Alumni News, Spring 2024

Many, many thanks to all of our alumni who sent in updates for this semester’s “Alumni News” blogpost. Hearty and heartfelt congratulations on all of your achievements, activities, and milestones. We hope to hear from more of you for our next “Alumni News” round-up, which we’ll post sometime in fall 2024. Great thanks as always go to departmental faculty Jon Ritter, Mosette Broderick, Carol Krinsky, and Dennis Geronimus for their contributions; to our Administrative Aide Clara Reed for sending out the call; and to our Manager Peggy Coon for publishing this blogpost.

Johannes Nathan (B.A. Art History ‘87; M.A. Courtauld Institute of Art, Ph.D. Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, ‘95) published a letter in the May 2023 number of the Burlington Magazine outlining the need for aid to Ukraine’s cultural institutions, an issue on which he has been working actively. Johannes lives with his wife Antoinette in Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin. An art dealer, his firm Nathan Fine Arts has offices in Potsdam and Zurich.

Kathryn Gettles-Atwa (B.A. Art History ‘94; M.A. Art History, Institute of Fine Arts ‘97) is Counsel at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. She is now participating in Pelham Community Rowing Association’s Master’s Program. “In February I participated in the St. Valentine’s Day Indoor Regatta and placed second in my age group,” reports Kathryn.

Beth Citron (B.A. Art History ‘02; Ph.D. History of Art, University of Pennsylvania ‘09) began a new role as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Asian and Asian Diaspora Art at Asia Society on March 18. “This will complement my ongoing role as Consulting Editor of STIRworld and ongoing curatorial projects,” reports Beth. As the announcement on the Asia Society’s website notes, Beth will work closely with the director of the Asia Society “to plan and implement…[the] Museum’s modern and contemporary art exhibitions, as well as build the Museum’s contemporary art collection, initiated in 2003”; further information here.

In February of this year Julia Perratore (B.A. Art History ‘03; Ph.D. History of Art, University of Pennsylvania ‘12), who is Assistant Curator of Medieval Art at The Met Cloisters, delivered a lecture titled “Cloister in the Wilderness: Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert” in the Robert Branner Forum for Medieval Art, a lecture series sponsored by Columbia University’s Department of Art History & Archaeology.

Christian J. Zaino, M.D. (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ‘06; MED ‘10) and his wife Joanna Rose welcomed Tommaso Paul into the world on January 19, 2024. Tommaso was born at Morristown Medical Center weighing 7 lbs and 8 oz and measuring 21 inches.

Baby’s first name was a selection by his parents whereas his middle name is to honor his late maternal uncle, Paul Genco. He shares a birthday with his maternal great grandfather, Giuseppe Genco. Mom and baby are well. Dad is very proud. Older brother Alessio is thrilled.

Larisa Grollemond (B.A. Art History ‘07; Ph.D. History of Art, University of Pennsylvania ‘16), Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at the Getty Museum, has curated two recent exhibitions: Graphic Design in the Middle Ages in collaboration with 2022-2023 Graduate Intern Sam Truman, and most recently, Blood: Medieval/Modern, which juxtaposes medieval manuscript illumination with work by modern and contemporary artists. 

Katelin Kutchko (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies, Studio Art minor ‘10) writes, “I have some fun news to share!  I recently got engaged to my fiancé Andrew Gleason. He proposed at the TWA hotel, my favorite place in the city. I first learned about Eero Saarinen and the TWA Flight Center back in my “Modern Architecture” class at NYU with Professor Carol Krinsky.  I have always loved the building and am so happy it has been preserved and redeveloped into the TWA hotel since my time at NYU!” 

Quemuel Arroyo (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ‘12; M.P.A. Wagner ‘20) has been recognized with a New York State legislative resolution for contributions to New Yorkers as a Dominican-American advocate for the disability community. The honor was bestowed by State Senator Luis R. Sepúlveda to help mark the 180th anniversary of the independence of the Dominican Republic, February 29. Arroyo will personally deliver a New York State Senate resolution of friendship and cooperation to the Dominican Senate. Further information here.

Arroyo also been named a young alumni trustee of NYU. 

