistic and contextual significance of representative monuments in the history of art.

A survey of the history of art, architecture and allied arts. This introduction to the history of art will examine a wide range of objects, selected and discussed in connection with a special theme to be selected by the instructor. Students will be expected to study the history and significance of art through the close reading of selected texts that relate to both art and theory. Special attention will be given to developing essential art historical skills necessary for upper level courses. The topic for each semester will vary based on the instructor. No previous knowledge of history of art or architecture is required. Frequent writing assignments and exercises will be based on readings, lectures, and museum or gallery visits to collections in Toronto.

Walking is a basic human activity, yet it also defines and shapes us. In order to understand the permutations of this seemingly simple activity we will look at walking in a variety of contexts through the study of texts, art, movies and the built environment. Restricted to first-year students. Not available for CR/NCR option.

This course explores the visual and material worlds of the Italian traveller Marco Polo, which are described in his Travels. Together we will read sections of this text and explore their meaning with respect to the objects and monuments of Marco Polo’s time from the regions to which he travelled. By studying cartography, art, architecture, and urban form in the expansive medieval world of Marco Polo, the course will introduce us to the global world of the Middle Ages. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

The ancient Greeks and Romans lived in a world full of images. Ancient visual culture comprises not only the high arts but also the everyday. This course is meant to introduce students to key ideas about how art and images in general impacted the life of ancient Greeks and Romans. Students will learn to examine various categories of visual material ranging from the pictorial and applied arts (painting, sculpture, architecture) to everyday artifacts (for example, domestic wares, jewelry or weapons). Through a series of discussion-centred seminar sessions students will explore the interconnections between art and ideology, art and identity as well as visuality and viewing. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Art causes scandals for many reasons, provoking a range of consequences, including censorship, cuts to government funding of the arts or even destruction of the work in question. In this course we will consider a number of kinds of art scandal arising from exhibition in public galleries and urban spaces, including those that have to do with legal issues such as plagiarism and vandalism; aesthetic objections on the part of the public, ranging from perceived obscenity to simple resentment of abstract art; racism; sacrilege; and political subversion, amongst others. We will consider the work of artists including Chris Ofili, Joep van Lieshout, Paul McCarthy, Damien Hirst, Michael Snow, Sally Mann, Banksy, Rachel Whiteread, Richard Prince, Andres Serrano, Robert Mapplethorpe, Carl Andre, Maya Lin, and Jeff Koons, amongst others. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

“Curiosity” can refer to the desire to know or learn something, but the word has also been used to define objects of singular interest: “curiosities.” Drawing from the University of Toronto’s rich museum and library collections, this course will present an overview of the diverse and shifting European cultural attitudes toward curiosity—from the early modern period to the present. We will examine themes such as: museum history, rarity and monstrosity, natural history illustration, exploration and travel art, the construction of racial and cultural difference, and visual entertainment. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course will reveal the deep history of clay, stretching back to the Palaeolithic period with the first clay figurines; through the Neolithic period with its extensive use of clay for the earliest permanent houses, the first inorganic containers, and many votive offerings in clay; all the way to the present day with the ceramic art of Pablo Picasso, Grayson Perry, and Ai Weiwei. Our approach will also be thoroughly global, ranging from the Maya of Mesoamerica to the Mingei of Japan. The course will involve hands-on elements too, particularly with the nearby Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art.

An overview of the major monuments, artifacts, themes and problems in the study of the archaeology, art and architecture of the Aegean region and the east Mediterranean to 1000BC.

An overview of the major monuments, artifacts, themes and problems in the study of the archaeology, art and architecture of the civilizations of Greece and Rome.

An overview of major monuments and themes in the art and architecture of Western Europe and the Byzantine East from the third until the eleventh century.

An overview of major monuments and themes in the art and architecture of Western Europe and the Byzantine East from the eleventh until the fifteenth century.

A selective survey of the major art centres and types of artistic and architectural production in Italy and northern Europe, from the early fifteenth century to the mid-sixteenth. Themes include the relations--artistic, economic and ideological--between northern and southern Europe during this period, the changing role of art in religious life, the emergence of secular themes, and the legacies left by Renaissance art to modern life and culture.

Major forms of expression in the visual arts ca. 1600 - ca. 1750 with particular attention to forms, techniques, theories, and patronage of the arts as well as biographies of artists in Italy, France, the Netherlands, Flanders, Germany and England.

An introduction to the advent and development of art movements including Rococo and Neoclassicism; Romanticism and Revolution, Realism and the advent of Photography, Impressionism; Academic art; Post-Impressionism.

