Many thanks to all of the Art History, Urban Design, and Historical and Sustainable Architecture alumni who responded to our recent call for news. It is wonderful to hear from you and to learn about your activities and achievements. We hope to hear from more of you for our next Alumni News round-up, which we’ll post sometime in Spring 2013. Please send your news, links, photos, videos and podcasts to Professor Kathryn Smith (kathryn.smith@nyu.edu) with a copy to Peggy Coon (peggy@nyu.edu). Thank you, and best wishes for happiness, fulfillment, and success to all!
Jongwoo Jeremy Kim’s (Art History ’98) first book,
Painted Men in Britain, 1868-1918: Royal Academicians and Masculinities, was just published by Ashgate. An original and overdue exploration of the representation of masculinity in British academic art in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Painted Men in Britain, 1868–1918 analyzes transgressions of gender and sexuality as represented in paintings by Leighton, Sargent, Tuke, and their contemporaries in the Royal Academy. This volume treats paintings as eloquent objects, no narratives of which are too elusive to be traced, and challenges conventional binaries of masculine versus feminine or heterosexual versus homosexual. Consulting not only the paintings themselves but also newspapers, journals, criticism, novels, and poetry of the day, Painted Men argues against the misconception of British academic art as merely reactionary and even blind to the dynamism of its own time. Instead, this art is shown to engage with broader social attitudes and contemporary sexual debates. As the book reveals the complexities of specific paintings, it illuminates different and competing attitudes toward masculinity and modernity in British art of the period.
Christopher Reed, Professor of English and Visual Culture at The Pennsylvania State University, had this advance praise for the book: “Jongwoo Jeremy Kim’s Painted Men in Britain demonstrates the potential of both close looking and an outsider’s perspective to reveal new aspects of images and texts we thought we knew well. Kim’s attention to detail in both finished paintings and preparatory drawings registers details overlooked in existing accounts even of well known artists and art. Under his guidance, readers will find that major works by major figures, such as Frederic Leighton and John Singer Sargent, suddenly look new—and surprisingly sexy.”
Jongwoo, who earned his Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts in 2007, is currently Assistant Professor of Modern Art at the University of Louisville, KY. Department of Art History alumni will remember Jongwoo as a preceptor/recitation leader for MAP: Expressive Cultures Images — he served as the lead preceptor for both Professor Kenneth Silver and Professor Kathryn Smith.
Jongwoo Jeremy Kim, Painted Men in Britain, 1868-1918 (Ashgate, 2012)
Ben Abbate (Urban Design & Architecture Studies ’02) was accepted to the Global Masters in Management Program at the London School of Economics (LSE). Ben writes, “It looks great; it’s a part-time, fourteen-month program with seven modules — five in London and two abroad (this year is Istanbul and Singapore)…there’s a dissertation to complete at the end, and the dean mentioned that if that goes well they often invite folks to study for a Ph.D. off the back of it…which I have to say might be really interesting!”
Liam Considine (Art History ’02) just earned his Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts with a dissertation titled “New Realisms: Pop art in France, 1962-1968.” Recently, he began a postdoctoral fellowship at the Georgia O’Keeffe Research Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Liam was a predoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2011-2012. Department of Art History alumni will remember Liam as a grader and recitation leader: in Fall 2008, he served as a grader for Cubism to Abstract Expressionism, taught by Professor Pepe Karmel; in Spring 2009, he served as a grader for Modern Architecture, taught by Professor Carol Krinsky; and in Fall 2009, he was a recitation leader for History of Western Art II, taught by Professor Karmel.