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) sends this news: “I’m overjoyed to report that I have landed the Bridge to the Faculty Postdoctoral Research Associate position in the Art History Department at the University of Illinois Chicago. I will be starting there in the fall. This also means that I am wrapping up my Ph.D. at UC Berkeley and graduating next month. My dissertation, titled “Spectral Modernisms: Decolonial Aesthetics and Haunting in the Aftershock of Morocco’s Agadir Earthquake (1960),” has been advised by Professor Anneka Lenssen; Professors Julia Bryan-Wilson, Sugata Ray, and Stefania Pandolfo have served on dissertation committee. My yearlong fellowship at the Met ends in August, and then I will ship out to Chicago, fifteen years after I first stepped foot in the Department of Art History at NYU in fall of 2009 as a first-year undergraduate student and declared my Art History major. Little did I know then, as a pre-med student at the time, that I would eventually become a social art historian.”

Louise Lui (B.A. Art History, Business Studies minor ‘15; M.A. Bard Graduate Center, New York ‘23) is Assistant Curator of Chinese Art at the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) in Singapore. Her first exhibition, Fukusa: Japanese Gift Covers from the Chris Hall Collection, will open at Peranakan Museum, a sister institution of ACM. It runs from 19 April to 25 August. 

Christina Cacouris (B.A. Art History/Journalism ‘17) launched a filmed interview series at Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio focusing on photography; her episode with curator William A. Ewing on luminary artist and photographer Edward Steichen went live this month.

Christina Cacouris In Conversation on Deborah Turbeville

Alice Centamore (B.A. Art History ‘18) has been accepted to the Ph.D. program in Art History at the University of Chicago.

Yue Wu (B.A. Art History ‘18) will pursue a Ph.D. in Chinese Literature and Culture at Stanford University beginning in Fall 2024. Yue earned an M.A. in Regional Studies East Asia from Harvard University in 2023; her M.A. thesis has been nominated for the Fletcher Award for Outstanding Thesis. Her research projects delve into the global 1960s, avant-garde movements, revolutions, arts and activism, and the intricate social and cultural fabric shaping aesthetics. 

Yue has also been active in the art world as an independent curator and writer. She curated the exhibition “A Spring Breeze” in 2023 and realized the digital exhibition “Guerrillas in Flatland: Unite! Digital Voyagers” in 2021 at China’s largest public contemporary art museum, Power Station of Art Shanghai. The latter showcases art in a unique online environment, subverting familiar digital interfaces; with that exhibition, she was recognized for the nationwide Emerging Curator Award in China. Yue was selected for digital residency at Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council in 2022. In 2019 she coordinated the first overseas retrospective “Xu Bing: Thought and Method” at Museum MACAN, the first Museum in Indonesia to have a collection of modern and contemporary art. After graduate school she worked as Associate Director at Green Bus Gallery founded by Richard Lovett in Santa Monica, CA, before the gallery’s sudden closure.

Yue currently manages a community initiative called Point Space for Asian artists, scholars, and entrepreneurs in Los Angeles. For more details on Yue’s curatorial and creative projects, please visit her website.

Marcelo Gabriel Yáñez (B.A. Art History ‘18), who is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Art History at Stanford University,sends this news: “A few weeks ago I received a 2024-2025 Predoctoral Fellowship at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. I will use my year in Washington to complete my dissertation, which is tentatively titled The Disappearance of Landscape: Artists on Fire Island, 1937-1983.”

Wayne Chen (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ‘19) has been accepted to the M.Arch. Program in Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; he will begin his studies this fall.

Rebecca Coffman (M.A. Historical and Sustainable Architecture ‘19) published an article titled “59 Brick Lane: A History of Adaptive Reuse,” in volume 12 of the journal Architecture and Culture, which appeared in January 2024. Rebecca was a winner of a 2023 Lindsay Jones Memorial Research Fund Award.

Ashley Kochiss (M.A. Historical and Sustainable Architecture ‘19) was a winner of the 2023 Lindsay Jones Memorial Research Fund Award.

Emily Conklin (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ‘20; M.S. Historic Preservation, Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation ‘23) has been named to the Best of Practice jury sponsored by The Architects’ Newspaper, a widely-read journal of which she is the Managing Editor.  She will serve on the jury with prominent architects and planners.  Emily’s current areas of research interest include “the architectures of labor and the urban commons.” 