An introduction to the consolidation of Modernist tendencies in Europe to the mid 20th century and to the many contemporary responses to these achievements. Individual artists, including Picasso, Matisse, Duchamp, and Matthew Barney are considered in their relationship to various art movements and the theories that supported them, including Expressionism; Abstraction and Constructivism; Dada and Surrealism; Neue Sachlichkeit; Abstract Expressionism; Pop; Conceptual Art; Earth Art; Feminist Art; Postmodernism; New Media Art.

An introductory survey of the history of painting in Canada from the 17th to the 20th century.

This course surveys the history of photography in Europe and North America, from its origins to recent innovations in digital imaging.  Emphasis is placed on the various aesthetic, scientific, and political discourses in which photography has been located, and the assumptions and premises associated with the medium's relationship to reality.

An overview of major monuments and themes in the art and architecture of East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia and Tibet), from the neolithic to the present.

An overview of major monuments and themes in the art and architecture of East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia and Tibet) and its diaspora in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

This course explores the architecture of the Islamic world from the 7th - 12th centuries through the lens of its major monuments throughout the central Islamic lands, North Africa and Spain. Through an emphasis upon the Umayyad, Abbasid, Fatimid and Seljuk periods, the course explores the range of cultural, political, social and religious aspects related to the development of the built environment. It also considers the impact of Islam's encounter with late antiquity and aims to position the rise of Islamic architecture within the context of this encounter. Additionally, the architecture is contextualized through a study of the urban history of select early and medieval Islamic cities.

A survey of architecture from pre-history to the start of modernism, with attention given to the ways in which architecture shapes human experience.

An introduction to the buildings, issues and ideas from Neoclassicism to the present.

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/course/rop. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

This course investigates the material culture, art and architecture of the Aegean civilizations from the Neolithic through to the building of the palaces of Crete around 2000BC.

This course provides a detailed investigation of the city of Athens, focusing on the art, architecture and archaeology in the later Archaic and Classical Period. A combination of topographical and chronological approach is taken to familiarize the students with both the physical cityscape as well as its development in the context of major areas of interest, such as politics, religion and social customs. Some broad themes explored include: art, democracy and propaganda (Agora), the impact of the Persian wars, ritual and religious festivals (Acropolis), the symposium, Athenian women, funerary art (Kerameikos), cult, sanctuaries and votives, art and Athenian drama. The course will also feature digital humanities components in the assignments, which may involve spatial mapping, 3D tools/VR and/or databases, as well as a trip to the Royal Ontario Museum.

The art, architecture and archaeology of the city of Rome to AD476.

This course is a comprehensive exploration of the art of Greek vase painting, covering material from the late Geometric period (8th C. BCE) to the late Classical Period (4th C. BCE). While iconography and narrative will form a major portion of the ceontent, the class will also explore issues surrounding material and technique, the prevalent sympotic (drinking) culture and Greek rituals that provides the cultural framework, dynamics of trade, theories of viewership and semiotics, status of the artist, and other historiographical concerns, including problematic issues surrounding the modern practice of collecting.

The course provides a thorough examination of ancient Greek sculpture from 7th - 1st century BCE, which in many ways defined the canon of western art that was to follow. Classic issues of style, dating, and technique are complemented by putting them into the contexts of cultural history, religion and socio-politics. While the course is a traditional monument-based survey of major sculptural works from the ancient Greek world, several important issues are also addressed, pertaining both to contemporary society and the study of other areas of art history. These include but are not limited to: gender, social class, colonialism, notion of the artist, originality, and aesthetic theory.

Transformation in the visual arts, paintings, sculpture, and mosaics of the expanding Greek world c. 400BC to c. 100BC; the response to Hellenization from the new artistic centres of Asia Minor and Italy.

A general introduction to Greek mythology and its uses (and abuses) by the Greeks and Romans through the art of antiquity. Students will learn about gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, their attributes and stories which constituted the subjects of (not only) ancient art.

An examination of the role played by monks and nuns in the creation and use of art and architecture in the Middle Ages.

A focused survey of different types of manuscripts and their images from the origins of the book in Late Antiquity to the invention of printing.

