Wednesday, November 29th, 6:30pm EST Silsila Fall2023 Program
17th century miniature of artist Vale
The lecture will focus on the history of collecting Islamic art in Georgia, which started in 1852 when the first museum institution, the Caucasian Museum, was established in Tbilisi. Important collections from almost all periods of Islamic art between the seventh to the twentieth centuries, and from various artistic schools, are preserved in Georgian museums. Their abundance is largely due to Georgia’s centuries-old political and cultural relations with the Islamic world. Among the highlights of the Georgian collections are one of the most extensive collections of Persian oil paintings of the Qajar period, along with unique examples of medieval Islamic ceramics, metalwork, and textiles. The lecture will introduce some of these materials, the circumstances in which they were collected, and discuss a forthcoming new catalogue, which will show highlights of Islamic materials in the collections of the Georgian National Museum.
Irina Koshoridze is Associate Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, Department of Humanities, Tbilisi State University, where she teaches Islamic art history and museology, and chief Curator of Oriental collections in Georgian National Museum. Prof. Koshoridze is also the former director of the Georgian State Museum of Folk and Applied Arts. Prof. Koshoridze has held a wide range of international fellowships related to the fields of museum management and museum studies, including a Fulbright Scholarship (2000-2001, NYU) and an Open Society Institute’s Faculty Development Fellowship (2006-2009), held in the Department of Art History at NYU. While an OSI fellow, Prof. Koshoridze developed a curriculum in Islamic art for BA degree students and special seminars for M.A. students. As Curator of Oriental art collections in the Georgian National Museum, her research and publications focus on the cultural connections between Georgia and neighboring countries (mostly Iran and Turkey) between the 17th and 19th centuries. Date: Wednesday, November 29th Time: 6:30-8:30pm Location: Online and In Person Room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY, 10003 This event will be held in person at NYU in room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY 10003. In accordance with university regulations, visitors must show a valid government-issued photo ID (children under 18 can provide non-government identification).
Only registered attendees will be able to join this event.
Silsila: Center for Material Histories is an NYU center dedicated to material histories of the Islamicate world. Each semester we hold a thematic series of lectures and workshops, which are open to the public. Details of the Center can be found at: https://as.nyu.edu/research-centers/silsila.html
We received a tremendous response to our call for alumni news this fall! Greatest thanks to all of our alumni who sent in updates. Hearty and heartfelt congratulations on all of your achievements, activities, and milestones. We hope that you and yours remain well, and we hope to hear from more of you for our next “Alumni News” round-up, which we’ll post sometime in spring 2024. Great thanks as always go to departmental faculty Mosette Broderick, Dennis Geronimus, Carol Krinsky, and Jon Ritter for their contributions; to our Administrative Aide Clara Reed for sending out the call; and to our Manager Peggy Coon for assistance publishing this blogpost.
Phil Tajitsu Nash (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ‘78; Rutgers School of Law—Newark) curated an exhibit at the Chinese American Museum in Washington, DC focusing on the late Corky Lee, a photographer and community activist who preserved Asian American community history while encouraging activism, pride and respect for human rights. “My NYU training came in handy in choosing photos, cropping them, making sure dates were available, and making sure that the pictures were appropriately contextualized,” Phil adds, “The exhibit showcases Corky’s photos while also centering reactions to the photos from people representing a broad range of ages, professions, geographic locations, Asian ancestries and more. Corky’s camera and postcards inviting you to his exhibit openings in the pre-email era take you back to his analog photo days. Photos he took of a 1974 Asian American community street fair here in DC remind you of the synergies between the NY and DC communities as we built the Asian American Movement in those early days. A wall is devoted to post-it notes that visitors can leave as they visit the show; thank you’s to Corky won’t be read by him anymore, but they are extremely moving to those of us who still look to him for inspiration that a better world is being built, one day at a time.”
The Corky Lee website contains details about a book of his photos coming out soon.
Nina Wishnok (B.A. Art History ‘89; M.A. Graphic Design, Massachusetts College of Art and Design ’95) reports that her new three-dimensional series, Dwellings, is a part of the upcoming show “Plenty” at 13Forest Gallery in Arlington, MA. “And I’m excited to have received a month-long Artist Residency next fall at the Scuola Internazionale in Venice” adds Nina.