Gabriella (Gabby) Chinea (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies; Spanish minor ‘21) sends this news: “I am very excited to start working toward a Masters of Urban Planning at Hunter College this fall! I’m looking forward to expanding on my coursework from undergrad and learning more about housing, transportation, and sustainability. I will pursue the degree part-time as I continue to work in the field and sit on the board of the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust, the steward of thirty-seven community gardens in New York City.”

Gianni Grieco (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ‘21) has been accepted to the M.Arch. Program at SUNY Buffalo; he will begin his studies this fall.

Joe Tuano (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies/German, ‘21) reports, “I have been accepted into the Masters of Urban Planning Program at NYU Wagner for Fall 2024, and I’d like to give a special shout-out to Professor Mosette Broderick for helping with my application.”

Anushka Maqbool (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ’21) has been accepted to the Masters Program in City Planning in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Miranda Gibson (B.A. Art History ‘22) has been accepted to NYU Law School and will begin her studies this coming fall.

Honglu Jiang (M.A. Historical and Sustainable Architecture ’22) will begin the M.A. Program in Art History at the University of Warwick (UK) this fall.

Nicole Bitanga (B.A. Art History ‘23) has been accepted to the M.A. program in Arts Administration at Columbia University. Nicole also has been working with TEFAF as their Art Fair Operations Coordinator.

Risa Kimura (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ’23) will begin the M.Arch. Program of the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Architecture this fall.

Yutong Li (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ’23) will begin the Masters in Urban Planning Program at the University of California, Berkeley this fall.

Leonard Zhu (B.A. Urban Design and Architecture Studies ’23) published “China’s Ghost Cities” in Ink and Image 15 (2023), the journal of undergraduate research of NYU’s Department of Art History/Program for Urban Design & Architecture Studies.

Professor Geronimus at the University of Alabama

Professor Geronimus has been invited to speak on two concurrent projects at the University of Alabama in Huntsville this Thursday, April 4th. He will present a pair of talks, titled, “HIdden in Plain Sight: The Black African Presence in Renaissance Art” and, later that evening, “The Art of Jacopo da Pontormo: On Earth As It Is in Heaven.” 

Indigenous Image Theory and the Painter’s Materials, lecture by Barbara E. Mundy

The Department of Art History & Urban Design and Architecture Studies at New York University invites you to attend our Annual Robert Rosenblum Lecture for the 2023-24 Academic Year on Thursday, March 28 at 6:30 PM.

This year’s lecture titled “Indigenous Image Theory and the Painter’s Materials” will be given by Barbara E. Mundy, the Robertson Chair in Latin American Art at Tulane University. Please see below and attached for more information.

“Indigenous Image Theory and the Painter’s Materials”

Barbara E. Mundy, Tulane University

 In 16th century New Spain, Indigenous intellectuals theorized about the nature of the image, underscoring the importance of the material basis of painting. In this, they offered a riposte to ideas about painting’s genesis that they encountered in Pliny’s Natural History.

In this talk, I will analyze what Indigenous texts tell us about concepts of image-making, and explore what painted images from in and around Mexico City themselves reveal about the material nature of the image. I close by turning to the challenges that native painters faced as new colonial economic regimes led to both scarcities and excesses of familiar materials.

Tribute to Jim Morgan with Memorial Information

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.

CANCELED – TO BE RESCHEDULED!

The Department of Art History invites you to attend our Annual Affiliated lecture for the 2022-2023 academic year. Dr. Deborah Willis will be giving the lecture Artists Committed to Memory.

Alumni News, Fall 2022

Many, many thanks to all of our alumni for writing in with so much wonderful news. Hearty and heartfelt congratulations on all of your achievements, activities, and milestones. We hope that you and your loved ones remain well and are staying safe, and we hope to hear from more of you for our next “Alumni News” round-up, which we’ll post sometime in spring, 2023. Great thanks go to departmental faculty Mosette Broderick, Dennis Geronimus, Carol Krinsky, and Jon Ritter for their contributions to this blogpost; to our former Administrative Aide (and Department of Art History alumna) Ozana Plemenitash for sending out the call for news; and to Manager Peggy Coon for assistance putting it together.

