Director’s Welcome

WELCOME incoming and returning MA and PhD students to Art History & Visual Culture at York!

My colleagues and I look forward to exploring the expanding fields of art historical and visual culture studies with you as you make your way into careers in the arts. Our faculty is diverse and engaged. Our program affords exceptional flexibility, and grounding in contemporary theory, praxis, and curation. And alumni – who hold key positions in museums and academia, run commercial galleries, work in art journalism, and excel as cultural administrators – serve as our extended professional network.

The MA in Art History and Visual Culture is offered concurrently with the Graduate Curatorial Studies Diploma. Together, the Masters with the Diploma constitute a highly competitive program within Canada that students often pursue as a terminal degree. The MA with the Diploma supports students who seek employment within the museum sector with hands-on experiential education through a practicum organized at an offsite cultural institution/organization or publishing venue in Toronto, Canada, or abroad.

All MA students are required to complete a Major Research Paper (MRP) to deepen a cherished area of art historical or visual cultural interest. The program encourages wide-ranging interdisciplinary topics within the broad net of faculty scholarly expertise. Topics span European modernisms; contemporary art and theoretical issues, globalisms and multi-media artistic practices; art and political expression in Asia; intersections of sound and art; the art market, art crimes, and art restitution; photography; Indigenous arts and worldviews; 19th and 20th C histories of art in Canada; digital art, NFTs and online/VR curation. Beyond our program are a host of cognate courses across York University and beyond to support any research focus. Our foundational Methods, Theory, and Historiography of Art History course introduces students to the more recent methodological and theoretical developments in art history and visual culture studies, in addition to reviewing practical bibliographical and research methods. Students in the MA may also pursue a concurrent MBA at York’s Schulich School of Business.

Students in our PhD program pursue a wide range of topics ranging from photography and multi-media / digital art; race, gender, and cultural politics – including Indigeneities; issues and currents in modern and contemporary global art; art and cultural artifact/craft in 19th and 20th century Canada; and current issues in curatorial practice. The PhD intake is highly competitive, with many students re-entering studies from the professional art world. The required Advanced Research and Dissertation Seminar establishes a tightly supportive group within which students at every level encourage each other to achieve major funding awards, actively participate in professional conferences, and to achieve fellowship, teaching, and publication opportunities. Many of our doctoral students serve as Teaching Assistants within a unionized environment, and often receive OGS (Ontario Graduate Scholarship) and SSHRC doctoral funding, in addition to prestigious university-wide awards.

Graduate studies in Art History & Visual Culture at York encourages conversations, connections, and collaborations among faculty and students in both the studies and studio areas through the Joan Goldfarb Visual Arts Study Centre, Sensorium, and the Art History Graduate Students’ Association.

Wishing you all the best for a stimulating and rewarding year ahead. Keep in close touch!

Dan Adler

_{A photo of Professor Dan Adler}