Nicholas Sawicki (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ‘96; Ph.D. History of Art, University of Pennsylvania ‘07) is editor of a new volume on the artist Shimon Attie, Starstruck: An American Tale . Published by Black Dog Press in London and Lehigh University Art Galleries, it features contributions by Sawicki, William B. Crow, Hannah Klemm and Ed Simon. The book focuses on Attie’s project of the same title, which maps past and present in the historic steel town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, weaving together film and sculpture to explore people, place, and community, and the powerful social, political, and economic forces that shape them. Sawicki is Associate Professor of Art History and Chair of the Department of Art, Architecture and Design at Lehigh University.
Jongwoo Jeremy Kim’s(B.A. Art History ‘98; Ph.D. Institute of Fine Arts ‘06) new book, Male Bodies Unmade: Picturing Queer Selfhood , was published earlier this month by University of California Press. Jongwoo is Associate Professor of Critical Studies in Art History and Theory at Carnegie Mellon University. His first book, Painted Men in Britain, 1868–1918: Royal Academicians and Masculinities, was published by Ashgate in 2012.
Tarek Ibrahim (B.A. Art History ‘00) sends this news: “I spent the last couple of years working towards the opening of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin, which due to the pandemic was finished a year late, at the end of 2022. I was project manager for a new Japanese tea house for a Japan module, designed by the Kanazawa-based team of Jun Ura Architects. I also managed a number of other new projects for the Ethnologcal Museum, including the installation of works by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas and Mariana Deball. I’m particularly proud of the multisensory/touch stations that I designed with various curators and my colleague Friedrun Portele-Anyangbe. I am also teaching two classes at NYU Berlin, one on the collections of the Museum Island and Humboldt Forum, the other an architectural survey of Berlin. After publishing my first book in 2019 with the German Archaeological Institute, I’m now making big headway on my dissertation (better too late than never!), which I hope to have finished in about a year and a half.”
Michele F. Saliola (B.A. Art History, Studio Art minor ‘01; M.A. Institute of Fine Arts ‘03) has joined the staff of the National Trust for Historic Preservation as Senior Director of Philanthropy. She has also been appointed to the Board of the Fanwood Memorial Library Foundation, which is nearing completion on a new facility for a 70-year old public resource in Union County, NJ, and serves on the Preserve Shady Rest Committee, a nonprofit dedicated to preservation and public access for Shady Rest Golf & Country Club (est. 1921), the nation’s first Black-owned country club which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2022.
Michele has led donor engagement in the arts and culture and preservation sectors for over 20 years. A lifelong advocate for local history, Michele has been involved with many notable preservation projects in the New York-New Jersey area. Most recently, Michele was Senior Director of Philanthropy & Grant Management at The Newark Museum of Art, New Jersey’s largest art and science museum and steward to The Ballantine House, home of the Newark beer-brewing family built in 1885, which has just completed an award-winning restoration to tell a more inclusive story of the people who lived and worked there. Prior to that, she was Director of Institutional Advancement at Judd Foundation, New York/Marfa, where she contributed to the restoration and opening of 101 Spring Street, a five-story cast-iron building in SoHo where artist Donald Judd first developed the concept of permanent installation and part of the Trust’s Historic Artists’ Homes & Studios (HAHS) program.
Beth Citron (B.A. Art History ‘02; Ph.D. Art History, University of Pennsylvania ‘09) sends this news: “I’m pleased to report that the free course I authored on modern and contemporary Indian art for MAP Academy recently was launched. I hope some in the NYU community may be interested in engaging! I’ve also recently joined STIR as Consulting Arts Editor, and work with Nature Morte Gallery in New Delhi on global museum relations. While most of my work is in India, I continue to live in the East Village with my now 4-year-old son.”
Jacob Fry (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies/Mathematics ‘04; M. Arch University of Pennsylvania, ‘09) currently oversees transportation, sustainability, and resiliency programs at the World Trade Center Department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He is a licensed architect with many built transportation projects in the New York Metropolitan area, and is enjoying an ongoing home renovation in his free time.
Christina Lau (B.A. Art History/French Literature ‘05) completed the book design, original illustrations, and print production of a 240-page book on real estate investing. This is her second book design, following a proposal for an alphabet book, A is for Apocalypse, which was a finalist in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Met150 Design Contest. She continues to pursue freelance graphic design projects, including art exhibition materials and stationery projects, and recently launched her portfolio.