Phil Tajitsu Nash (B.A. Urban Design & Architecture Studies ’78; J.D. Rutgers School of Law–Newark) has been assisting his anthropologist wife for thirty years as they train a new generation of indigenous youth in the Brazilian Amazon to take photos, create videos, and record, transcribe and translate oral histories of the elders to capture the changes seen by the introduction of literacy, money, and other factors. In June, one of their protégés, school teacher Piratá Waurá, was one of 12 indigenous youth worldwide to win a special Pulitzer Center prize in a contest to have indigenous photographers document the effects of climate change. While not a photographer himself, Nash credits his NYU Fine Arts training for helping him to understand enough about photography to help this young man to shoot and curate his photos.

 Nancy J. Ruddy (B.A. Urban Design & Architecture Studies ‘70s; M.Arch CUNY), a founding partner of the interior design and architectural firm CetraRuddy Architecture, was honored as a Power Woman at Bisnow’s New York Women Leading Real Estate Cocktail Event, held on September 28, 2022. The award celebrates 50 of the industry’s top innovators, dealmakers and thought leaders across various different verticals in the commercial real estate industry. Of the seven honorees in the Construction, Architecture & ESG category, Nancy was the only architect in the group. Pictured below with fellow honorees L to R:

Sara Kendall, Vice President & General Manager, Turner Construction; Gina Bocra, Chief Sustainability Officer, NYC Department of Buildings; Mimi Raygorodetsky, Principal, Langan; Julie Lurie, Senior Managing Director, ESG Chair, Tishman Speyer; Nancy J. Ruddy, Founding Partner, CetraRuddy Architecture

(Not Pictured: Cheryl McKissack Daniel, President, CEO, McKissack; Charlotte Matthews, Head of Affordable Electrification, Google)

Olenka Z. Pevny (B.A. Fine Arts ‘85; M.A., Ph.D. Institute of Fine Arts, NYU ’95) was a keynote speaker at NYU’s Medieval and Renaissance Center Annual Conference, “Leaving Home,” held 4-5 November 2022. Pevny lectured on “The War in Ukraine: Effaced Itineraries of ‘The Other’ in Medieval and Renaissance Studies.” Pevny is a College Lecturer in Slavonic Studies in Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge. Previously she was Associate Professor of Byzantine and Medieval Art and served as Chair of the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Richmond, Virginia.

Tarek Ibrahim (B.A. Fine Arts ‘00) lives in Berlin where he works in the curatorial department at the Humboldt Forum, the rebuilt Royal Palace.  He is teaching a course about the Museum Island for NYU Berlin while he works on his Ph.D. at Humboldt University.

Gabriel Wick (B.A. Gallatin/Urban Design & Architecture Studies ‘00; M. A. Landscape Architecture, University of California, Berkeley ‘03; M2 in landscape conservation, École d’Architecture de Versailles ’09; Ph.D. History, Queen Mary University of London ‘17) has curated several exhibitions and advises owners of historic gardens about their conservation. As Gabriel puts it in his “Humanities Commons” bio , his research focuses on political culture in the pre-Revolutionary period, and in particular the meanings attached to English-inflected aesthetics and pastimes.” Among his many publications is his most recent book, Vivre à l’antique de Marie-Antoinette à Napoléon Ier (2021). Gabriel also teaches for NYU Paris.

Michele Saliola (B.A. Art History, Studio Art minor ‘01; M.A. Institute of Fine Arts, NYU ‘03) was promoted to Senior Director of Philanthropy and Grant Management at The Newark Museum of Art and has this update: “Don’t miss out: we are a must-see global collection just minutes from Manhattan by train. Ranked 12^th largest collection in the nation, we have always been ahead of the curve in celebrating artists of color and the artistic achievements of under recognized people and cultures.” To plan your visit, visit NMOA’s website. This year, Michele was also appointed to the Historic Preservation and Documentation Committee of Scotch Plains Township in Union County, New Jersey, and currently serves on the Preserve the Shady Rest Committee, a 501c3 which preserves and provides access to the Shady Rest Golf & Country Club in Union County, New Jersey. Founded in 1921 as America’s first country club welcoming Black members, Shady Rest attracted a-list jazz performers, pro athletes and the Black cultural elite through the 1950s. Michele and her fellow Committee members marked Shady Rest’s 100^th Anniversary by announcing the Clubhouse’s official listing on the National Register of Historic Places as a place for recreation for diverse families, then and now. Want to get involved? Follow Preserve Shady Rest on Facebook or contact Preserveshadyrest@gmail.com.

