School for Studies in Art and Culture
Art History
Dunton Tower 2201
Telephone: 788-2342
Fax: 788-3575
The School
St. Patrick's Building 427
Director: John Shepherd
Supervisor of Graduate Studies: Ruth Phillips
The School for Studies in Art and Culture offers a program of
study and research leading to the degree of Master of Arts in
Canadian Art History. The program is unique in its breadth and
comprehensiveness. Students can choose to focus on art and architecture
drawn from Canada's wealth of different artistic communities,
including the traditions of Euro-Canadians, aboriginal peoples,
other ethnic groups, and women. They are encouraged to consider
these traditions as aesthetic expressions and within broad contexts
of race and gender and of social, political, and economic history.
Qualifying-Year Program
Applicants who do not qualify for direct admission to the master's
program may be admitted to a qualifying-year program. Applicants
who lack an honours degree, but have a pass degree with an honours
standing (at least B overall) will normally be admitted to a qualifying-year
program. The regulations governing the qualifying-year are outlined
in the General Regulations section of this calendar, page 17.
Master of Arts
Admission Requirements
The minimum requirement for admission to the master's program
is an honours bachelor's degree (or the equivalent) in art history
or a related discipline, with at least high honours standing.
Related disciplines may include anthropology, Canadian history,
and Canadian studies. Applicants without a background in art history
may be required to take up to a maximum of two full credits in
certain designated courses from the undergraduate art history
program in addition to their regular program.
Program Requirements
The specific program requirements for students in the M.A. program
are as follows:
- Art History 11.500: The Practice of Canadian Art (one full
credit)
- Art History 11:599: M.A. Thesis (two full credits)
- Four half-credit courses, with a minimum of two and no more
than three to be taken from the following six areas of concentration
in Canadian art: Euro-American tradition, Indian art, Inuit art,
architecture, photography, folk and popular arts
One half-credit may (subject to the approval of the graduate supervisor)
be taken outside the Art History program. A maximum of one full-course
(or the equivalent) may be selected from course offerings at the
400-level in Art History.
The student's program will be developed in consultation with the
graduate supervisor and graduate faculty of Art History, and must
be approved by the graduate supervisor. The prescribed program
will take into account the student's background and special interests,
as well as the research strengths of the Art History graduate
faculty.
Deadlines
Thesis Proposal
Full-time students will normally submit their thesis topic to
the thesis proposal board no later than April 15 of the first
year of registration for students enrolled full-time, and no later
than the middle of the fifth term of registration for students
enrolled part-time.
Thesis
A candidate will inform the thesis supervisor two weeks in advance
of the date on which the thesis will be submitted. The date of
the defence will be set on submission of the thesis. The examination
of the thesis will take place no sooner than two weeks after the
date of submission; therefore, there will be a minimum of four
weeks between the candidate's statement of intent and the thesis
examination.
Language Requirements
The student will be required to demonstrate a reading knowledge
of French (or another language to be approved by the Art History
graduate supervisor).
Academic Standing
A standing of B- or better must be obtained in each course counted
towards the master's degree.
Graduate Courses*
- Art History 11.500T2
The Practice of Canadian Art History
This course will examine three areas: (1) the historiography of
both native and non-native Canadian art history; (2) the history
and practice of collecting institutions in the six areas of concentration
in Canadian art: Indian art, Inuit art, Canadian art: Euro-American
tradition, architecture, folk and popular arts, and photography
with attention to questions posed by new methodologies and theoretical
approaches; and (3) cross-cultural and multi-cultural aspects
of contemporary art. Additionally, it will provide on-site introduction
to techniques of archival and collection research within the major
collecting institutions in Ottawa.
- Art History 11.501F1, W1 or S1
Graduate Practicum
This course will involve practical on-site work in Ottawa collecting
institutions (as available) and an extensive written assignment
derived from the practicum project. The departmental graduate
practicum coordinator and the on-site supervisor will be jointly
responsible for the final mark. A maximum of one full-credit practicum
will be accepted towards degree requirements.
- Art History 11.502F1, W1, S1
Directed Readings and Research
Tutorials designed to permit students to pursue topics in Canadian
art which they have selected in consultation with the faculty
of the program.
- Art History 11.511F1
Topics in Historical Canadian Arts
The Arctic has served as an imaginative backdrop for the development
and presentation of Canadian visual culture both nationally and
internationally. The seminar will address the issue of the representation
of the Canadian Arctic from the first images until the mid-twentieth
century in Canadian art. While the focus will be upon the historical
collection of documentary art and photography in the National
Archives of Canada and the published journals of Arctic exploration,
the issues considered will be contextualized with contemporary
forms of representation of the Arctic in other media and in the
Inuit culture. Participants will be expected to inform their participation
with recent theoretical approaches.
- Art History 11.523W1
Museums and First Nations in Canada
This course will examine the historical engagement of Canadian
museums and art galleries with the visual cultures of the aboriginal
peoples of Canada. It will look at institutional histories, the
history of collecting and exhibiting, and contemporary issues
surrounding representation and the politics of identity.
- Art History 11.599F4, W4, S4
Thesis
Courses Not Offered 1995-1996
- 11.512 The History of Art Criticism in Canada to 1940
- 11.513 Esotericism in Canadian Art
- 11.515 Reading Modernism and Post-Modernism in Canada
- 11.516 Contemporary Women Artists: 1970 to the Present: Vision
and Difference
- 11.517 Public Art in Canada: Issues and Realities
- 11.518 Contemporary Canadian Earthworks and Environmental
Art
- 11.520 Art of the Woodlands Indians in the Historic Period
- 11.521 Art of the Plains Indians in the Historic Period
- 11.522 Art of the North-West Coast Indians in the Historic
Period
- 11.524 Contemporary Indian Art
- 11.526 Canadian Art and the Museum
- 11.527 Creating an Exhibition
- 11.530 Prehistoric and Historic Inuit Art
- 11.531 Contemporary Inuit Sculpture
- 11.532 Contemporary Inuit Graphic Arts
- 11.533 Topics in Contemporary Inuit Art
- 11.540 Aspects of Historical Architecture in Canada
- 11.542 Architectural Drawings in Canadian Collections
- 11.543 Contemporary Canadian Architecture
- 11.550 Historical Canadian Photography
- 11.551 Modern Canadian Photography
- 11.560 Canadian Folk and Popular Arts: Sources and Styles
- 11.561 Canadian Folk and Popular Arts: Critical Readings