Mary Munroe, née Mulholland (B.A. Art History, Urban Design and Architecture Studies, Metropolitan Studies, and Irish Studies minors ‘05) was recently promoted to the position of State Operating Budget Coordinator at the House of Representatives in Washington state, where she previously served as a fiscal analyst for over a decade. While the field of public budgeting and finance may seem far afield from her Art History major, Mary credits her studies at NYU with helping her develop an excellent eye for detail as well as written and oral communication skills. Mary also recently married her longtime partner Scott, a pilot at Delta airlines.
Jonathan Tiu (B.A. Art History/Computer Science, Studio Art minor ‘06; M.D. Tulane University School of Medicine ‘15) has concluded three years on faculty as a neurologist at Washington University School of Medicine. He is grateful to have received the Oksana Volshteyn Teaching Award for Teaching Excellence in 2021. In January 2024, he is returning to the Northeast to join the Department of Neurology at Hackensack University Medical Center. There, he will continue specializing in neurorehabilitation, especially restorative interventions for cognitive and motor impairments after neurologic injury.
Maeve O’Donnell-Morales (B.A. Art History, Studio Art minor ‘07; M.A. Art History, City University of New York, Art History ‘12; Ph.D. Courtauld Institute of Art ‘18) reports: “Last year, an exhibition I curated opened at the Getty Museum. The topic of the small exhibition was the role of artists in the creation and legacy of Marian images. This year I published an article entitled “Encountering the Medieval Altar: A Set of Seventeen Chapel Inventories from Burgos Cathedral (1369)” in Viator. Next year, my colleagues and I will complete a book on the medieval monastery of San Millan de la Cogolla (La Rioja) and I will finish revisions on another article on Marian images in medieval Spain to be published in Gesta. This year we also welcomed our second child, a little boy named Dylan who was born in May of this year (big sister Yvonne was born in 2020).”
Perrin Lathrop (B.A. Art History, Business Studies minor ‘09) joined the Princeton University Art Museum as the inaugural assistant curator of African art in August 2022. She earned her PhD in Art History from Princeton in 2021. Perrin co-curated the touring exhibition African Modernism in America, 1947–67 with Jamaal Sheats and Nikoo Paydar of Fisk University Galleries. The exhibition is open at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC until January 7 and is co-organized with the American Federation of Arts. Their exhibition publication African Modernism in America, published by the American Federation of Arts in 2022 and distributed by Yale University Press, was honored with a Curatorial Award for Excellence by the Association of Art Museum Curators in 2023.
Areyeh “Ari” Lipkis (B.A. Art History ‘11; M.A. Courtauld Institute of Art ‘16) is currently a Ph.D. student at the Tyler School of Art & Architecture at Temple University. “I specialize in Italian architectural works on paper from the 16th and 17th centuries,” Ari reports. “I recently passed my qualifying exams and am currently finishing my dissertation proposal. In October, I delivered a paper at SECAC in Richmond, VS, ‘Transforming Brick into Stone: Giulio Romano’s Use of Fictive Materials in the Palazzo del Te.’ I am the most recent recipient of the Tyler School of Art & Architecture’s Rome Fellowship and will be departing mid-January to begin five months of research in Northern and Central Italy.”
Kaylee Alexander (B.A. Art History, French and Religious Studies minors ‘13; M.A. Institute of Fine Arts ‘15; Ph.D. Art History, Duke University, ‘21) has been appointed Research Data Librarian at the University of Utah, where she was previously the ACLS Postdoctoral Fellow for Digital Matters. In August, her first monograph, A Data-Driven Analysis of Cemeteries and Social Reform in Paris, 1804–1924, was published with Routledge’s Research in Art History series. Kaylee also currently serves on the board of the Association of Historians of Nineteenth-Century Art and is treasurer and blog editor for the Collective for Radical Death Studies.
Here is a synopsis of Kaylee’s book: “Based on my dissertation, A Data-Driven Analysis of Cemeteries and Social Reform in Paris, 1804–1924 takes a novel, data-driven approach to the cemeteries of Paris, analyzing a largely text-based body of archival material as proxy evidence for visual material that has been lost due to systematic, and legally sanctioned, acts of erasure. The book represents the first full-length study of vernacular monuments in France and the entrepreneurs who made them. It also provides methodical considerations at the intersection of the computational and digital humanities for managing survival biases in extant historical evidence that are applicable beyond the thematic focus of this book. Since extant examples of these more inconspicuous monuments are rare, this project employs both distant and close viewing—analyzing commercial almanacs, work logs, and burial records in aggregates alongside detailed case studies—to compensate for gaps in the material record. It will be of interest to scholars working in visual culture, popular culture, digital humanities, and French history.”