Jacob Simpson (B.A. Urban Design & Architecture Studies ‘01; M.A. Planning, MIT ‘05) earned his Ph.D. in Planning earlier this year from University College London’s The Bartlett School.

Saskia Verlaan (B.A. Art History ‘02; M.A., Courtauld Institute of Art ‘09; Ph.D. in progress, CUNY Graduate Center) was awarded the 2022-2023 Lily Auchincloss Rome Prize in Modern Italian studies. She is currently in residence at the American Academy in Rome until July 2023, where she is pursuing research on her doctoral dissertation, “Between Drawing and Script: Asemic Writing by Feminist Artists in Italy 1968–1980.” Examining the work of Irma Blank, Dadamaino, Betty Danon, and Maria Lai, Verlaan’s project analyzes asemic writing as a semiotic, Italian-feminist, and immigrant project and argues for its distinctiveness in relationship to international practices of conceptual art. 

Lydia Mattice Brandt (B.A. Art History ‘04; M.A./Ph.D. University of Virginia, 2011) is a Professor in the School of Visual Arts at the University of South Carolina. Her most recent article, co-authored with Philip Mills Herrington of James Madison University, and published in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 81, 1 (2022): 63–84, is “The 1960s Antebellum Plantation at Stone Mountain, Georgia.” As the authors write, “The publication of Margaret Mitchell’s novel Gone with the Wind in 1936, followed by the release of its landmark film adaptation in 1939, inspired a generation of readers and moviegoers to yearn to travel to Tara, the fictional Georgia home of Mitchell’s pampered heroine, Scarlett O’Hara. Opened in 1963 at the new Stone Mountain Park, 15 miles northeast of Atlanta, the Antebellum Plantation catered to tourists wishing to catch a glimpse of the storybook Old South” (p. 63). Brandt and Herrington examine the history, architecture, and decoration of this modern replica plantation that presents a sanitized version of southern history. Brandt and Herrington are at work on a book-length study of the phenomenon of “plantation revivals” in the United States.

Sara Allain-Botsford (B.A. Art History ‘07) recently completed a Master’s in Art History and Museum Studies at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi.  She is currently exploring opportunities in London while volunteering. She is a volunteer in the Conway Library at the Courtauld Institute helping to digitize the library’s collection and the Anthony Kersting archive. In the new year she will volunteer at the British Museum.

Larisa Grollemond (B.A. Art History ‘07; Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania ‘16), Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts at the Getty Museum, is proud to have co-curated, with Bryan C. Keene, The Fantasy of the Middle Ages, on view at the Getty Center from June 21 to September 11, 2022. The exhibition was accompanied by a publication of the same name. The project explored the visual construction of the Middle Ages over many centuries in illuminated manuscripts, prints and printed books, photography, cinema, reenactment, and beyond, resulting in a rich variety of modern medievalisms that are very much a part of popular culture today. For more information about the exhibition and links to the book and a variety of digital media created in conjunction with show (including a Google Arts & Culture version of the exhibition and a Spotify playlist).

Ksenia Nouril (B.A. Art History ‘09; Ph.D. Art History, Rutgers University ‘18) and her family have resettled in Queens. As Ksenia writes, “In September, I transitioned from my role as Jensen Bryan Curator at The Print Center in Philadelphia to the role of Gallery Director and Curator of Exhibitions and Programs at The Art Students League of New York. Please, come visit us at the League!” Ksenia remains connected to The Print Center: recently (on October 27) she launched her book with the artist Carmen Winant, “an artist’s intervention into the photographic archives of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence & Women In Transition. [The book] illuminates the invisible experiences of women and feminist strategies for survival, revolt & self-determination. Through its expansive consideration of image-making, domestic violence and feminism, it acknowledges the power of photography in depicting how women view themselves, and how photography can serve as a tool in the struggle or individual autonomy & self-representation. It complements a solo exhibition titled A Brand New End: Survival and Its Pictures, mounted at The Print Center in April 2022.” More information about the exhibition can be found here: http://printcenter.org/100/a-brand-new-end/. The show was reviewed in numerous publications, including most recently CAA Reviews: http://www.caareviews.org/reviews/4086#.Y0lkri-ZNo6

