ARTifacts

Art History Newsletter Summer 2007 Issue No. 15

Letter from Stephanie Thornton, new ARTifacts Co-editor

Fellow Alumni:

It’s been several years since I took my last class in the art history program at AU, but I find that the princi- ples of feminism and sound art historical scholarship that I learned there are not far from my mind. This became clear to me during a recent work assignment at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens (see profile on page11), where I am the Assistant Registrar. At the end of May, I assisted with the packing and ship- ping of an important loan. Hillwood’s L’Enfant Chéri, by Marguerite Gérard and Jean-Honoré Fragonard was loaned to the Musée Fesch in Ajaccio, Corsica for inclusion in an exhibition on Cardinal Fesch and his contemporaries, such as artists Jacques Sablet and Louis Leopold Boilly, in addition to the aforemen- tioned artists. Since its arrival in Corsica, scholars have examined the painting and posed the question of authorship. An opinion was put forth that the painting is actually a late Fragonard and that Margue- L’Enfant Chéri by Marguerite Gérard and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. 1790s. rite Gérard only made minor contributions. The Oil on canvas. 22 3/4 x 28 3/4 in. Hillwood Estate, Gérard-Fragonard controversy is not new. It is widely accepted that Gérard collaborated with Fragonard, her teacher. But to what extent Fragonard influenced Gérard or contributed to her paintings is more difficult to determine. So I am cautious about accepting the Fragonard attribution so easily, for a couple of different reasons. First, I need to know what proof there is of the new attribution. What sources support or refute this theory? There are discernible stylistic differences between the two artists that need to be carefully considered—what other works in the artists’ oeuvres have been examined? And second, I am hesitant to accept an assertion that marginalizes an important artist and threatens to deny her agency. The question may never be settled, but this is one reason why the field of art history is so exciting—there is always room for dialogue. Kathe and I would like to encourage our alums to continue the dialogue on this controversy. L’Enfant Chéri returns to Hillwood in September, so if you’re ever in the D.C. area, come by and take a look. Maybe together we can solidify Gérard’s place as a preemi- nent artist, rather than an impressionable pupil.

(Note: The ideas expressed here are the opinion of the author and do not reflect that of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens) Kathe Albrecht Stephanie Thornton Co-editor, ARTifacts Co-editor, ARTifacts Visual Resources Center, Katzen Arts Center Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens American University Washington, DC Washington, DC [email protected] [email protected]

Faculty Update

Professor Kim Butler has two peer-review articles forthcoming in 2008: “The Immaculate Body in the Sistine Chapel” in Art History and “Giovanni Santi (‘pittore non mediocre’), Raphael, and Quattrocento Sculpture” in Artibus et Historiae. Another work-in-progress, an article on Pope Pius II’s self-fashioning rhetoric in the Pic- colomini Library, Siena, which Dr. Butler presented at the 2007 Renaissance Society of America conference in Miami, is under review for publication. Future endeavors include guest lectures on Michelangelo at the Smithsonian in Fall 2007 and at the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, The Ohio State University, in Spring 2008. Lastly, Dr. Butler is gestating two major projects—her book on Raphael’s Madonnas and her first child—both scheduled for completion in Summer 2007.

Professor Helen Langa’s essay “Bold Gazes, Lively Differences: Women Printmakers’ Images of Women” was published in Paths to the Press: Printmaking and American Women Artists, 1910–1960 (Kansas State Univer- sity Press, 2006); another essay, “New York Visual Artists and the Spanish Civil War,” appeared in the exhibi- tion catalog Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War (Museum of the City of New York, 2007). Final revisions have been completed for “Constructing Cultural Democracy: Ideology and Public Art in 1930’s America,” which will be published in The Political Economy of Art: Creating the Modern Nation of Culture (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2008). Dr Langa’s book review of Betsy Fahlman’s Guy Pène du Bois: Painter of Modern Life was published in the SECAC Review, June 2007.

