Art History The Art History program at McMaster offers a unique intimate experience, with small class sizes and excellent mentoring by professors who are dedicated to the personal and professional development of their students. Our program gives students exposure to global perspectives on art history and visual culture not easily available at other universities. With courses on East and South Asian art, Islamic art and architecture, Silk Road art and archaeology, in addition to European and North American art, our program provides students with an international framework that will be key to their future success. Along with strong placements of our students into graduate programs, many of our grads go onto professional programs including art conservation, law, and auction houses.
ART HISTORY Meet Two Of Our Faculty Dr. Angela Sheng specializes in the art
history and visual culture of the Silk Roads. Before joining McMaster, she taught in Japan and at McGill University, and was previously a curator in charge of Asian textiles at the Royal Ontario Museam. She reads costumes and textiles both as functional art and as documentation of human negotiation with others and with time, place and space for individual and collective reasons.
Dr. Alison McQueen is an award-winning
Degree Options • B.A. Honours Art History • B.A. Combined Honours Art History & another subject • B.A Art History • Minor in Art History
teacher and a leading specialist of art and cultural history in 19th century France. She is excited to be a pioneer, developing her World Art & Cultural Heritage II course as apart of the Ontario Online Initiative. Dr. McQueen also enjoys her classroom teaching and brings international experiences and in-depth field research to her courses at all levels.
Contact Us School of the Arts Togo Salmon Hall 414 905.525.9140 ext.27671 sota@mcmaster.ca sota.humanities.mcmaster.ca
Art History
In Art History, we have built a dynamic program that takes advantage of the materials and institutions available on campus, in the Hamilton community, and the surrounding area.
Level I Start by exploring the possibilities in Level I. You can enter the Art History program in Level II if you have completed at least three units of introductory Art History in Level I and meet the minimum grade requirements.
Introductory Courses
Level II & Beyond
ARTHIST 1A03
World Art and Cultural Heritage I A global perspective of art and architecture of the Americas, Africa, Middle East, Asia, and Europe within their historical and cultural context. Material extends from objects by itinerant First Peoples to the monumental buildings created by settled agrarian societies during the Middle Ages. Lectures and tutorials examine art produced in a range of media and address the designation and preservation of world Cultural Heritage sites. ARTHIST 1AA3
World Art and Cultural Heritage II A global perspective of art and architecture of the Americas, Africa, Middle East, Asia, and Europe within their historical and cultural context. Material includes Italian Renaissance frescoes, Japanese Zen Buddhist gardens and Contemporary Art. The course examines a range of cultural practices and artistic media, and addresses current issues for world Cultural Heritage sites.
Also Explore
McMaster Museum of Art & the Art Gallery of Hamilton This dynamic program incorporates materials from the McMaster Museum of Art into its curriculum in several courses, and students also undertake significant work at other regional galleries like the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Recent graduates from the program have enrolled in Applied Humanities courses for which they have curated exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. An active program of Visiting Artists offers students opportunities to meet contemporary artists working in a variety of media and fields.
ARTHIST 2A03
ARTHIST 2AA3
ARTHIST 2R03
ARTHIST 4V03
Visual Literacy The History of Fashion and Identity
Introduction to the Practice of Art Therapy The Study, Criticism and Evaluation of Art
Beyond the Classroom Our faculty is passionate about knowledge and dedicated to excellence in research. Recent research highlights of current faculty include: • Nomadic contributions to the arts and visual culture of early China: differentiated worldviews and their implications. • Patronage of art and architecture by a leading female political figure of the 19th century: Eugénie, the last empress of France. • Perspectives on French settler art in colonial Algeria.