Alexis Wang (B.A. Art History ‘09; M.A./Ph.D. Art History & Archaeology, Columbia University ‘22) joined the faculty of the Department of Art History at SUNY Binghamton this September as Assistant Professor of Art History, https://www.binghamton.edu/art-history/people/profile.html?id=awang13. Alexis teaches courses in medieval art and architecture, including the Christian, Islamic, and Jewish traditions of the medieval Mediterranean. Her areas of research specialty include Italian art of the high and late Middle Ages, embedded objects in Italian monumental church decoration, the circulation of portable objects, and the relationships between materiality and meaning in medieval visual culture.

Adina Haramati (B.A. Art History ‘10) earned her M.D. degree in 2015 from Albert Einstein College, Bronx NY. After an internship at Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX), she happily returned to New York City. She is now a cardiothoracic radiologist at Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan. 

Rebecca Rau (B.A. Art History ‘11; M.A. Art Business, Sotheby’s Institute London ‘16), fourth generation of New Orleans’s preeminent fine art, antique, and jewelry gallery, M.S. Rau, is excited to announce that after a largescale expansion and renovation in the French Quarter, M.S. Rau was named America’s “Coolest” Jewelry Store by InStore Magazine for 2022. The gallery celebrates its 110th year of business this year. In honor of the anniversary, Rebecca spearheaded a collaboration with New York jeweler Oscar Heyman, which was also founded in 1912. The collection debuts in late October and can be read about in Robb Report and JCK. Do not be fooled – fine art is still Rebecca’s first love – and she’s pleased to announce the gallery’s latest exhibition, Revolutionaries, exploring the legacy of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, which will feature masterpieces by Pierre Bonnard and Henri-Edmond Cross, as well as other works of significance by many usual suspects.

This summer, Charlie Tatum (B.A. Art History ‘11) took on the role of Director of Marketing and Communications at the New Orleans Museum of Art. For more about Charlie’s other projects see his website.

Kaylee Alexander (B.A. Art History, ‘13; M.A. History of Art & Architecture ‘15, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU; Ph.D. Art History & Visual Culture, Duke University ‘21) is the recipient of a 2022 Emerging Voices Fellowship from the American Council for Learned Societies (ACLS). Her project, tentatively titled “The US Cemetery Audit,” focuses on an ambitious data collection effort to track and assess inequity in the US burial landscape. As Kaylee puts it, “The project is informed not only by my dissertation findings regarding socioeconomic erasure and the market for funerary monuments in 19th-century Paris, but also my work as a volunteer researcher for Geer Cemetery in Durham, NC and recent developments in the field of monument studies. I will be taking an experimental and aggregate approach to studying US cemeteries and their development to investigate visible and invisible changes to US deathscapes over time.”

Karen Zabarsky (B.A. Urban Design & Architecture Studies ‘13) sends this news: “In January I launched my own creative and design studio for the built environment, called Ground Up.”

Emily Young (B.A. Art History/Urban Design & Architecture Studies, French minor, ‘14) won the Sibyl Moholy-Nagy History & Theory Essay Award this past May—her first year at Pratt’s M.Arch I program—for her essay titled “The Spiritual Body in the Construction of Bauhaus Architecture.” Find out more here.

Nora Gorman (B.A. Art History ‘15; M.S.Ed. Bank Street College of Education ‘22) graduated from Bank Street College of Education’s M.S.Ed. program in Leadership in Museum Education this May, and has recently joined the teaching staff of The Metropolitan Museum of Art as Assistant Educator, College and University Programs. In addition to working with visitors in the galleries, her role includes oversight of The Met Collective https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/the-met-collective, the committee of college students that plans events for their NYC-area peers, and support of The Met’s undergraduate and graduate internship programs. Nora’s work with The Met began with an internship while she was at NYU, and she looks forward to drawing on all she learned in the Department of Art History lecture halls in her new position.

