Please note that room locations and schedules are subject to change and all details should be confirmed before the start of the class.
Fall 2024
ARTH 205 (CRN 1242)
Introduction to Modern Art (3 credits)
Prof. Evgeniya Makarova
Wednesdays and Fridays, 10:05am-11:25am
Introduction to Modern Art and Architecture accomplishes three things: (1) it provides a
chronological survey of significant styles and movements in Western art that emerged roughly
between the 1860s and 1960s; (2) it examines the development of visual forms of creative
expression in dialogue with the rapidly changing built environment and production technologies;
(3) and explores how modern art and architecture have brought the bodyâgendered, racialized,
sexualized, affective, culturally inscribed, and politically engagedâto the forefront of reflection
on individual and collective identities. This course prioritizes the study of primary texts, enabling
a deeper understanding of modern aesthetics and sensibilities.
ARTH 209 (CRN 7623)
Introduction to Ancient Art and Architecture (3 credits)
Prof. Cecily Hilsdale
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:05 am-11:25 am
ARTH 215 (CRN 1243)
Introduction to East Asian Art (3 credits)
Prof. Davin Luce
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:35am-9:55am
This course provides a historical overview of East Asian art and visual cultures from early dynastic times (ca. 5th century BCE) to the 19th century CE. Focusing on shared cultural foundations, we will mainly discuss China, Korea, and Japan. The course will be structured around several important themes such as funerary, Buddhist, landscape, and literati arts, each of which will be dealt with in chronological order, generally following the order of China, Korea, and Japan. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to think about both the overarching characteristics and more particularly local and temporal variations in East Asian art.
ARTH 223 (CRN 1244)
Introduction Italian Renaissance Art 1300-1500Ìę(3 credits)
Prof. Evgeniya Makarova
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:05pm-2:25pm
This introductory course on Italian Renaissance art covers the period from 1300 to 1500, focusing
on significant developments in painting, sculpture, and architecture. Additionally, it addresses the
precursors to the Renaissance and discusses the enduring influence of Renaissance art,
highlighting how it continues to inspire and be reinterpreted by contemporary creators. While
tracing the evolution of art across key urban centers such as Florence, Rome, and Venice, the
course emphasizes the importance of transcultural exchanges in shaping the Italian Renaissance.
Students will use canonical works from the period to learn analytical tools that allow them to
critically engage with different art forms, considering their formal qualities, iconographies,
material aspects, functions, and broader historical contexts.
ARTH 302 (CRN 1245)
Aspects of Canadian Art (3 credits)
Prof. Reilley Bishop-Stall
Tuesdays and Thursdays,Ìę 1:05pm-2:25pm
ARTH 321 (CRN 1246)
Visual Culture of the Dutch RepublicÌę(3 credits)
Prof. Angela Vanhaelen
Wednesdays and Fridays, 11:35am-12:55pm
ARTH 323 (CRN 1247)
Realism and Impressionism (3 credits)
Prof. Mary Hunter
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:35pm-3:55pm
Topic: Picturing Reality in Nineteenth-Century France
At first glance, this course will appear somewhat traditional: it looks at major artistic movements in the history of European art (mostly French), examines oil paintings by predominantly white male artists, and focuses on artworks that are regularly called âmasterpiecesâ. This class, however, will question these terms and histories to look at the strengths and weaknesses of the various debates. The point of the class is to learn about the works themselves, the context in which they were produced, their modes of production, and the local and global networks in which they (and the artists) circulated. Through an investigation of the various theoretical and methodological approaches to looking at art and visual culture from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, students will learn to look and read critically; synthesize course readings and lectures; research and write short research papers and assignments; familiarize themselves with ChatGPTs strengths and weaknesses regarding visual images; and look closely at artworks and learn how to describe them.
Each class will generally follow the established chronology of modern art in France, and focus on a particular concept, artist, historical moment or artistic movement. We will analyze the categories of âthe realâ, ârealismâ, âimpressionismâ, âthe modernâ and âmodernismâ to look at the problems with categorization and the difficulties of writing artâs histories.