From its earliest beginnings as an Umayyad province and up until the 15th century, al-Andalus acted as a lynch pin within the Mediterranean world. Connecting the Islamic empire in the East and forging links of trade and cultural exchange with Europe to the West, cities such as Cordoba and Granada captured the imagination of contemporary chroniclers, earning descriptions in the sources as truly “first-rate places”. Through an exploration of the historical, artistic, architectural, urban, social and economic contexts, this course will engage with and expand upon current understandings of this seminal period in Islamic history to examine Islam’s encounters and modes of cultural exchange with Europe and the Mediterranean world.

A consideration of art and architecture made for the court, the aristocracy, and other patrons outside the realm of the Christian church.

An examination of the Gothic cathedral from its origins in Paris in the 1130’s through its development and elaboration in France, England and Italy. This course also considers monumental decorations in painted glass, wall painting, tapestry and portal sculpture.

Albrecht Dürer and the painting and printmaking of his contemporaries. Consideration of the great Hall churches of Saxony and the altarpieces of Tilman Riemenschneider and his contemporaries; the status of the arts and attitudes towards Italian art, and the consequences of the Reformation for religious imagery.

Painting, sculpture and architecture of the Netherlands in the sixteenth century with reference to the arts in Italy, France, Germany and Spain. Consideration of Netherlandish art in the context of literature, religion, urban expansion, political and economic developments; and as a system of communication. Particular attention devoted to Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel, the rise of secular art.

Focusing on developments in Venice, Florence and Rome during the Renaissance, this course examines altarpieces both as aesthetic objects and as expressions of the social, religious and political structures for which they were made.

Love is studied not only as a favorite theme of Renaissance art, but as the basis of some of its fundamental aesthetic claims. The question of love connects Renaissance art to important strains of philosophical thought and religious spirituality, as well as to some urgent realities of social life.

This course examines works in different art media, including painting, sculpture and prints, produced from 1400 to 1600, discussing how artistic practice of imitation and emulation stimulated the development of individual styles. In addition, this course addresses notions of disruptive rivalry, and the representation of slander and envy.

It has long been said that the material culture of the Renaissance generated the first stir of consumerism with a variety of artifacts produced from 1400 to 1700 in Italy.  This course explores the material culture of Renaissance consumerism and discusses the production and function of works in different art media.

Concentration on the major painters of Holland’s Golden Age, ca. 1580-ca. - 1700. Particular attention is paid to genre painting and the notion of “Dutch realism.” Consideration of art within its social and political contexts. Notions of gender, of the historical past, of embodiment, and of contact with the non-western world will be discussed.

Form and meaning, theory and practice of painting and architecture in Venice, ca. 1450-ca. 1600. Social, political and cultural contexts of making and viewing art, including works by Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto and Palladio.

Introduction to the art of Rembrandt and Rubens in the context of Netherlandish painting of the seventeenth century. Lectures will treat the approaches of these two artists to biblical and mythological subjects, landscape, portraiture, and their involvement in contemporary politics.

This course explores the painting, sculpture, and graphic arts of the Romantic era in France, from abOUT 1820 to 1850. Major emphasis on Gericault, Delacroix, and Ingres in their artistic, cultural, and political context. Key topics in Romanticism, including Orientalism and gender, are also explored.

The origin and development of Impressionism in France and Europe, 1860-1886, in its social, political and intellectual context. Painting, graphics and sculpture by Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, Sisley, Cassatt and Morisot.

An investigation of the birth and development of Cubism, Futurism and Orphism in Europe and North America.

The origins and development of the Dada and Surrealist movements in early 20th-century Western art, and their lasting impact on art after World War II. Painting, sculpture, graphic arts, and the theoretical preoccupation which accompanied artistic production.

The origins, development, and critical issues pertaining to abstract or non-figurative modes of art as manifested in painting, sculpture and other selected media upt to the present time. Movements include European abstract art before World War II as well as post-war developments.

An investigation of the different definitions and issues of minimal art including seriality, materials, process, objecthood, chance, installation, reception, relations to music and film, and the influence of structuralism.

An introduction to the major artists, movements, and debates in photography in Europe and North America, from its prehistory to the turn of the century.  Issues considered include the relationship of social class to aesthetics, the role of illusion, the rise of mass reproduction.

Examination of the historical development of the cultures of exhibition in Nineteenth-Century Europe, and the diversity of venues displaying works of art and nature. Historical and theoretical overview is complemented by case studies which include investigations of private cabinets of curiosity, encyclopedic museums, commercial galleries, side-shows, and world's fairs.

An examination of the visual arts in Canada from the 1960’s to the present. A large and diverse range of media, practices, artists, and theoretical contexts will be examined. Emphasis is placed on work that can be seen in the original.

