PhD in Art History - South Asian Art in Toronto Canada | University of Toronto

The MA and PhD programs focus on developing research, writing, and teaching skills for careers in academia, museum curation, art advisory, cultural heritage initiatives, arts journalism, or secondary education. Faculty guide students specializing in Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque, Asian, African, Architectural, and Modern/Contemporary Art studies.
Graduate students can leverage departmental partnerships with the Centre for Medieval Studies, Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies, Book History and Print Culture program, and Mediterranean Archaeology Collaborative Specialization. Toronto's dynamic arts community becomes accessible through resources and faculty connections at the Royal Ontario Museum, University Art Centre, Gardiner Museum, and Art Gallery of Ontario. The university boasts exceptional art history research libraries, including the Department's collection of 40,000+ exhibition catalogs, the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library, and Robarts Research Library - one of Canada's premier academic libraries. The PhD curriculum equips students for careers in higher education, museum roles, and research positions.
Graduate seminars stimulate cross-cultural dialogues about non-Western art historical approaches (particularly South Asian, East Asian, African, and Latin American), examining how these perspectives can reshape disciplinary foundations while maintaining focus on visual specificity. Students engage with contemporary scholarship through the Centre for South Asian Studies and gain pan-Asian insights at the Asian Institute. PhD candidates benefit from the expertise of both Art Department faculty and renowned South Asia specialists across various disciplines (History, Anthropology, Religious Studies, Geography) throughout the University of Toronto's three campuses. Our faculty specializing in South Asian and African art bring ethnographic methodologies to art historical study, supporting graduate students planning field research projects.