Page 2 of 5, 61 Master Programs in Art History 2024

In the two-year Research Master's degree in Arts and Culture, you can choose between two tracks.

The MA Art History Curatorial Studies is a vibrant master Program that attracts students from all over the globe. It teaches students to become intellectually thorough, socially engaged, and professionally successful art historians.

What do art forms like painting, film, music or theatre contribute to societies? Why have humans in every culture and throughout history engaged in activities we categorize as art?

The MA in Art History draws upon the exciting research and outstanding teaching expertise of the department. Studying art history at the postgraduate level will deepen your understanding of art, architecture and visual culture, build your analytical and critical skills, and develop the skills needed for independent study and research. You'll start by exploring the core concepts and recent developments that have shaped art history from Renaissance Italy to the contemporary Caribbean, before building on these foundations to expand your understanding of visual and material objects – incorporating architecture, art and design. You'll complete this degree by researching and writing a dissertation on an agreed topic of your own devising.

Are you fascinated by visual culture and history relating to a specific artist, period, or movement? Do you want to learn about the methods of art history and how to apply them to particular historical problems? This program provides you with the opportunity to choose from a range of subject areas and historical periods in the History of Art. It is ideal for those who wish to develop a solid foundation in the History of Art, either as preparation for further research or for related careers.

The Master in History and Theory of Art and Architecture (MSTAA) includes both the study of the history of architecture and art history.

OCAD University’s MA in Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories is unique in Canada in its focus on contemporary production and theory across art, media, and design. Students in this interdisciplinary program engage with contemporary issues and works, while drawing on theoretical frameworks, historical contexts, and creative precedents that have shaped today’s visual and critical landscape.

Offering students a compelling array of perspectives to investigate and assess the ever-shifting worlds of contemporary art, design, and new media art. OCAD University’s MA in Contemporary Art, Design and New Media Art Histories are unique in Canada in its focus on contemporary art, design and media production and theory. In this interdisciplinary program, you’ll engage with contemporary issues and works, while drawing on theoretical frameworks, historical contexts, and creative precedents that have shaped today’s visual and critical landscape. Program facilities are located in the heart of Toronto’s arts and culture district, in close proximity to the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Design Exchange, the Textile Museum of Canada, the Gardiner Museum, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery.

The master’s program in Art History is designed to provide a broad historical and theoretical understanding of the visual arts, in addition to developing critical thinking and methodological skills. Students engage these issues through course work, seminars independent research, and teaching experience.

The MRes in Anthropology, Art, and Perception provide training for postgraduate research into the anthropology of human creativity, art, material culture, and visual expression. It takes perception as its starting point and draws on themes extending across the subject boundaries between art and anthropology.

The MLitt in Art History offers a diverse range of subject areas, from medieval art and architecture to contemporary performance art. Modules address major themes and concepts that connect different periods of art history. The MLitt in Art History is designed to: develop and enhance core research and writing skills, introduce and deepen knowledge of the theoretical and methodological foundations of art history, and enable students to explore current critical debates, art media, and contextual questions.

The Islamic Middle East has given rise to an impressive material culture that continues in the present. This programme covers an area stretching from Islamic Spain through the Arab countries, Turkey, Iran and Central Asia in diverse historical periods. It offers students an unmatched opportunity to study particular regions or categories of art, including Fatimid art; the architecture and urbanism of Morocco; Arab, Persian and Turkish painting; the calligraphy and illumination of the Qur'an; Mamluk art and architecture; the arts and architecture of the Ottomans in Turkey and the Balkans; and the material culture of western Iran. Archaeological issues of the Islamic Middle East are also considered.

This programme is an unrivalled opportunity to study the arts of China, Korea and Japan. Students consider a wide range of East Asian arts, from Chinese archaeology to Japanese prints, Korean installation works to Buddhist monuments, exploring their specificity and the links between them, in historical and contemporary periods. In many parts of East Asia, archaeological evidence is key to understanding early societies. The programme, therefore, relates excavated materials to the history of art.

This programme is a unique opportunity to study the History of Art and/or Archaeology of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Students concentrate on architecture, sculpture, painting and the decorative arts and have the option of pursuing topics and approaches more archaeological in focus. They consider theoretical and methodological questions and are invited to question the relevance of the disciplinary distinction between History of Art and Archaeology to the study of the non-Western world. Courses cover a time period spanning from antiquity to present-day, contemporary art.

This two-year programme combines the strengths of the MA History of Art and Archaeology of East Asia with intensive language training in Japanese or Korean. Students study the arts of China, Korea and Japan, exploring a wide range of East Asian arts, from Chinese archaeology to Japanese prints, Korean installation works to Buddhist monuments, in historical and contemporary periods.