Ecological art is a focus in contemporary global art. We examine ecoart’s antecedents in the landscape genre and Earth Art and the diverse theoretical and disciplinary perspectives that inform our understanding of these movements. Artists include Burtynsky, Eliasson, Long, Mendieta, Netco, Smithson, Turrell. Readings include Deleuze, Heidegger, Latour.

This course surveys late imperial Chinese decorative arts from the Song (960-1127) through Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It focuses on ceramics/porcelain, textiles, and furniture, attending especially to works in Toronto collections. Students will read primary and secondary sources to learn how decorative arts shaped daily life in imperial China.

East Asian images differ from Western ones in material support, format, and technologies of image-making. This course probes how East Asian images -- painting on objects, handscrolls, prints, optical media, film, and new media – work.

An overview of the visual culture (monuments to films) of South Asia form the Indus Valley Civilization (3500 BCE) to the contemporary. Focus on visual literacy, stylistic evolution, major concepts and the first-hand study of objects.

Artistic production moved fluidly within and beyond East Asia. To understand the artistic world of East Asia, this course probes phenomena that may include Buddhist art, art of conquest dynasties, Chinoiserie, art of the Pacific Rim, film, and contemporary art.

Architecture and architectural theory ca. 1400 – ca. 1600.

Architecture studied through its various building types and in its urban context. Themes include architecture and power under Absolutism, and the rise of the modern city.

Major monuments and key figures in architecture and urbanism in Europe and North America from the Enlightenment to the birth of Modernism.

Major monuments and key figures in architecture and urbanism from Industrialization to the mid-twentieth century. Topics may include architectural theory, colonialism, and new technologies.

An examination of architectural theory and practice from the end of Modernism to the present.

Vernacular traditions in building, patterns of settlement and urbanization, and development of high styles in architecture in New France, British North America, and what is now Canada, from ca. 1650 to ca. 1925. Material economy, cultural identity, local character, regional expression, national symbolism and international influences.

This course examines landscape architecture in relation to its political and social contexts from the mid-nineteenth century to the present when it emerged as a profession in North America. It looks at how landscape architecture embodies and challenges our understandings of culture's variable, tangled relationship to nature. It discusses specific projects, designers and their writings that shaped popular understandings of society's connection to the environment.

The study of various aesthetic, cultural, social, political, and theoretical aspects of Western art and photography across the centuries.

This course investigates the changing definition of Jewish art and the status of Jewish artists. Other issues explored include Jewish-Christian visual polemics, the construction of individual and communal Jewish identity through art, architecture, and texts, and the conceptual transformation of Jewish craft and ritual objects into art.

Study and practice in the variety of writing genres and styles associated with art history and contemporary criticism. Students will develop skills in writing for museum exhibitions and publications, reviews and criticism, academic analysis, and writing for popular print and media. Regular and frequent writing assignments. Recommended for FAH majors and specialists.

Through site visits and local resources, this course looks at the history of Spanish art and architecture, including the various work created by the diverse religious and political groups of the Iberian peninsula. The specific focus of the course may vary from year to year.

Studies Abroad in Ancient Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Studies Abroad in Medieval Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Studies Abroad in Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Studies Abroad in Modern and Contemporary Art and Architecture.

Studies Abroad in Asian Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Studies Abroad in Architectural History. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

An instructor-supervised group project in an off-campus setting. Details at http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/course/rep. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

An instructor-supervised group project in an off-campus setting. Details at http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/course/rep. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Credit course for supervised participation in faculty research project. Details at http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/course/rop. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Investigation of the wall-paintings of the Minoan, Cycladic and Mycenaean worlds in the second millennium BC: context, associations, viewing and historical interpretations.

The Greek god Dionysos presents a multifaceted entry point into exploring Ancient Greek art, culture, religion and history. This course is a comprehensive exploration of the figure of Dionysos, from his obscure pre-historic beginnings of foreign origin, to his transformation into other post-classical entities, spanning Christianity to Buddhism. A substantial part of the course deals with his representations in Greek art, and the god's relationship to the Greeks as the governing figure of many important facets of their lives: drinking practices, sexuality, the performative arts, and the transition into the afterlife through the notion of eternal bliss. The course reading draws on art historical literature, as well as primary sources, and theoretical texts regarding religion and cultural practices.