Dr. Langa gave an invited talk on “Chicana Artists: Diverse Voices in the Struggle for Social Justice” at the Library of Congress in Washington in September 2006. In October she presented a paper on “Immigrant Artists, Laboring Workers, and National Identities: Changing Visual Paradigms in 1930s New York” at the American Studies Association Conference in Oakland, CA. She chaired a session at the Southeastern Col- lege Art Conference (SECAC) in Nashville, TN: “African Americans and Visual Art: Exploring/Exploding Ra- cialized Readings.” In May, Dr. Langa presented a paper on women artists’ professional equality as a social justice issue, titled “Seeing Change, Seeking Justice: U.S. Women Printmakers and the Left in the 1930s,” for a symposium on “Art as Intervention”at the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio.

Also this year, Dr. Langa received two awards, the first for Outstanding Scholarship in Art History at the SE- CAC conference in October 2006, and the second, an American University Award for Faculty Support for the Gay Lesbian Bi-Sexual Transgender and Allies (GLBTA) in April 2007.

Dr. Langa taught a new seminar in the spring, “American Art, Transnational Interchanges, and Gendered Perspectives, 1890–1990.” This summer, she is editing three sets of book reviews for the SECAC Review, and finishing two articles, one on Jewish Immigrant Artists in the Thirties and a second on the unusual sup- port for visual artists by the 1930s leftist journal New Masses. She will be on sabbatical for the fall semester, working on her new project Queer Visualities: Lesbian Presence and Absence in American Art, 1890–1960.

Professor Rachel Simons reports that during the summer of 2006 she traveled to Burgundy, France and vis- ited Cluny, Autun, Beaune and Anzy-le-Duc, beautiful small towns where medieval churches have mostly survived the destructive impulses of the French Revolution. Back at AU, Dr. Simons taught a class in Spring '07 on the thirteenth-century French Morgan Picture Bible which Kathe Albrecht and the VRC staff digitized for the course. Dr. Simons spent 10 days in Utah and Arizona this summer, hiking in national parks, admir- ing magnificent and immense mountain formations and enjoying the curious sensation of feeling ant-like in a giant's territory! She is very much looking forward to teaching Northern Renaissance Art in the Fall.

Professors Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard co-chaired a session at the College Art Association (CAA) Annual Conference, “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” in New York in February 2007. Papers were given (continued on page 4)

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Departmental News

As you may guess from our faculty ARTifacts entries, the 2006–2007 academic year was a busy and pro- ductive one. The Visual Resources Center (VRC), as informal headquarters of the art history program, has seen so much activity it will be difficult to squeeze the highlights onto these pages.

The art history program’s digital assets are rapidly ex- panding. Today, we have almost 18,000 digital images, with new ones being added daily. VRC student staff is no longer trained in traditional analog accessioning methods. Instead, training focuses on the complex tasks pertaining to digital image management—the daily work of the VRC. This year, the department purchased a digi- tal SLR camera for copy-photography, so we no longer need to mount, mask, and catalog 35 mm slides. In- stead, we shoot digital photos, scan slides, scan print photographs on a flatbed scanner, catalog electronic records, and otherwise work on database management. All these important and time-consuming tasks are neces- Students hard at work in the Visual Resources Center sary to support the weekly use of thousands of digital images in our classrooms. As a result of these changes, the slide collection itself has a new—still very signifi- cant—role as image archive. The slide collection now acts as a source for images for scanning and as an accurate local image and catalog reference. The slide collection also still serves as a much-needed resource for studio art instructors who show slides as part of the studio class experience.

