PhD - Doctor of Philosophy in Art History

Art history is the systematic and critical investigation of how images, objects, and spaces shape and express the concerns of human societies. At its core is the study of human interaction with things that have been built, painted, carved, stitched, printed, photographed, filmed, manufactured, or digitally coded. We are not only concerned with how and why images and objects came to be, but how they functioned within their specific cultures and continue to affect our world today. At Queen’s, we explore art, material cultures, and the institutions of art in a global and multi-cultural context and through a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives. The M.A. and Ph.D. programs offer advanced training in the study of visual and material culture from the Middles Ages to the present. The Queen's Art History program is strongly committed to mentoring and to the training of graduate students in a variety of interdisciplinary approaches, methodologies, and issues, including the technical examination of art, gender studies, critical theory, cultural representation, and the relationships among art, literature, and science.