School for Studies in Art and Culture
Art History
St. Patrick's Building 423
Telephone: 520-2342
Fax: 520-3575
The School
Director: John Shepherd
Supervisor of Graduate Studies: Kelly Crossman
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, Section 2.3.
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 2.0 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 (1.0 credit)
- 2.0 credits (or the equivalent) with a minimum of 1.0 and
no more than 1.5 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
- Art History 11:599: M.A. Thesis (2.0 credits)
Subject to the approval of the graduate supervisor
0.5 credit may be taken outside the Art History program. A maximum
of 1.0 credit (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
Regulatons governing requirements for the master's thesis, including
deadlines for submission, are outlined in the General Regulations
section of this Calendar, Section 12.
Language Requirements
Students are 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 credit counted
towards the master's degree.
Graduate Courses*
- Art History 11.500T2
The Practice of Canadian Art History
This course examines 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, the course provides 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 involves 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 are jointly responsible
for the final mark. A maximum of one 1.0 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 11.517F1
Public Art in Canada: Issues and Realities
This course examines works of art commissioned for public spaces.
Emphasis is placed on analysis of the art and the interrelationships
among the artists, the patron, the critic, and the public. Consideration
of the social, cultural and political contexts and resultant issues
is also addressed.
- Art History 11.550W1
Historical Canadian Photography
This course examines the emergence of photography in Canada in
the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Photographs are
examined from the perspective of their formal and aesthetic qualities
as well as in social, political and cultural contexts.
- Art History 11.599F4, W4, S4
M.A. Thesis
Courses Not Offered 1996-97
- 11.511 Topics in Historical Canadian Arts
- 11.512 Museums and First Nations in Canada
- 11.513 Esotericism in Canadian Art
- 11.515 Reading Modernism and Postmodernism in Canada
- 11.516 Contemporary Women Artists: 1970 to the Present: Vision
and Difference
- 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
- 11.551 Modern Canadian Photography
- 11.560 Canadian Folk and Popular Arts: Sources and Styles
- 11.561 Canadian Folk and Popular Arts: Critical Readings