Jiawei (Jerry) He (B.A. Urban Design & Architecture Studies/Computer Science ‘16; M.Arch. Princeton University ‘20) writes, “I wanted to share that I and my project “Trenton MOVES” recently were awarded ‘2022 Young Professional’ and ‘2022 Outstanding Project’ by the Intelligent Transportation Society of New Jersey (ITSNJ)! I have also started volunteering at the newly formed IM Pei Foundation. I’m helping them digitize Pei’s early projects and hoping to contribute to an IM Pei Retrospective in the format of an exhibition and/or book. This is a growing effort and if you know some scholars/colleagues who are Pei experts, I’d appreciate it if you could kindly introduce me to them!” Jerry is the Executive Director of CARTS, whose goal is to provide safe, quality mobility for all.

(Charlotte) Yuyin Li (B.A. Art History, ‘19, Italian Studies and Studio Art minors) sends this news: “I’m currently in the third and final year of my study in the MA/MS dual-degree program of the Garman Art Conservation Department at SUNY Buffalo State College. This final year consists of a 12-month internship, and I’m working at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research.”

Anna Sujin Leckie (B.A. Art History, English Literature minor ’21) works at Sotheby’s as a Legal and Compliance Coordinator.

Sarah Fruehauf (B.A. Art History, German minor ‘22) recently accepted a position as a Client Liaison at Sotheby’s. She also has kindly assisted Professor Krinsky with some bibliographical reference work. For more about Sarah’s interests see https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-fruehauf.

Elizabeth Guo (B.A. Art History ‘22) began the Masters in Arts Administration program at Columbia University this fall. This summer, meanwhile, she earned an intern position at Pace’s Gallery. For more about Elizabeth’s interests, go to https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-guo-9673a4219.

Audrey Peterson (B.A. English Literature, Art History minor ‘22) writes, “This summer, I began working full-time as an assistant at Paula Cooper Gallery. The gallery reopened with a Sol LeWitt show, and I got to see the process of installing a wall drawing.”

Hannah Rothbard (B.A. Steinhardt, Studio Art, Urban Design & Architecture Studies minor ‘22) recently began a new position as Assistant Manager at MTA Arts & Design, whose mission is to “encourage the use of public transit by presenting visual and performing arts through the MTA system.” 

BLEEDING FINGERS AND FAILING EYES: LOCATING THE BODY OF THE ARTISAN IN THE STUDY OF ISLAMIC ART

Marcus Milwright, University of Victoria

Wednesday, November 9th, 12:30pm EST

Silsila Fall 2022 Series, Body and Senses

Sickle maker, Nazareth, 1938. Photograph: John D. Whiting. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.: LC-DIG-ppmsca-17414-00011

In his description of the splitting of reeds for the making of mats in the Iraqi village of Agga, Gavin Maxwell (d. 1969) expresses surprise that even experienced practitioners of the craft would often end up cutting their hands. Other writers have noted the harmful effects of factors such as poorly ventilated workspaces, toxic materials, and noise. Observations like these are an important reminder of the impacts that register on the body as the result of repetitive and arduous tasks conducted in challenging environments. Finished objects can bear subtle traces of the bodies of their makers, from fingerprints in fired clay to the characteristic slant and width of marks made by a brush or pen. This talk will question what can be learned in art historical terms through a focus on the bodies of those who have specialized in traditional modes of manufacturing across the Middle East from the seventh century to the present. Evidence will be drawn from extant objects from museum collections and excavations, as well as pre-modern written sources, photographs, and ethnographic studies. Marcus Milwright is professor of Islamic art and archaeology and department chair in the Department of Art History and Visual Studies, University of Victoria. His research focuses on the art and archaeology of the Islamic Middle East, labour and craft practices in the urban environment, and cross-cultural contacts in the Medieval Mediterranean. He is involved in archaeological and architectural projects in Jordan, Syria and Greece and has created the Crafts of Syria and Crafts of Iraq websites. His books include: An Introduction to Islamic Archaeology (Edinburgh, 2010), and The Dome of the Rock and its Umayyad Mosaic Inscriptions (Edinburgh, 2016); Islamic Arts and Crafts: An Anthology (Edinburgh, 2017); and The Queen of Sheba’s Gift: A History of the True Balsam of Matarea (Edinburgh, 2021). He is currently working on the publication of early Islamic pottery from Raqqa.    Date: Wednesday, November 9th Time: 12:30-2:30pm Location: Online and In Person in Room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY 10003   This event will take place as a live Webinar at 12:30pm EST (New York time). To register as an attendee, please use the following link: https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4fZnxko6SDeM7I7SpAy9xw Only registered attendees will be able to join this event. This event will also 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).  Please use the following link to rsvp as an in-person attendee: https://forms.gle/tsPXihGrd44x29Rm6 Spaces are limited. If for any reason you have rsvp’d and cannot attend in-person, please use the form below to let us know.  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:  http://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/research-centers/silsila.html