When cultures collide, they assimilate, they exchange, they transform, and they develop, and there seems to be a pattern of recognizable centres of power around which artistic tradition often revolves. This has caused the conventional understanding of certain flowering of artistic heritage as a product of cross-cultural influences. This course is a seminar style survey that explores these fascinating amalgams of artistic traditions that lie at the Eastern outskirts of the Hellenistic world throughout the roman Period, from Bactria to India, and with a heavy focus on the Buddhist art of Gandhara, reaching out along the Silk Road.  As the title suggests, the class aims at a renewed framework that re-evaluates the role of the Ancient West, which has been absent since the heavily Eurocentric scholarship from the early 20th century. It also aims to familiarize students with current theoretical issues surrounding cross-cultural studies as it pertains to the visual arts, touching upon modern postcolonial theories of space.

Issues explored might cover Republican and Imperial painting; its Hellenistic sources and parallel media (mosaic, relief). The four distinctive genres of Roman sculptural production: the portrait, the historical relief, sarcophagi, and replicas of famous Greek sculptures. Styles, themes and modes of display in cultural context.

In-depth examination of monuments and issues in the art and architecture of Western Europe from the sixth to the fifteenth century.

A focused examination of urbanism, art and architecture of a specific medieval city, such as Jerusalem, Rome, Constantinople, or Paris.

Around 2000 BC, the island of Crete sees the emergence of what are arguably the earliest towns and states in European prehistory. At the heart of this new social order are the so-called ‘palaces’, massive architectural complexes usually interpreted as seats of administrative and political authority. However, fresh discoveries over the past two decades, coupled recently with radical new interpretations, require a fundamental rethinking of the nature of the palaces and their role in Minoan society. This course will provide students with an active opportunity to learn about the latest developments in Minoan art, architecture, and archaeology.

A consideration of individual types of books, their decoration, function, and cultural context. Topics might include, for example, Gospels, Psalters, or Books of Hours.

The study of Pieter Bruegel’s works in the context of Netherlandish culture. Emphasis on secular works.

The life and work of Caravaggio in the context of 17th-century Roman and Neapolitan art theory and patronage, with a particular emphasis on the contentious issue of realism.

This seminar examines major critical developments in the interpretation of High Renaissance art in Italy by looking at key works produced by Leonardo, his contemporaries, and followers (1470-1530).

In Vasari’s Lives of the Artists and their “after-lives,” painters and humanists explored questions of word and image, art and life, biography and history, the psychology of style, the economics and politics of art and the languages of art.  How and why did art history originate?

Exhibitions, symposia and several publications have recently re-considered the art of the High Renaissance artist Correggio (1489/1494?-1534), but its understanding remains problematic within the current paradigms of Italian Renaissance art.  As has been often observed, Correggio was and still is an undervalued artist.  This seminar will consider Correggio’s most ambitious works of art of his short career – his altarpieces, dome decorations and amazing erotic images – and reconstruct their meanings to familiarize undergraduate students with an overlooked corpus of works in the general histories of Renaissance art, while providing them with the basic art historical research tools in the field of Italian Renaissance art.

This seminar explores fashion in the visual and material culture of Renaissance Italy. It focuses on the discourse of fashion as represented by Renaissance artists in their works and as treated in contemporary texts. It further examines the multiple meanings of dress in the courts of Renaissance Italy.

Study of so-called “scenes of everyday life.” Special attention given to cultural context and problems of constructions of gender and gendered relationships, of social and economic interests, of class conflict, of the relationship with broader European culture. Considerable attention will be paid to the work of Jan Vermeer.

French painting, sculpture, and criticism of the mid-19th century, with particular to the key role played by the Paris Salon: its emergence and decline as a public space for exhibitions, its impact on the shape of artistic careers, and the relation between the Salon and artistic practices. Attention both to Modernist artists, such as Manet, and to their opponents. Students will engage in critical readings of primary and secondary texts (Baudelaire, T. J. Clark, Michael Fried), as well as conduct original research on important Salon paintings and sculptures. Assignments will include a book review, an annotated bibliography, and a research paper.

Investigation of English, French, German and Swiss landscape painting from the birth of the Romantic movement to Post-Impressionism.

Developments in the mainstream of Western painting and sculpture since World War II with special emphasis upon interrelations between Europe and North America.

Selected aspects of the complex array of international contemporary art movements, their artists, objects, and critical discourses. Potential issues include the theoretical, philosophical, and political concerns addressed by given artworks and artists; the role of art journals, the private patron, and museum display.

Focused, thematic examinations of the visual arts in Canada in the first half of the twentieth century.

Focused, thematic examinations of the visual arts in Canada from c. 1960 to the present.