Riad Kherdeen (B.A. Art History, Chemistry minor ‘13; M.A. Institute of Fine Arts ‘16; Ph.D. candidate History of Art, University of California, Berkeley) was awarded the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2023–24 Andrew W. Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship. This year at the Met he is investigating “how specters of the 1960 Agadir earthquake and legacies of colonialism haunted decolonial aesthetic production in Morocco.”
Emily Young(B.A. Art History/ Urban Design and Architecture Studies, French minor ‘14) sends this news: “I am currently in my final year of the M. Arch program at Pratt Institute. This past summer, my research partner and I were awarded a small research travel grant (internally, at Pratt) to investigate urban interiority in Singapore, cataloguing the public/semi-public spaces built into the city’s megastructures during the 1960s and 1970s and speculating on how their spatial conditions may be replicated in today’s hyper-dense, high-rise residential developments for improved livability. Earlier this month, my past studio partner and I presented a project at an event titled Wast(ED): Working with Trash’ at the Center for Architecture. Tasked with designing a combined waste-to-energy facility with a nightclub along the Harlem River, we explored how hybridizing infrastructures of waste and pleasure could create a sense of industrial theatricality, capable of shifting our perceptions of these essential parts of urban life.”
Rachel J. Hong (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies/Mathematics ‘15) reports this news: “After graduating NYU with dual degrees in UDAS and Mathematics, I went on to obtain my Juris Doctor at Emory University School of Law. A special ‘thank you’ to Professors Jon Ritter and Stephen Raphael for being the inspiration to pursue my interest in urban planning and law.” Rachel is an attorney practicing Construction law. She advises and represents project owners, general contractors, and subcontractors through construction projects, litigation, and alternative dispute resolution. Rachel invites the NYU community to stay in touch.
Timothy Thomas III (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ‘15) earned his MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business in June. He began working at Temerity Strategic Partners, a real estate private equity firm focused providing growth capital to best in class real estate operators, in March 2023 as a Senior Associate focused on investments and capital raising. Temerity is always looking for great talent: feel free to reach out if interested in joining our team!
Karin Hostettler (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies, Studio Art/Italian Studies minors ‘16; M. Arch RISD ‘19) is a Designer at Dattner Architects, which she joined as an Entry Level Designer in 2019.
Daniela Mayer (B.A. Art History/Journalism ‘16) curated the exhibition Cosmic Shelter: Hélio Oiticica and Neville D’Almeida’s Private Cosmococasat the Leubsdorf Gallery at the Hunter College Art Galleries. Part of the global fiftieth anniversary celebration for the immersive installation series, Cosmic Shelter features the United States premiere of two unique Cosmococas and includes archival material to provide historical context for the layers of political commentary embedded in the subversive, psychedelic works. The exhibition and its free Programming-In-Progress series run from October 12, 2023–March 30, 2024 at the Leubsdorf Gallery (132 E. 68th St, New York, NY, 10065). The Hunter College Art Galleries are open Wednesday–Saturday from 12–6 PM.
Mayer works as an adjunct lecturer at Hunter College in the Art and Art History Department as well as an independent arts researcher and curator.
Ariel Bi (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ‘17) earned her Masters in Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning from Harvard. She is now working as a city planner at the New York City Department of City Planning.
Emma P. Holter (B.A. Art History ‘17; M.A. Courtauld Institute of Art ‘22) sends this news: “In September, my review of The National Gallery of Art’s exhibition “Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice” appeared in the journal Renaissance Studies. In addition, the exhibition I co-curated with Temple University professor Ashley West, “Printmaking | Worldmaking,” opened at the Berman Museum at Ursinus College. The show highlights a wide range of prints in the museum’s permanent collection—from Hendrik Goltzius to Francoise Gilot—and is on view through December 17, 2023. I co-organized the Tyler School of Art & Architecture’s First Graduate Art History Symposium, which took place on October 13–14th. This autumn I presented my research at an academic conference for the first time, the 2023 SECAC annual conference in Richmond, Virginia. My paper ‘Color Wars: Woad, Indigo, and the Emergence of Venetian Blue Paper,’ examined the advent of blue drawing paper in fifteenth-century Venice through an eco-critical lens, and explored the material’s entanglements with the local textile industry and the importation of foreign dyestuffs.” Emma is now in her second year in Temple University’s Ph.D. program in Art History.