Part of the expansion of the art history digital image collection has been through partnership with the Uni- versity Library, which recently supported a significant purchase of digital art images from Scholars Resource. Over 2,000 new digital images, purchased by the library in the spring, are being added to the MDID data- base this summer. Through the Scholars Resource license, the University Library adds the images to the Consortium database, so the images become part of an important digital asset of the University. At the same time, the license allows the art history program to add the works to our MDID database. The partner- ship between the library and the art history program was originally brought about through the collabora- tion of Diana Vogelsong (MA ‘81) and Kathe Albrecht (MA ‘89). With support from former Head Librarian Patricia Wand, this partnership began with a library purchase of Saskia images several years ago. Today that partnership continues to benefit the university and the art history program by meeting the curricular needs of the art history program and significantly enhancing the library’s digital holdings.

VRC Curator Kathe Hicks Albrecht participated in several professional conferences, during which she pre- sented papers on digital asset management, educational fair use of images and information, and the work of the art history program at AU. In an Ask The Experts panel at the SECAC conference in October 2006, she spoke on copyright issues for educators. At the Museum Computer Network annual conference in Pasadena, California, Ms. Albrecht presented a paper, “Digital Asset Management,” discussing issues and challenges that occur during development of an image database on an academic campus. At the CAA An- nual Conference, Ms. Albrecht presented a paper entitled "The Tipping Point: Finally, The Digital Classroom (MDID2)" in a session on "Digital Tools for the Classroom Instructor."

In the fall, at the suggestion of several incoming graduate students, a student email LIST was developed to keep students and faculty up-to-date on local events, departmental deadlines, headlines, and other news. This instantaneous method of communication has proved to be very helpful and a worthwhile tool for the (continued on page 4)

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(Faculty News, continued) Champêtre and Matthew Barney’s Cremaster 3. AU presenters included Molly Bloom (“Trading Up: by (and in some cases, for, due to major ice storms Pastoral Renunciation in Titian’s Concert Cham- that stalled some travelers) Leatrice Mendelsohn, pêtre”), Michelle Wilson (“Performance Art: Race Melissa Hyde, Issa Lampe, Rebecca J. DeRoo, Jona- and Sport in George Bellows’ Both Members of This than D. Katz, and Nizan Shaked. Club”), Beth Hanks (“John Baldessari and Ludwig Wittgenstein: Art as Philosophy and the Philosophy Drs. Broude and Garrard received the 2007 Alice of Art”), and Shyla Ray (“Neither Sea nor Shore: Au- Paul Award (faculty category), from AU’s Women thenticity, Performativity, and Feminism in Yasumasa and Politics Institute, March 2007, for their “long- Morimura’s Photography”). term collaborative work that has been truly pio- neering feminist scholarship.” The award is given CAA Conference yearly to one undergraduate and graduate stu- The CAA Annual Conference was held in New York dent, alumnus, faculty member, and staff member City in February. Faculty, students, and staff braved who best exemplify the spirit, work, and vision of snow and ice to attend this year’s events. They at- feminist and suffrage leader Alice Paul. tended scholarly sessions, visited the exhibition hall, participated in gallery and museum tours, and net- Drs. Broude and Garrard co-authored a full-page worked with fellow scholars and artists. A confer- essay, “A Feminist Art Tour of Washington,” in The ence highlight was the Art History Program Alumni Washington Post, Sunday, April 22, in a special sec- Reception, which was graciously hosted by alumna tion on Feminism in Art. The link is: http:// Peggy Stone (BA ’74, MA ’78) and her husband www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ Lawrence Steigrad at their art gallery, Lawrence article/2007/04/20/AR2007042000412.html

Mary Garrard’s essay, “Alice Neel and Me,” was published in the Fall/Winter 2006/07 issue of Woman’s Art Journal. Neel’s portrait of Garrard, which was the cover image of the issue, was the subject of the essay describing the experience of sitting for Neel.