Stephanie Swinton (Art History, Urban Design & Architecture Studies, French minor ’02; M.A. Steinhardt ’06 in Visual Culture: Costume Studies) is currently living and working in Paris, France. Stephanie recently completed her M.B.A. in International Luxury Brand Management at acclaimed French business school ESSEC, as part of the international luxury-focused program created in conjunction with LVMH. The program included forty students representing eighteen different nationalities. Stephanie was the recipient of the L’Oreal Luxe scholarship award and graduated with honors, gaining membership in the prestigious Beta Gamma Sigma International Honors Society, which represents “the highest recognition a business student anywhere in the world can receive in a business program”. During the past year, professional trips have included visits to important luxury markets such as Dubai, Hong Kong, Geneva, Milan and Rome. Stephanie has worked as a consultant for French luxury brand Cartier, and currently works in Marketing at Parisian luxury skincare company Visoanska. Stephanie also publishes a blog called “How to be Fabulous”, where she shares her photographs and thoughts on interesting places she visits.
Stephanie Swinton earlier this year on the rooftop of Fendi’s headquarters in Rome
Ryann (Pointon) Imperioli (Art History ’03) continues her role as the Director of Annual Giving at LREI (Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School) in Greenwich Village. In March 2012, she organized LREI’s biennial Art Auction, held at Saatchi & Saatchi. The show featured work by Gabriel Orozco, Sarah Sze, William Wegman, plus emerging and outsider artists and raised over $150,000 towards financial aid at the school. In April 2012, she married Christopher Imperioli at Galapagos Art Space.
Julia Perratore (Art History ‘03) just completed her Ph.D. in Art History at the University of Pennsylvania, where she specialized in Medieval Art. She wrote her dissertation, “Laity, Community and Architectural Sculpture in Romanesque Aragon: Santa María de Uncastillo,” on a spectacular but little-known church in the wilds of northern Spain that is notable for its unusual abundance of profane imagery – a lively ensemble depicting musicians, shepherds, merchants, warriors, and even a tooth-puller. Her project explores the visual construction of community in monumental sculpture created for Uncastillo, a growing town, during the period of repopulation that followed the Christian conquest of Muslim territory in the Iberian Peninsula. In researching this project, Julia had the good fortune to live and travel in Spain, where she was variously based in Madrid, Zaragoza and Barcelona, with the assistance of grants from the Fulbright and Kress Foundations and the Program for Cultural Communication between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and United States’ Universities. Julia has presented her work in Madrid, Toulouse and Philadelphia, and she looks forward to sharing her research at the fourth annual Anne d’Harnoncourt Symposium of the Philadelphia Museum of Art (November 2-3, 2012), “The Art of Sculpture 1100-1550: Sculptural Reception,” part of the Working Group in Medieval Sculpture. In addition, Julia recently contributed an essay on the architectural sculpture of Pisa’s Piazza dei Miracoli to a forthcoming compendium on medieval Pisa in the Mediterranean, organized by the Kunsthistoriches Institut in Florenz. Over the summer, she co-curated an exhibition on Christian iconography, “Windows into Heaven,” currently on view at the Glencairn Museum in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.
Julie Engh (Urban Design & Architecture Studies, Metropolitan Studies, English ’05), was awarded this year’s AIANYS (American Institute of Architects New York State) Intern-Associate Award. Established in 2005, this annual award recognizes notable contributions and accomplishments by an intern or associate member of AIANYS. Since 2006, Julie has been an Intern Architect at Avinash K. Malhotra Architects (AKM), a full-service architectural firm in New York City.
Roni Sivan (Art History ’05) recently launched a one-for-one business called krama wheel that empowers women and children in Cambodia through scarves. A child cannot attend school in Cambodia without a school uniform and krama wheel scarves give children access to education while also empowering artisans to make a living. For each scarf sold:
– One weaver is paid fairly, treated respectfully, and better able to support her family
– One local seamstress is paid to sew a school uniform
– One child receives a school uniform so that he or she can attend school
The handmade scarves are 100% cotton and 100% handmade. The cotton is hand-dyed, the fringe is hand-knotted, and the labels are sewn onto the scarves by a workshop of disabled artisans. Every stage of production has a human touch and no two scarves are exactly the same. Each style is named after a Cambodian child that is supported by krama wheel‘s partner humanitarian organizations on the ground in Cambodia. As Roni writes, “The shop launched nationally last month and I’d love to have more folks in the NYU network wrapped in our scarves this fall and winter and helping us change lives on the other side of the world. You can see how we make our impact here, meet the namesakes of the scarves here, and shop our fall collection here. And of course you can like us on Facebook.”