Rex Wei (B.A. Gallatin/Art History ‘17) began working for OCBC Bank in Singapore in Marketing earlier this year. “Going forward, we will curate and stage art exhibitions in the bank’s art spaces and branches,” Rex writes.
Luming Guan (B.A. Art History ‘18; M.A. Art and Archaeology, Columbia University ‘21), who is a Ph.D. candidate in the History of Art at the University of Cambridge, is back in New York. She was awarded the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2023–24 Diamonstein-Spielvogel Predoctoral Fellowship to pursue the advanced research and writing of her dissertation on the trickster as one of the key identities of German Renaissance artists.
Rachel Lim (B.A. Art History, Web Programming Minor ’18; M.P.S. NYU ITP ‘20) is currently the Lead Developer for the p5.js Web Editor, which is a free and open source online editor for p5.js—a JavaScript library with the goal of making coding accessible to artists, designers, educators, beginners, and all types of learners. She will also be a visiting assistant professor next semester at Pratt Institute for their Digital Accessibility course.
Marcelo Gabriel Yáñez (B.A. Art History, German and Medieval Studies minors ‘18), currently an advanced Ph.D. candidate at Stanford, was the research assistant for the exhibition Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines, which just opened at the Brooklyn Museum.
Tony Cui (B.A. Art History ‘19) is currently a Ph.D. candidate in art history at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he is writing a dissertation about the early modern Atlantic world. In the past year, he published “Guido Reni’s Compendio: Disegno, Colore, and the Ideal Union of Art,” an article on sixteen-century Italian art theory as represented in a painting by Guido Reni that appeared in volume 53 (2022) of the journal Comitatus. He also co-authored with Elizabeth Alice Honig and Jessica Stevenson Stewart a state-of-the-field article on the economic histories of Netherlandish art, published in volume 15, no. 2 (2023) of the Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art. While living in Washington, DC and teaching as lecturer at UMD, Tony also serves as an assistant editor of Imago Mundi: International Journal of Cartography, a peer-reviewed “international, interdisciplinary and scholarly journal devoted to the historical interpretation of maps and mapmaking in any part of the world”
Sara Kim (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies/Metropolitan Studies ‘19) began her studies at The George Washington Law School in Washington DC earlier this fall. As Sara writes, “I’m sad to leave the best city in the world, but being from Maryland, I am excited and nervous for a familiar yet completely new experience! GW Law has a Property & Land Development study area as well as a Small Businesses & Community Economic Development clinic that will allow me to explore my urban planning passions during law school. DC itself is a rapidly growing city, so I am looking forward to spending three years there.”
(Charlotte) Yuyin Li (B.A. Art History, Italian Studies and Studio Art minors ‘19) sends this news: “I have graduated from the M.A./M.S. dual-degree program at the Garman Art Conservation Department of SUNY Buffalo State University. I am now working at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation as a Marshall Steel Post-Graduate Fellow in Archaeological Materials Conservation.”
Stephanie Tinsley (B.A. Art History ‘20) was awarded afellowship from the Carolee Schneemann Foundation in New York for summer, 2023.
Anaís Cezanné Caro (B.A. Art History/Global Liberal Studies, Concentration in Art, Text, and Media ‘22) is excited to share the news of the publishing of an abbreviated portion of their thesis, ‘Get Your Own Stuff’: The Colonial Canon and the Subversive Art of Appropriation” in The Interdependent’s fourth volume, “Reimagining Space and Communities.”
As the Curator and Director of Exhibitions at The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture in Chicago, IL, Anaís has continued to wrestle with the very colonial canons discussed in this thesis, as seen in her curated exhibition, “Semillas: Artwork by Raul Ortiz Bonilla.” Ortiz Bonilla’s large-scale work breaks down an idealized version of Puerto Rico and offers a new perspective on the archipelago’s history with colonialism. The exhibition will close on November 22 after eleven months on view, and Anaís is excited to continue to develop this thesis and witness how BIPOC artists will continue to reimagine space and communities.
Xiaojing (Elizabeth) Guo (B.A. Art History ‘22) sends this news: “I’ve been working as the founder of Innerscape art tech society, where a group of passionate arts administrators focuses on organizing educational exhibitions, seminars, and performances in collaboration with esteemed external nonprofit organizations. We also forge strategic partnerships with galleries, museums, and other cultural institutions to facilitate effective communication and promote cultural diplomacy initiatives. Besides the art tech society events, I am also enjoying the field of opera and have participated in vocal competitions at Carnegie Hall.”