Elena Sanchez-Cortina talks with Dr. Mary Garrard at (Departmental News, continued) the Art History Program Alumni Reception at CAA program and we occasionally wonder what we did Steigrad Fine Arts. Despite extremely challenging before the art history LIST was put in place. That weather conditions, quite a few alumni, students, email LIST helped us advertise our events last year. faculty, and staff were on hand to celebrate the oc- In the fall, our 11th annual Fall Reception wel- casion and view the wonderful collection of Old comed new and returning students. This is an Masters that graced the walls of the gallery. event for faculty, staff, and students and includes a brief orientation for incoming graduate students. In the winter, a festive party gave us all a needed break from finals. Finally, the students organized an informal farewell potluck luncheon to say goodbye to graduating students moving into the workforce or pursuing further academic goals.

AU/GW Symposium The Fourth Annual AU/GW Graduate Student From left to right: Kati Wysocki (BA ‘01), Katie Poole (MA ‘02), and Marissa Vigneault (MA ‘02) Symposium in the History of Art was held on Octo- pose in front of an Old Master work at ber 7, 2006 at the Katzen Arts Center. Graduate Lawrence Steigrad Fine Arts. students from both universities presented fascinat- ing papers on topics as diverse as Titian’s Concert (continued on next page) 4

(Departmental News, continued) Representatives from the College of Arts and Sci- ences shared in the festivities once again, with Middle Atlantic Symposium in the History of Art guests Dean Kay Mussell and Lee Holsopple, CAS The symposium, a two-day event hosted by the Director of Development. At the luncheon, the University of Maryland at College Park (Friday eve- Robert and Susan Pence Undergraduate Recogni- ning dinner and keynote) and the National Gallery tion Award was bestowed upon senior art history of Art (Saturday paper presentations and recep- major Jessica Cochran. Originally an SIS major, Jes- tion), was held in March 2007. AU graduate stu- sica decided her passion was art history after taking dent Shyla Ray presented her paper, “Neither Sea ARTH-205: Art of the Renaissance with Dr. Butler. nor Shore: Authenticity, Performativity, and Femi- Recently Jessica presented her research on Goya, nism in Yasumasa Morimura’s Photography.” The day’s activities were capped with a reception held in the Garden Café at the National Gallery. AU alum Cynthia Jaworkski (MA ’05), then working at the National Gallery, assisted with the symposium arrangements and caught up with the AU cohort at the reception. Drs. Broude and Garrard, in town to receive the Alice Paul Award, were also able to attend the symposium.

Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series On April 22, the art history program’s first annual Distinguished Scholar Lecture in Art History was held at the Katzen Arts Center. The lecture series Jessica Cochran (left) receives the Robert and Susan Pence was developed to enhance and support the art his- Undergraduate Recognition Award from Dr. Kim Butler tory program by bringing in well-known scholars to speak on specific issues of interest to students and specifically the interpretive problems stemming the broader AU community. With a donation by from the historiographical trope of his status as a Kathe and Mark Albrecht, which was matched by "melancholic genius" in relation to his Black Paint- Dr. Albrecht’s employer, the seed money for the ings, at the Ann Matthias Undergraduate Research lecture series was established. Additional funds in- Conference in April. Jessica will be applying to art clude previous donations that were earmarked for history graduate programs in the coming year. the art history program, the most significant of which is the Theodore Turak Memorial Fund. This Other News year, we were very honored to have as our first lec- Near the end of the spring semester, graduate stu- turer, Dr. Jeffrey Weis, Curator and Head of Mod- dents Layla Seale, Heather Domencic, Michelle Wil- ern and Contemporary Art at the National Gallery son, Shyla Ray, and Beth Hanks joined curator of Art. As curator of the Jasper Johns exhibition on Kathe Albrecht on a purchasing trip to the National view at the National Gallery at the time, Dr. Weis Gallery of Art bookstore. With money allotted from discussed significant aspects of the artist’s work. the graduate student fund, we purchased over Local alums, members of the AU arts community, $2,000 worth of new scholarly books for the Kassa- joined faculty, staff, and current students to hear Dr. low Collection. Among the titles were Creating Weis’ very interesting lecture. Dr. Weis stayed and their Own Image: The History of African-American chatted informally at a reception held after the lec- Women (Lisa Farrington, MA ‘80), Pop Art: Contem- ture. porary Perspectives (John Wilmerding); Harlem Renaissance (Nathan Huggins); Decoys and Disrup- Spring Luncheon tions (Martha Rosler); Jasper Johns: A Retrospective The 11th annual spring luncheon was held in the (Kirk Varnedoe); and the AAM Guide to Prove- Katzen Arts Center in April. The luncheon is a great nance Research (Nancy Yeide et al (MA ‘85). One opportunity for undergraduate majors, graduate of the purchases was Dr. Langa’s book, Radical Art: students, faculty, and staff to gather in celebration Printmaking and the Left in 1930s New York (2004), of the program and the end of the academic year. (continued on page 10)