ARTH 353 (CRN 1249)
Selected Topics in Art History 1 (3 credits)
Tuesdays and Thursdays,Ìę11:35am-12:55pm
This course provides a critical introduction to art in East and Southeast Asia from the 18th century to the present. We will focus on how conceptions of ethnic and gender identity arise through visual production in key moments of cross-cultural encounter, whether between the so-called West and non-West, or intra-regionally within Asia. Through comparative examination across multiple cities and countries, we will also explore broader questions about the relationship of art to historical phenomena like colonialism, urbanization, industrialization, militarization, and globalization.
ARTH 400 (CRN 1250)
Selected Methods in Art History (3 credits)
Prof. Gloria Bell
Thursdays, 2:35pm-5:25pm
This seminar is limited to students formally accepted in the honours AH program.
Topic: RE-STORYING ART HISTORY
This seminar approaches art history as a set of practices that engage the mind, body and spirit. Weekly exercises and workshops are designed to offer training in the following arts: writing a compelling visual analysis, putting together a successful research proposal, critiquing an exhibition, and explaining your research with clarity and confidence. Key aims of the class are practical skill building and scholarly reflection. The writing exercises are designed as building blocks for the Honours Research Paper (ARTH 401). We will also consider the development of the discipline in relation to recent important discourse, paying particular attention to positionality, methods, gaps and exclusions that have structured art history.
ARTH 401 (CRN 1251)
Honours Research Paper (3 credits)
An Honours research paper written in consultation with an academic advisor.
Note: This Research Paper is limited to students formally accepted in the honours AH program.
ARTH 420 (CRN 1252)
Selected Topics in Art and Architecture 1 (3 credits)
Prof. Chriscinda Henry
Mondays, 11:35 am-2:25 pm
Topic: Fools, Folly, and Alterity in Medieval and Renaissance Europe
This seminar coincides with two current exhibitions, one of whichâSaints, Sinners,
Lovers, and Fools: Three Hundred Years of Flemish Masterworks, a special exhibition at
the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (closes October 20, 2024)âwe will visit together as a
seminar. The second exhibition, Figures du fou: Du Moyen Ăge aux romantiques (16
October 2024â3 February 2025) is being held at the MusĂ©e du Louvre in Paris. Why this
renewed interest in the subject of fools and folly during the Middle Ages and Renaissance
in Europe? Much of it stems from the appeal of the subversive, liminal, and virtuosic
figure of the jester or fool, often known during the period from 1300â1600 as a buffoon,
a comic performer unique to the premodern period but somewhat like modern so-called
âfreaks,â circus performers, and comedians who have recently become a focus of
attention in disability studies. The foolâs unique social role as a trickster and cultural
broker who moves between worlds and speaks truth to power has long been recognized.
We will read classic theoretical texts on carnival and the carnivalesque; madness and
inspiration; play; marginality, alterity, and monstrosity; the âship of foolsâ and the âworld
upside-down,â and explore a range of artistic media including manuscript illumination,
sculpture, portraiture, genre painting, and more.
ARTH 421 (CRN 1253)
Selected Topics in Art and Architecture 2 (3 credits)
Prof. Mary Hunter
Wednesdays, 11:35 am-2:25 pm
Topic:Temporal Conflict: The Body and Time in the Age of Impressionism
Nineteenth-century France is often characterized as an era of rapid change and speed. Historians have focused on the hurried pace of modern life, the quick succession of technological advances, the hustle of capitalist economies, and the âsketchyâ look of modern paintings. This seminar will explore modern speed but will also reads against the grain of these histories by examining the co-existence of slow temporal modes, such as waiting. While waitingâs sluggish temporality may seem antithetical to the speed that has come to typify late nineteenth-century French culture â and art in particular â, this class will explore how slowness and deceleration were also key components of modern life: modernityâs speed was felt, rationalized and understood through its relationship with slow time.