Eric Heidinger (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ‘22) began working for Adamson Associates in Vancouver earlier this year. Adamson were the executive architects behind the World Trade Master Plan, Canary Wharf, and Hearst Tower. As Eric reports, “They’ve hired me with the idea of jumping from department to department for the next year so that I can experience each aspect of the business. After that, I’ll be going to do my Master’s at University of British Columbia while working for them part-time, with the intention of returning full-time after I complete my degree.”
Isaac Martinez (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies/Politics ’22) began the M. Arch program in Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) this fall.
Since graduating, Zoe Kaiser (B.A. Psychology, Art History minor ’22) has been working for Montblanc as a Marketing Manager. Most recently she oversaw the launch of the Masters of Art collection, dedicated to celebrating pioneering visual artists of our time. In honor of the first “Art Master” Vincent van Gogh she organized an exploration of his most notable works through the lens of colour psychology and his ability to convey emotion through his artistic technique. She is looking forward to continuing her exploration of the intersection between art and psychology. Those interested in viewing the webinar may find the link here.
Patrick Amsellem was a TA for Core courses and an adjunct professor in seminars in the early 21st century in the Department. He returned home to Sweden where he has just been appointed the Director General of the National Museum.
Our beloved colleague and teacher, James Davies Morgan, died on November 2, 2023 after a brief illness. Jim, as we all knew him, was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1934 to a family with mostly Welsh roots; Jim studied the language as an adult. He was educated at Kenyon College in his home state and then received a Master’s degree in Architecture from M. I. T. in 1960. Over the years, he created over twenty buildings in several states, but also turned to writing, one of the subjects he taught to our Urban Design Studies majors. He was the author of two books of helpful information for small design firms, and many articles on practical matters and architectural criticism. The articles appeared in Architecture Plus, Architectural Record, Urban Design International, Toshi Jutaku, and Contract Interiors; Jim was on the senior staff of the first two of those journals. Among the organizations of which he was a member, labor unions related to his work are conspicuous, along with ADPSR: Architects, Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility. His own sense of responsibility led to his work on a midtown Manhattan Planning Board for several years, and to his ongoing work for the Society of Friends in Tanzania at two primary and secondary schools meant especially for children orphaned by AIDS. Closer to NYU, he helped to create a multi-unit supportive housing facility on Lexington Avenue for people with AIDS. Apart from his public activity, one of his enthusiasms for over a dozen years was contemporary dance and movement theater. Another was his interest in R. Buckminster Fuller’s encouragement of ecological practices in creating the built environment.
It is his work at NYU since 1972, not just his outside professional achievements, that endeared him to his students and colleagues. The same generous world view that led him to the Tanzanian project was manifest in his teaching—broad-minded and committed to social justice and the hope for world peace, helpful and sympathetic but judicious In his opinions, honest and trustworthy, generous with ongoing friendships and welcoming to former students who sought him out on their visits to New York City, intellectually curious and critical, and always a gentleman. He taught his students about social responsibilities, while he also taught them how to organize their ideas and write them in engaging prose. Perhaps above all, he exemplified for them and for his colleagues the idea of a worthy and unselfish life.
He will be sorely missed by his two daughters and his grandchildren, his fellow teachers and by his present and former students. People of his character are rare, and their memory is to be cherished and used as an example of a good way to live.
A memorial service to celebrate Jim’s remarkable life will be held at Society of Friends Meeting House at 110 Schermerhorn St. in Brooklyn on Saturday, November 11th, at 11:30 AM. It is reached in a few minutes from the Hoyt-Schermerhorn, Jay St Metrotech, and Boro Hall subway stations. If you are unable to attend in person you may attend the service via zoom with this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85128457187?pwd=cmp5K01EK0Jqbkhyc09VNTRLZm55dz09
From the New York Quarterly Meeting Africa Education Committee:
With heavy hearts, we share the somber news of the passing of the key founder of our committee, James Morgan, who we all called Jim. On Thursday, November 2nd, Jim succumbed to complications from COVID, receiving the best possible care at Beth Israel Hospital’s ICU.
