| Undergraduate Scholarships | International Doctoral Cluster | Postdoctoral Fellowships | Visiting Professorships |
Cross-cultural dialogue is fundamental to the study of art history. In 2022, the Department of Art History launched a major partnership with French universities to support academic exchange at all levels, supported by a generous philanthropic gift. With a rich tradition of art history scholarship, France continues to be at the forefront of current research in the discipline. The University of Toronto has been a centre for teaching and scholarship on French culture for over 150 years. The France Art History partnership reflects the University of Toronto’s continuing mission to provide students with a globally relevant education, enhance existing collaborations, and create new scholarly opportunities.
These scholarships support academic experiences that immerse students in French language, history, culture, art, and architecture.
The department’s summer abroad courses, led by U of T faculty members, enable students to study French art and architecture in person with their travel expenses covered. Students interact with local experts, gain exposure to French (one of Canada’s official languages), and build a strong foundation for future engagement with French art history.
The opportunity to see and study objects in person that were previously just a picture in a textbook or on a lecture slide is invaluable. — Cathy H.
I felt as if all my classroom learning was finally coming together and making sense. — Leva N.
International Doctoral Cluster
The Department’s international doctoral cluster, entitled “A Plural Art History for the 21st Century,” is a formal academic training agreement with the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and the Sorbonne University, both in Paris. This IDC opens new lines of graduate inquiry in art history, connects emerging researchers with an international network of mentors, and supports Ph.D. students' research travel in France. Each year, five doctoral students, split between France and U of T, are selected to participate in this prestigious scholarly exchange.
- Hector Chapron (Sorbonne Université), « La mode des bustes antiques comme objets de décor : itinéraire commercial, circulation et critères de sélection des acheteurs selon l’évolution des goûts dans l’Europe de 1515 à 1830 » / “The fashion for antique busts as decorative objects: commercial route, circulation and buyer selection criteria according to the evolution of tastes in Europe from 1515 to 1830” (2023)
- Thibaud Hébert (Sorbonne Université) : « Du patrimoine didactique à l’archéologie des maquettes » / “From educational heritage to the archaeology of models” (2023)
- Philomène Renard (École Pratique des Hautes Études) : « Giovanni Bellini (vers 1430-1516) et son atelier : recherches sur l'organisation du travail, la technique et la matérialité » / “Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430–1516) and his workshop: research on the organisation of work, the technique and the materiality” (2023)
- Nicole Liao (University of Toronto), "Mimetic Colour Technologies before the Lumiere Autochrome" (2023)
- Benjamin Pulver (University of Toronto), "To Err is Human: Morality and Desire in French Art of the 'Long Digital Age'" (2023)
- Ivana Dizdar (University of Toronto), "Representations of the Arctic in French Nineteenth-Century Visual Culture" (2023)
- Jillian Husband (University of Toronto), "Savoldo from Venice to Fontainebleau" (2024)
- James Levinsohn (University of Toronto), "Sophie Calle's Des histoires vraies and the Body" (2024)
- Eyal Pundik (University of Toronto), "Framing Burgundian Performance" (2024)
- Amalya Feldman (University of Toronto), "French Connections to Medieval Mallorca" (2024)
- Jennifer Franks (University of Toronto), "Voltaire's Chair and Madame Lavoisier's Hat" (2024)
- Xin Yue Wang (University of Toronto), "'Tasting God'– The Last Supper in Medieval Art" (2024)
- Tara Chapron (Sorbonne-Université), "To contribute to the study of Ancient Societies Costumes : sources, lexicon issues and the current state of research" (2024)
- Christopher Bakke (École Pratique des Hautes Études), "The Pictorial Technique of Caravaggio and the Tools of the Technical Art Historian" (2024)
- Aleksandra Bursac (University of Toronto), "Between Media and Material: Degas’s Reinvention of the Motif" (2024)
The University of Toronto is excited to welcome postdoctoral fellow Stéphane Gaessler. A specialist in twentieth-century Soviet architecture and planning, Dr. Gaessler is currently researching connections with Canadian architecture. As part of his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Toronto, Gaessler assists in developing cross-cultural opportunities and managing the exchanges with France.
Interview with Dr. Pierre Marty, our 2023–25 postdoctoral fellow:
The Department of Art History regularly hosts art historians from France and arranges for University of Toronto faculty to visit French universities. Exchange faculty participate in seminars, workshops, and research activities at their host institutions and immerse themselves in the Department’s activities. In the process, they help build lasting academic relationships with international colleagues and universities.