ARTH 435 (CRN 1255)
Early Modern Visual Culture (3 credits)
Prof. Angela Vanhaelen
Tuesdays, 2:35 pm-5:25 pm
ARTH 474 (CRN 1257)
Studies in Later 18th and 19th Century Art 03 (3 credits)
Prof. Matthew C. Hunter
Wednesdays, 11:35 am-2:25 pm
Topic: Drawing for Art Historians
Embodied knowingâ; âarQsanal epistemologyâ; âmakerâs knowledgeâ: terms like these (along
with some lavish funding) have recently drawn many historical researchers to forms of pracQce-
based invesQgaQon. By recreaQng producQon techniques used in the past, so historians of art,
science and neighboring fields have argued, invesQgators can pose new quesQons. Insights can
be gained about artworks and the cultures from which they emerged in ways that are simply
inaccessible to convenQonal academic methods, which conQnue to privilege text-based
evidence.
This seminar seeks neither to criQque nor to historicize recent scholarly efforts in making-as-
knowing, although we will engage with some criQques and historicizaQon. Nor does âDrawing
for Art Historiansâ aim to teach drawing skills in the manner of an art-school class. Instead, this
course uses the foundaQonal pracQce of drawing at a moment of its rich, variegated spread in
the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century for methodological purposes. We will put graphic
pracQces to some gentle tests to pose the following quesQon: what, if anything, can art history
learn by doing?
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ARTH 490 (CRN 1258)
Museum Internship (3 credits)
The Museum Internship is intended to provide direct exposure to museum collections and practical experience in the museum setting for students interested in museum professions. Individually designed in consultation with the professor in charge of internships and the appropriate personnel at one of the Montreal museums.
Note: Department approval required.
ARTH 501 (CRN 1259)
Advanced Topics in Art History and Visual Culture (3 credits)
Current Problems in Art History: Art, Activism, and the Visual Culture of Resistance
Fridays, 11:35am-2:25pm
This course will examine the longstanding relationship between art, aesthetics and resistance. Art and activism have long been intertwined and the introduction of the Internet and the rise of social media have radically altered activism and, by extension, activist art. This course will investigate the impact of changing technologies and social structures on protest movements, community mobilization, and social justice campaigns by looking specifically at their accompanying art and imagery. We will consider the aesthetics of defiance and resistance even before the development of any notion of âactivismâ as we understand it today as a way of interrogating reductive and established narratives of power and victimization, noting that collective action, resistance, and resilience is future oriented and rooted in imagination. In addition to the art and information producedÌębyÌęactivists and allies this course will investigate the representation and framing of protest movements and social justice initiatives in the media and the popular imaginary. This course will consist of weekly thematic group discussions as well as close engagement with current exhibitions and local events, documentary and activist filmmaking. Student participation and collaboration is necessary for the success of this seminar.
ARTH 502 (CRN 1260)
Advanced Topics in Art and Architectural History (3 credits)
Histories of Color; Or, Pigments and other People
Thursdays, 11:35am-2:25pm
What are we talking about when we talk about color? This seminar examines some indicative selections from a flood of recent, interdisciplinary work that has approached color not only as productive of paintings and other artworks, but of populations. How, we will ask, is color meant to overlap with and depart from conceptions of race among other concerns? Framed historiographically, the course seeks to push on the methodological and theoretical possibilities and limitations of chromatic research for art history and beyond it.