In the words of his daughter, Sarah, Jim “had an unbridled determination throughout his life, that served him till the end.” He was a passionate advocate for justice and equality, which led him, alongside other like-minded others, to establish our committee, dedicated to empowering the lives of hundreds of children in Tanzania who faced the challenges of AIDS orphanhood and impoverishment.
Jim’s journey began when he attended the Friends World Committee for Consultation Triennial conference in 2000 and met Emanuel Kagoro, the Head of the Kisangura Primary School. The following February he visited the Kisangura Schools founded by Quakers in Mugumu, Tanzania, and was moved by the number of children who had lost one or both parents to AIDS and did not have the ability to pay the required school fees. He returned to New York and laid the groundwork for the Africa Education Committee. Over the years he initiated projects to construct teachers’ residences and water cisterns to ensure the school’s ability to attract and retain educators. Simultaneously, he coordinated annual support for up to 120 students, both at the primary and secondary levels, providing them with essential supplies such as books, uniforms, shoes, school bags, and more. As the schools flourished, the need to support promising students on their path to higher education became increasingly evident. Thanks to Jim’s tireless efforts, we are now supporting thirty-one students who have successfully qualified for higher education opportunities.
Jim’s involvement extended far beyond the Africa Education Committee. He actively participated in several significant projects, including the restoration of Friends House in Rosehill, a five-story residence for individuals living with HIV. Throughout his life, Jim was a steadfast presence in various social and humanitarian causes, never shying away from participating in protests and rallies.
Since the inception of our committee in 2001, the world’s challenges have not diminished; if anything, they have grown more complex with epic shifts in the climate, persistent threats of pandemics, and ongoing conflicts. In these tumultuous times, we are determined to honor Jim’s legacy by continuing the important work of extending educational opportunities to the Kisangura schools and their exceptional students.
In memory of Jim and his unwavering commitment to making the world a better place, we invite you to make a special contribution to our committee. Donations can be made via PayPal to <nyqm.kisangura@gmail.com> or sent by check, payable to the NYQM Africa Education Committee, to the following address: NYQM Africa Education Committee 15 Rutherford Place New York, NY 10003
Your support will help us continue the vital work that Jim held so close to his heart, ensuring that his vision of a brighter future for the children of Kisangura lives on.
Drawing America at the Morgan Join artist Simon Levenson for sketching with costumed models and live music in the Gilbert Court. Informal drawing lessons are provided throughout the evening. 6:00–7:45 PM
Play Two Truths and a Lie with J. Pierpont Morgan Explore J. Pierpont Morgan’s historic library by playing Two Truths and a Lie, designed by Art History and Museum Professions students from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Win a chance for a free membership to the Morgan! 6:00–7:45 PM
Slip Behind the Scenes Come to the Sherman Fairchild Reading Room and discover an array of materials including correspondence, photographs, objects and more, and learn how collections are used for research and exhibition purposes. Meet Erica Ciallela, Katie Graves, Katelyn Landry, Olivia McCall, María Molestina, and Victoria Stratis and learn about library and archives professions.
Visit the Drawing Study Center to encounter stunning treasures from the Morgan’s vault. Join curator Sarah W. Mallory to see spectacular examples from the museum’s world-famous collection of drawings and to learn about Drawing Institute events and how researchers use the center.
Does Picasso Still Matter? Pepe Karmel Professor of Art History Department of Art History & Urban Design and Architecture Studies New York UniversityThursday, November 30th 6:30pm EST The Silver Center for Arts and Science Room 300
The Department of Art History & Urban Design and Architecture Studies invites you to attend a special lecture by Pepe Karmel. In his new book, Looking at Picasso,Pepe Karmel approaches the artist’s work through the lens of art rather than biography, showing how he invented multiple new visual languages and transformed the traditional themes of Western art. In this special lecture for the Department of Art History, Prof. Karmel will begin by giving an overview of his book and will then address the question of whether Picasso’s work still matters today, when contemporary art seems to have evolved so far beyond historic styles like Cubism and Neo-Classicism, and when photography rather than life-drawing seems to be the starting point for artistic creation. Is Picasso’s work a relic of expired revolutions, or does it still speak to art today? Date: Thursday, November 30th Time: 6:30 PM Location: The Silver Center for Arts and Science, Room 300Please use the link below to register. Registration is encouraged, but not required.Registration Link
Left: Pablo Picasso. The Kitchen (detail). 1948. The Museum of Modern Art, New York Right: Shahzia Sikander. I Am or Am Not My Own Enemy (detail). 2011. Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City
Fields of Vision 