French scholars who come to the University of Toronto as visiting professors have access to a wealth of academic resources. The Graduate Department of Art History is home to twenty-five full-time faculty members with an extraordinary range of expertise. Our research facilities include one of North America’s most extensive library collections. Alongside the department’s vibrant intellectual life, scholars may participate in the university’s other academic centres, including the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, the Centre for Medieval Studies, the Archaeology Centre, the Jackman Humanities Institute, and the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. Toronto is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world and the home of institutions such as the Royal Ontario Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Image Centre. It also offers convenient access to Ottawa, Montreal, Buffalo, and Niagara Falls.
Visiting Lectures
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September 30, 2025: Laurence des Cars (Musée du Louvre), "Art History and Museum Leadership: A Conversation with Laurence des Cars," University of Toronto Department of Art History |
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July 22, 2025: Jean-Sébastien Cluzel (Sorbonne Université), "Japanism in Modern Architecture: Who Spoke about Boogie Woogie?," University of Toronto Department of Art History |
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May 22, 2025: Ethan Matt Kavaler (University of Toronto), "Pieter Bruegel and Politics" (lecture), Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art (INHA), Paris |
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June 11, 2025: Giancarla Periti (University of Toronto), "Tapestry Technology and Environmental Management in Milan ca. 1500" (lecture), Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art (INHA), Paris May 7, 2025: "Female Monasticism, Courtly Culutre and the Emergence of the Modern Image in Early Modern Italy" (seminar), Sorbonne University |
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April 24, 2025: Jean-Baptise Minnaert (Sorbonne Université), "Art, Technology, and the Horizon: Jean Tschumi (1904-1962) and Postwar Corporate Architecture in Europe and North America," University of Toronto Department of Art History |
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March 3, 2025: Eric Palazzao (Université de Poitiers), "Sanctity Distilled: The Visual Articulation of Liturgical Theology in the Mixed Sacramentary," University of Toronto Department of Art History |
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January 21, 2025: Heba Mostafa (University of Toronto), "Architecture of Anxiety: Body Politics and the Formation of Islamic Architecture,", Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art (INHA), Paris |
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January 14, 2025: Anne Lafont (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales), "Fetish: An Object or a Category for the Enlightenment?", University of Toronto Department of Art History |
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October 23, 2024: Patricia Falguières (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales), "Crayfish, Lizards, Clams and other Knickknacks: What are we talking about when we talk about Nature in 16th-century Europe?," University of Toronto Department of Art History |
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April 23, 2024: Barthélémy Jobert (Sorbonne University Faculté des lettres), "Eugène Delacroix: AI and Digital Humanities," University of Toronto Department of Art History |
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April 9, 2024: Marianne Cojannot-Le Blanc (University of Paris Nanterre), "Obsolescence Forbidden! The Challenges of Creation in the Classical Age," University of Toronto Department of Art History |
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April 4, 2024: Christy Anderson (University of Toronto), "Writers and Readers," Centre André-Chastel, Sorbonne Université/CNRS, Paris |
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March 26, 2024: Joseph L. Clarke (University of Toronto), "An Office in the Country: American Corporate Architecture on the Urban Periphery," Centre André-Chastel, Sorbonne Université/CNRS, Paris |
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February 27, 2024: Anne-Orange Poilpré (University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), "Re-composing biblical time with images in Carolingian Bibles," University of Toronto Department of Art History |
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January 16, 2024: Jean-Philippe Garric (University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), "Cointeraux, Lequeux and Percier: Three Architects Across the Revolution," University of Toronto Department of Art History |
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June 23, 2023: Adam Cohen (University of Toronto), "Hebrew and French: The Getty Museum's Rothschild Pentateuch," Centre d'Études supérieures de civilisation médiévale, University of Poitiers |
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May 23, 2023: Nathalie Ginoux (Sorbonne Université), "Protohistoric Art in Debate: The Case of Ancient Celtic Art," University of Toronto Department of Art History |
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May 23, 2023: Laurent Olivier (Musée d'Archéologie nationale, Saint-Germain-en-Laye), "The Visuality of Early Celtic Art: For and Archaeology of Images," University of Toronto Department of Art History |
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February 13, 2023: Michel Hochmann (École Pratique des Hautes Études), “The Venetian Painter’s Studio in the 16th Century,” University of Toronto Department of Art History. |
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October 26, 2022: Jean-Marie Guillouët (University of Burgundy), “Hyper-Technical Gothic? A Micro-History of Late Medieval Craftsmanship (ca. 1400-1530),” University of Toronto |
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October 17, 2022: John Ricco (University of Toronto), “Bersani’s Incongruous Sociality,” Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Cultures Anglophones (LARCA), University of Paris-Cité. |
The University of Toronto–France Art History Partnership is part of our Canada-France Cross-Cultural Exchanges in Music and Art History program, supported by Fondation DRG.