Winter 2025
ARTH 202 (CRN 1091)
Introduction to Contemporary Art (3 credits)
Prof. TBD
Wednesdays and Fridays, 10:05am-11:25am
ARTH 204 (CRN 6881)
Introduction to Medieval Art and Architecture (3 credits)
Mondays and Wednesdays, 11:35am-12:55pm
ARTH 225 (CRN 1093)
Introduction to Seventeeth - Century Art (3 credits)
Prof. Angela Vanhaelen
Tuesdays and Thursdays,1:05pm-2:25pm
ARTH 305 (CRN 1095)
Methods in Art History (3 credits)
Wednesdays and Fridays, 11:35am-12:55pm
ARTH 315 (CRN 1096)
Indigenous Art and Culture (3 credits)
Mondays and Wednesdays,1:05pm-2:25pm
Notes: Cross-listed with CANS 315
ARTH 325 (CRN 1097)
Visual Culture Renaissance Venice (3 credits)
Prof. Chriscinda Henry
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10:05am-11:25am
ARTH 339 (CRN 1098)
Critical Issues - Contemporary Art (3 credits)
Prof. Evgeniya Makarova
Mondays and Wednesdays, 4:05pm-5:25pm
Topic: "Introduction to Contemporary Architecture"
This course provides an introduction to contemporary architecture, designed for undergraduate students with little to no prior knowledge of the field. It begins by examining the foundational movements and ideas that arose from modernity's social changes and technological advancements. The focus then shifts to major trends that developed in response to the Modern Movement, including Postmodernism, Regionalism, Deconstruction, and Eco-Architecture. Although the course primarily covers developments in Europe and North America, it also includes examples from other regions. Additionally, we study practical objects and elements of architectural décor designed for both private and public spaces.
ARTH 411 (CRN 1100)
Canadian Art and Race (3 credits)
Prof. Reilley Bishop-Stall
Thursdays, 11:35am-2:35pm
ARTH 420 (CRN 1101)
Selected Topics in Art and Architecture 1 (3 credits)
Mondays,Ìę11:35am-2:35pm
The study of âcontemporary Asian artâ is a relatively recent phenomenon, one that has grown alongside the proliferation of biennials and the meteoric rise of the art market. Publications are plenty today, but the discursive density of the fieldâthe sense that authors are building on and responding to each otherâs work across national and regional boundariesâremains elusive. To chart a terrain of connectivity, this seminar proposes a stocktaking of major books on contemporary Asian art published since the late-2000s. Through comparative reading of the texts, we will map arguments around concepts such as materiality, embodiment, performance, animation, trauma, diaspora, and creativity. Together, we will interrogate the utility and limits of âcontemporary Asian artâ as a banner under which future scholarship might be conducted.
ARTH 421 (CRN 1102)
Selected Topics in Art and Architecture 2 (3 credits)
Tuesdays, 11:35am-2:35pm
Topic: The Many Faces of âRealismâ in Classical Chinese Art
What kinds of imageries looked ârealisticâ to the eyes of the Chinese before modern
times? What did âthe realâ mean to them? This seminar surveys and analyzes complex
ways in which the sense of the real in the visual field was developed, contested, and
changed throughout Chinese history. Beginning with the basic understanding of both
historical and conceptual dimensions of the real in visual representation, the seminar
examines a series of selected images in diverse mediums (including painting, sculpture,
and architecture) that intersected at various philosophical and religious traditions (i.e.,
Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist) along with some of the key terms and concepts that
constituted the epistemology of the real. While largely following the chronological order,
special attention will be paid to the middle period (9th-14th centuries) during which a set
of defining and lasting concepts and practices of the ârealismâ in the pictorial art was
formulated.
ARTH 422 (CRN 1103)
Selected Topics in Art and Architecture 3 (3 credits)
Mondays, 2:35pm-5:25pm
ARTH 501 (CRN 1105)
Advanced Topics in Art History and Visual Culture (3 credits)
Ancient and Living Archives: Indigenous Materialities
Prof. Gloria Bell
Thursdays, 11:35am-2:25pm
Drawing inspiration from Seneca historian Arthur Parker who described First Nations wampum as an âancient archiveâ for Indigenous peoples in 1916, this seminar investigates wampum, beadwork, and other arts practices and technologies as archives both ancient and living. Throughout this course we will engage with scholarship on materiality, visual sovereignty, art institutions, and the embodied practice of historical and contemporary Indigenous artists. Our readings include a mixture of art history, materiality studies, and archival theories. We will make site visits to art institutions to think about the competing sovereignties of Indigenous cultural belongings and artworks within colonial art institutions and to encourage sustained respectful engagement with cultural belongings being artworks for Indigenous and settler communities.
On this page: Fall 2024 | Winter 2025