Art History
Art History offers students an exciting forum for developing critical skills in interpreting visual imagery and understanding the significance of art in a variety of cultures and historical periods, including the contemporary moment. Courses span the history of art from the ancient to the contemporary worlds, and investigate art from Europe.
Honours Bachelor of Arts
Program Plans
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- Historian
- Archivist
- Museum Technician
- High School teacher
- Writer
Admission Requirements
Regional Requirements
Admissions RequirementsLife in Art History
Buzz Around Campus
Cherie Novecosky’s road to graduation has taken her around the globe and back. The Calgary artist who lives by the motto: “Travel is the only thing you can buy that will make you richer” opted for a backpack and plane tickets at the end of high school and travelled for six years before discovering the path that ultimately led her to U of T Mississauga.
Filmmaker Richie Mehta was finishing a project in Delhi when the Nirbhaya (Hindi for “fearless) case broke out. The 2012 gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in the national capital territory was front-page news worldwide, but the crime shook India to its core.
From 20th century strongmen to Gwyneth Paltrow’s infamous jade egg, a new course at U of T Mississauga explores how self-styled health-and-wellness experts influence and profit from the pursuit of the perfect body. Special topic course "Visuality and North American Fitness Culture" uses advertising to explore the ever-changing—and sometimes repeating—health and fitness fads of the past century.
Sample Courses
Study of origins, architecture and decoration of the Gothic Cathedral in the Ile-de-France, treating function and symbolism, intellectual and social contexts, and initial diffusion of the style to other countries.
Spectacles have been vehicles of social and political power at varying historical moments. This course takes up a number of historical case studies in order to locate and situate phenomena associated with spectacle and spectacular visual entertainments.
An interdisciplinary study, including feminist analysis, of the roles of women in the Middle Ages, their representation in medieval art, and their impact on varying aspects of the art as subject, object, patron or artist.
Other Programs to Consider
Visual Culture
A Minor in Visual Culture trains students in current approaches to a range of visual materials and issues, covers the history of the discipline, and gives students a grounding in the wide range of areas of visual cultural study (including different media, genres, cultures, historical periods and theories).
Visual Culture & Communication
Visual Culture and Communication (VCC) is an interdisciplinary undergraduate curriculum that provides students with a foundation in both visual cultural and communication studies (history, theory, and criticism) and digital communication practices (with courses taught at Sheridan College).
History
History is an ancient discipline, but its modern practitioners are often by necessity interdisciplinary and are frequently positioned at the crossroads of the humanities and social sciences. The curriculum is also characterized by sets of thematic emphases that include imperialism, colonialism and nationalism, culture and society, religion, the environment, source criticism, labour, gender, ethnicity, war and politics.