Art History (PhD)
Program overview
The PhD in Art History is a bilingual inter-university program that enables students to develop advanced research skills and offers a dynamic environment for the exchange of ideas across intellectual communities. The program is jointly administered by Concordia, Université de Montréal and Université du Québec à Montréal. With more than 40 research-active faculty members to work with, students undertake dissertations on a full range of historical, modern, and contemporary topics. The program offers unparalleled access to Montreal’s cultural institutions and exceptional inter-library resources. Students receive rigorous methodological and theoretical training, and their research projects are complemented by opportunities for professional development that may include undergraduate course teaching, curating, editing and conference organizing.
Program details
- Master of Arts degree in Art History or its equivalent.
- Thesis research project accompanied by a letter of support from the proposed supervisor in the Department of Art History.
Prospective students should therefore contact individual professors, or the Graduate Program Director, to find the right supervisor for their doctoral research project. - Language Requirements. This is a bilingual interuniversity program, offered jointly with the Université de Montréal and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Students may successfully complete all of its various components in English, in French, or in a combination of both languages. Applicants are therefore required to be fully proficient in English or French. Please refer to the Graduate Admission page for further information on the Language Proficiency requirements and exemptions.
Fully qualified candidates entering the program with a Master’s degree are required to complete 90 credits.
3 credits – Block A seminars
A1: ARTH 809 - Art History and Its Methodologies (3 credits)
A2: ARTH 810 - Problématiques de l'histoire de l'art (3 credits)
9 credits – Block A or B seminars
A1: ARTH 809 - Art History and Its Methodologies (3 credits)
A2: ARTH 810 - Problématiques de l'histoire de l'art (3 credits)
B1: ARTH 801 - Periods and Territories (3 credits)
B2: ARTH 802 - Classification - Genres, Artistic Disciplines (3 credits)
B3: ARTH 803 - Thematic Questions (3 credits)
B4: ARTH 804 - Writings on Art (3 credits)
B5: ARTH 805 - Critical Examination of Artistic Context (3 credits)
B6: ARTH 806 - Formal and Semantic Studies (3 credits)
6 credits – Research Tutorial
ARTH 820 - Research Tutorial (6 credits)
3 credits – Doctoral Forum
ARTH 807 - Doctoral Forum (3 credits)
9 credits – Comprehensive Exams
ARTH 808 - Comprehensive Exams (9 credits)
60 credits – Thesis
ARTH 830 - Thesis (60 credits)
Your completed application will include:
- Application form and fee
- Curriculum vitae (CV)
- Three Letters of Reference and assessment form. References from Art History professors are preferred. Referees will be contacted for letters as soon as the student submits their application. Once contacted by the university, referees have 14 days to submit their letters. After that, the link provided to them will no longer be valid. For any questions contact Art History.
- A letter of support from the applicant's proposed supervisor at Concordia University
- Statement of purpose (5-8 pages) should discuss why the applicant has chosen to pursue a Doctorate in Art History at Concordia University. Like a detailed research proposal, the letter should indicate the project that the applicant aims to develop, the contribution to scholarship it will make, and how the applicant's academic and professional background has prepared him/her to undertake the proposed research.
- A writing sample (15-20 pages), usually a chapter from the applicant's MA thesis
- Transcripts for all post-secondary institutions attended
- Proof of Canadian citizenship (if applicable)
- Official language test scores for applicants whose primary language is not English, unless exemption applies.
Please apply and submit your documents online. Read the how-to guide for application procedures.
DEGREE |
FALL (September) |
WINTER (January) |
SUMMER (May/June) |
Art History | PhD | Jan. 15 * | n/a | n/a |
* The deadline to submit the online application form is January 15. Supporting documentation will be accepted until February 1. |
For applications after this deadline, please contact the Graduate program director.
The PhD in Art History provides you with an academically rich and collaborative learning environment, infused with professional development opportunities.
Sample of Art History courses offered include:
- Periods and Territories: Global Art Histories
- Thematic Questions: Shame on me! Queer Theory and the Disciplinary Limits of Art and Design History
- Writings on Art: Readings in Continental Aesthetics
- Critical Examination of Artistic Context: Networks and Archives
- Art History and Its Methodologies
- Global Art Histories
Review the current PhD seminars offered and consult the graduate calendar for a complete list of courses.
All new applicants will automatically be considered for a number of entrance fellowships, awards, and teaching assistantships.
Most of the students in our program are also offered teaching opportunities during their degrees. Please consult Concordia’s graduate funding page and departmental funding opportunities.
Faculty members are actively engaged in innovative research across a wide variety of areas:
- Indigenous art and expressive cultures
- Architecture and studies of the built environment
- Craft history, theory and methodologies
- Painting, sculpture and other media from the 16th to the 21st centuries
- Photographic history and theory
- Art theory and historiography
- Visual and material culture
- Museum and curatorial studies
- Cross-cultural studies and globalization
- Feminism, gender and sexuality studies
- Fashion and design histories
- New media art
- Canadian Art
The Department of Art History is home to the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canada Art, and houses the Journal of Canadian Art History, and the Canadian Women Artists History Initiative, Graduate students benefit from these academically-rich environments and, through the Faculty’s Visual Collections Repository, have access to 300,000 circulating slides and digital images that range from the pre-historic to the contemporary.
Review an inspiring gallery of thesis topics and read about some of our exceptional graduate students.
The Art History Graduate Student Association (AHGSA) is the student representative body, while the department is home to student research groups including Ethnocultural Art Histories Research Group, (EAHR), Indigenous Art Research Group (IARG) and Afrofuturisms Research Collective (ARC).
Student research activities provide additional opportunities to curate exhibitions, publish journals, organize conferences and present papers.
Our alumni find success in a wide range of professional art careers. Graduates pursue careers in museums, galleries, and artist-run centres, arts writing and criticism and university and college teaching.
See what our graduates are doing now.
Questions?
For administrative questions contact art.history@concordia.ca
For academic questions contact the Graduate Program Director, Nicola Pezolet