Methodologically-focused seminar engaged with recovering and articulating in Western terms indigenous ways of seeing and thinking about East Asian art.

Methodologically- and historiographically-focused seminar that attends to the contiguities and ruptures of approaching East Asian art through Western art historical methods.

Seminar based on firsthand examination of East Asian objects in Toronto collections that attends to the historical processes by which such objects were valued and collected.

In-depth examination of the play of East Asian Art within and beyond East Asia.

This seminar teaches students the skills required to curate an exhibition of Chinese materials. Working firsthand with objects of Chinese art and visual culture in local Toronto collections, students learn to document the object, assess authenticity, write object labels, panel texts, and catalogue essays. Students will thus prepare an exhibition, actual or virtual, of Chinese objects in local collections.

Examination of current issues in and methods of studying photography in India. Focus on visual evolution, theories and concepts of looking at photographs, and intersections of India with the rest of the world. Includes first-hand study of objects in ROM collection, and possible guest lectures.

An in-depth study of themes and problems in architecture in Renaissance and Baroque Europe.

Focused examination of themes and methods in the history of architecture since 1750.

An in-depth study of themes in the history of architecture and landscape in Canada.

Students work together designing and installing an exhibition of works of art, normally drawn from the collections of the University Art Centre. The course meets every two weeks at the University Art Centre over the entire academic year.

The internship is designed to offer hands-on experience pertaining to the study, exhibition, and care of works of art, focused on the collections and activities of the University Art Centre, an auction house, a public museum, or a private gallery. Students must provide proof of their acceptance as an intern by the Art Centre/auction house/museum/gallery in order to be enrolled in the course. This course is Pass/Fail. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

The internship is designed to offer hands-on experience pertaining to the study, exhibition, and care of works of art, focused on the collections and activities of the University Art Centre, an auction house, a public museum, or a private gallery. Students must provide proof of their acceptance as an intern by the Art Centre/auction house/museum/gallery in order to be enrolled in the course. This course is Pass/Fail. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

An introduction to conservation, designed to give students a basic understanding of the field, its techniques, and its purposes. Sessions conducted by specialists in the Royal Ontario Museum conservation department.

This course examines the history, meaning and consumption of Western European textiles (Late Antique - 18th century) and fashionable dress (18th - 21st centuries). Analysis and research will combine student seminars with the study of actual artefacts in the Textile & Costume Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum.

Theoretical and practical engagement with the ROM's Canadian paintings, prints and drawing collections (18th-20th C). Through lectures, workshops, and seminars, we consider the collecting, interpretation, and display of images within the framework of “documentary art” and its various connotations.

In-depth investigation of objects at the Royal Ontario Museum. Content will vary according to the museum department offering the course in any given semester.

Introduction to the diverse textile traditions of Asia and the diverse means for interpreting them, with a concentration on core production areas, select regional traditions and connecting forces. Includes first-hand study of objects in ROM collections and glalleries and possible guest lectures.

Making use of ROM's Chinese art collection, this object-based, case-study oriented seminar explores the ideas and practices behind works of Chinese art. The course examines art and artifacts in relation to their historical contexts, paying close attention to such issues as political practices, religious quests, patronage, audience, and literati culture.

Focused examination of special topics in any period of Mediterranean, European, North American, or Asian art and architecture.

The Indian Ocean has been called the Cradle of Globalization. For thousands of years monsoon winds linked the people and arts of this vast Ocean that stretches from East Africa in the West to Indonesia (and beyond) in the East. Throughout its long history, handwoven textiles have been amongst the area’s greatest art forms, trade goods, religious objects and markers of identity. This course will survey the wide variety of these forms, from c. 1100 to 1950. Special attention is placed on India, which lies at the center of the region, and originated many of the fibres, techniques, design and iconography of the wider area. Select regional manifestations are then examined in depth, using the ROM’s extensive collections. These range from the silks of Madagascar, to embroidered men’s wear of Oman, to the cosmopolitan batiks of northern coastal Java. It is seen that all these traditions can best be understood within the framework of the wider Indian Ocean region.

Independent Studies in Ancient Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent Studies in Ancient Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent Studies in Medieval Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent Studies in Medieval Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent Studies in Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent Studies in Modern and Contemporary Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent Studies in Modern and Contemporary Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent Studies in Canadian Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent Studies in Canadian Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent Studies in Asian Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent Studies in Asian Art and Architecture. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent Studies in Architectural History. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.

Independent Studies in Architectural History. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.