Edward Sullivan Receives Distinguished Scholar Award from the College Art Association of America

Please join the DAH and IFA in congratulating Professor Sullivan on this prestigious award! We heard the news first from Christine Poggi, Director of the Institute of Fine Arts:

I am thrilled to announce that our colleague and friend, Professor Edward J. Sullivan, has been selected to receive the 2023 Distinguished Scholar Award at the CAA Annual Meeting. This is a fantastic and well-deserved award, and one that we will celebrate at an alumni event at the Duke house this February, when CAA will be held in New York. You will remember that Edward won the Distinguished Teaching of Art History Award given by CAA in 2019.  We all recognize the importance of his work as a scholar, curator, teacher, and mentor, and it is wonderful to see that his many accomplishments will be publicly celebrated. The session will be held in person on Thursday, February 16, 4:30-6pm ET at the New York Hilton Midtown.

Here is how CAA describes the Distinguished Scholar Session:

Established in 2001, the Distinguished Scholar Session illuminates and celebrates the contributions of senior art historians. Not intended as a static honor, the event brings the honoree together with his or her colleagues, oftentimes the scholar’s former students. In this way, the session can therefore be viewed as the equivalent of a living Festschrift: an occasion for applauding, examining, and extending a distinguished career in art history and an opportunity for encouraging dialogue between and among several generations of scholars.

Professor Barry Flood at SOFHCH Event

January 28, 2022 Friday Celebrating Recent Work by David Freedberg Virtual Event @ 12:15pm EST

Iconoclasm by David Freedberg With new surges of activity from religious, political, and military extremists, the destruction of images has become increasingly relevant on a global scale. A founder of the study of early modern and contemporary iconoclasm, David Freedberg has addressed this topic for five decades. His work has brought this subject to a central place in art history, critical to the understanding not only of art but of all images in society. This volume collects the most significant of Freedberg’s texts on iconoclasm and censorship, bringing five key works back into print alongside new assessments of contemporary iconoclasm in places ranging from the Near and Middle East to the United States, as well as a fresh survey of the entire subject. The writings in this compact volume explore the dynamics and history of iconoclasm, from the furious battles over images in the Reformation to government repression in modern South Africa, the American culture wars of the early 1990s, and today’s cancel culture.  Freedberg combines fresh thinking with deep expertise to address the renewed significance of iconoclasm, its ideologies, and its impact. This volume also provides a supplement to Freedberg’s essay on idolatry and iconoclasm from his pathbreaking book, The Power of Images. Freedberg’s writings are of foundational importance to this discussion, and this volume will be a welcome resource for historians, museum professionals, international law specialists, preservationists, and students.Featuring David Freedberg, Zainab Bahrani, Finbarr Barry Flood, Barry Bergdoll, and Andrea Pinotti. This event will take place virtually over Zoom. Registration is required.Please email disability@columbia.edu to request disability accommodations. Advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility needs. This event will be recorded. By being electronically present, you consent to the SOF/Heyman using such video for promotional purposes. Register

Professor Barry Flood to give keynote to open the conference Expanding Islamic Art Historiography: The 1873 Vienna World’s Fair