Jennifer G. Simmons (Art History ’06) earned her M.S. in Arts Administration from Boston University, where she was named the 2012 recipient of the BU Metropolitan College Award for Excellence in Graduate Study. During her tenure in Boston, she specialized in visual for-profit administration, focusing her research on the creative economy, entrepreneurism, and comparative cultural policy in Barcelona, Spain and the UK. Additionally, she was the Vice President/Alumni & Student Relations Chair for the Arts Administration Student Association, and exhibited a solo photography show, “City Compositions,” at the Metropolitan College Dean’s Gallery.
After graduation, Jennifer began working as Assistant Curator & Art Advisor at g a macura inc., where her responsibilities include managing and maintaining GE’s corporate art collection nationally. Now that she is back in New York, she is looking forward to cultivating significant collections and creative entrepreneurship, in addition to representing CAS alumni as an NYU Torchbearer.
Alex Ahn (Art History ’11) and Ari Lipkis (Art History ’11) recently launched TEMP, a new gallery space at 57 Walk Street in Tribeca. Ahn and Lipkis curated TEMP’s first show, Working on It, which runs from September 8th-October 14th. Working on It features the work of Baltimore-based painter Laura Hudson and New York-based artists Maggie Lee, Dean Levin, and Sandy Kim. For more information about TEMP, see the recent piece in Blouin Art Info, “NYU Grads Team Up to Launch TEMP, a Massive Incubator for Young Artists and Curators,”; and the August 31st, 2012 post on this blog. During their senior year (2010-12) Ahn and Lipkis served as co-presidents of the Fine Arts Society, the Department of Art History’s CAS student club.
Nick Kazmierski (Urban Design & Architecture Studies ’12) writes, “I actually just took a job with the Appalachian Forest Heritage Area through Americorps. I will be doing hands-on building conservation and restoration for an entire year in the quaint town of Elkins, West Virginia. It’s a small Appalachian town of 7,000 about three hours southeast of Pittsburgh. All buildings that the AFHA works on are on the National Register, and I will be learning hands-on restoration skills, such as window and paint repair. I’ll even have my blood tested three times within this period, to ensure that I’m not ingesting unhealthy amounts of lead…serious stuff! I’m really excited about the opportunity, though, and believe it will be a great foundation for a career in historic preservation.”
This summer, James Newhouse (Art History, Chemistry ’12) traveled to study medieval and Baroque art in Paris and Rome, thanks to the generosity of the Department of Art History’s Douglas Maxwell Travel prize. He also completed his third internship experience at the Museum of Modern Art in the conservation science laboratory. Prior internship terms involved pigment analysis of early twentieth century paintings; this summer, James studied photographic papers, identifying development processes (silver, palladium, or platinum) as well as paper constituents, using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. This fall, he accepted a position as Associate Scientist in the Analytical Department at BASF (Tarrytown, NY), widely regarded as the world’s leading chemical company. In his work, James analyzes a range of the company’s products, including pigments, cosmetics, and oils.
Nicole Pesce (Art History, History ’12) is the Development Coordinator for the Center for Architecture in Greenwich Village. She coordinates fundraising initiatives for the Center to provide money for exhibitions and programs. Her current project is planning a gala for over 1,000 people. As Nicole writes, “Working in development has been a great way to learn how a not-for-profit operates and to understand the financials of working with exhibitions and programs. It’s also been a great way to attend interesting events and nice to have your work connect with something related to your interests.”
Fields of Vision 