Art History, University of Toronto

Another France course is in the books! 🇫🇷 This summer, FAH381 took a wonderful group of students through four weeks tracing antiquity across France, led by Profs Björn Ewald and Christina Katsougiannopoulou — two weeks in Paris 🗼 and two in the Roman south. 🏛️

The Paris leg brought students face to face with the ancient Mediterranean in the great collections of the Louvre and beyond 🏺, before the group headed south to where the Roman world still stands in the open air: the Maison Carrée and amphitheatre at Nîmes, the theatre and arch at Orange, the monuments of Arles, and the soaring Pont du Gard. ☀️ A memorable term spent learning to read the ancient world not just in museum cases but in the streets, stones, and landscapes that hold it. ✨

A special thank-you to the students for the two beautiful ceramic plates they painted in Nîmes and gifted to Björn and Christina — a testament to their creativity and artistry. 🎨

Congratulations to a terrific group of students! 🎓

Haunting Presences and Visceral Reactions: Black Bodies, White Marble

We were thrilled to invite Professor Angelica Pessarini to share her outstanding research at University of Toronto Department of Art History graduate EDI Lunch on April 24, 2026.

Professor Pesarini's talk examines the haunting afterlives of Alessandro de’ Medici, the first Duke of Florence. It explores how Alessandro’s body and tomb have been subjected to racialized processes of erasure and symbolic cleansing aimed at restoring dominant historical narratives. Focusing on the tomb’s materiality, the analysis traces forms of bodily resistance articulated through haunting and racialized regimes of forgetting that continue to resonate in the present. In dialogue with and inspired by contemporary AfroItalian artistic production, such as Daphne di Cinto's short film "Il Moro", the talk argues that these spectral presences prompt us to imagine new modes of remembrance and futurity, and to reclaim genealogies that have long been suppressed.

Angelica Pesarini (Angie Pesarini) is an Assistant Professor in Race and Cultural Studies/Race and Diaspora and Italian Studies at the University of Toronto. Her work expands the field of Black Italia by examining the intersections of race, gender, identity, and citizenship, and decolonial approaches to history and memory. As a scholar-activist, she is actively engaged in the Italian anti-racist movement and is researching the impact of Black Lives Matter in Italy.

Thank you everyone who joined us, especially Professor Pesarini for sharing her insightful research and engaging discussion.

☀️ SUMMER COURSE FEATURE ☀️

Still looking to fill your Sub-Session II schedule? Join University of Toronto Department of Art History for ‘FAH 448: International Art Since 1940’ with CI Lauren Barnes!

In this course, students will develop their own imaginary exhibitions based on the course content and their own research. The focus will be on global modernisms and global contemporary art, examined through the lens of exhibition histories with exhibition visits to the Art Museum at the University of Toronto and MOCA Toronto, and tours with curators!! 🖼️

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📍Details: ttb.utoronto.ca
📝 Enrol now on ACORN

📸: Les magiciens de la terre, retour sur une exposition légendaire (Centre Pompidou) by dalbera (CC BY 2.0).

STUDENTS! The deadline is fast approaching for our Fall-term 2026 INTERNSHIPS in Art History! 🖼️🗃️

Apply by June 5, 2026. See the website for details.

internships provide students with the opportunity to work with local organizations, earn course credit (FAH481H1), learn new skills, and make professional connections. 🖼️🍂

Apply today for your chance to work with one of our wonderful partners this Fall:


Toronto
















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Link in bio 🔗

We are grateful to Professor Christian Joschke for his remarkable Fondation DRG Visiting Scholar Lecture: "1933. Visual Culture Resisting the N**i Regime."

Professor Joschke brought to life the urgency and courage of those who resisted fascism through images. Thank you to everyone who joined us. Your engagement made this evening truly memorable!

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INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: Our Fall-term 2026 Internships in Art History Listings are here! internships provide students with the opportunity to work with local organizations, earn course credit (FAH481H1), learn new skills, and make professional connections. 🖼️🍂

Apply today for your chance to work with one of the following partners this fall:


Toronto
















DEADLINE: Apply by June 5, 2026. See the website for details.

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Link in bio 🔗

is pleased to present the next instalment of our Fondation DRG Visiting Scholar Lecture Series, featuring Christian Joschke ()! 🇫🇷

Register now for “1933: Visual Culture Resisting the N**i Regime”!

WHEN: Tuesday, May 26 at 5:00-6:30 PM
WHERE: Paul Cadario Conference Centre, University College
15 King's College Circle, Toronto, ON

For talk details and to register, click the link in bio 🔗

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Christian Joschke is professor of art history at Beaux-Arts Paris and co-chief editor of the journal Transbordeur. Photographie histoire société (published by Macula).

📸: John Heartfield, Free the Way to Peace! [Weg frei für den Frieden!], Volksillustrierte, Sept. 2 1936, cover.