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Portrait of the Artist as the Virgin of Guadalupe by Yolanda Lopez. 1978. Oil Pastel on Paper. 22 x 30 in. Artist's Collection. Lopez’s work will be included in Claiming Space: Some American Feminist Originators, a special exhibition opening on November 6, 2007 at the American University Museum.

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Sneak Peek at Fall Events

The art history program will offer a course on African art in the fall, taught by Dr. Marilyn Heldman, a nationally- recognized author and scholar. Graduate assistant Layla Seale and curator Kathe Albrecht are spending much of the summer scanning and cataloging images of African artifacts. It has been an interesting cataloging exer- cise as most standard protocols are not easily applied to African artifacts. We’ve learned quite a bit about African tribes, cultures, language groups, emerging nations, and historical trade routes. And we are cataloging every- thing from oliphants (elephant tusk horns) to Oba heads to Sapi-Portuguese salt-cellars. *** Our incoming grad class includes nine new graduate students eager to start their studies here at AU in the fall. Several students visited campus in the spring, so we will be welcoming some familiar faces to the program. We look forward to the beginning of the fall term on August 27th. *** A special exhibition, Claiming Space: Some American Feminist Originators, will open at the American University Museum on November 6th (see profile below). *** The fifth annual AU/GW symposium will be held at George Washington University this year on November 3rd.

Claiming Space: Some American Feminist Originators American University Museum, Katzen Arts Center, Nov. 6, 2007–Jan. 27, 2008 By Norma Broude and Mary Garrard

On November 6, 2007, Claiming Space: Some American Feminist Originators opens at the American University Museum in the Katzen Arts Center, bringing to fruition two years of work for us as the show’s co-curators and for our dedicated graduate students, Rebecca Phillips Abbott, Heather Domencic, Shyla Ray, Holly Robbins, and Layla Seale, who have been working with us to make this long-anticipated exhibition a reality.

The exhibition will focus on nineteen founders of the Feminist Art Movement in America, showcasing their in- novative large-scale pieces of the 1970s. For these artists, claiming physical space was an empowering act, a metaphor for the assertion of political and cultural identity. Reversing stereotypes about women’s work, they made objects that were large and politically confrontational, not delicate and self-effacing. The show’s focus thus reiterates the original feminist initiative, which was to claim space for women in an art world that had given them little space and in a society that had traditionally allotted them a smaller place, outside of the public arena.

Originating feminist artists in this exhibition claimed public space through the performance art of Betsy Damon, Suzanne Lacy, and Leslie Labowitz; museum space through enormous mixed-media installations of Judy Chi- cago, Miriam Schapiro, and Joyce Kozloff; and interior space through the metaphoric reclaiming of the female body by Carolee Schneeman, Nancy Fried, and Hannah Wilke, and in the central core imagery of Chicago and Schapiro. They claimed political space through critiques of patriarchal systems by Faith Ringgold, May Stevens, Judith Bernstein, and Sandra Orgel Crooker; and theological space through the goddess and nature imagery of Mary Beth Edelson, Cynthia Mailman, and Yolanda Lopez (see page 6). And in an era of minimalist abstraction, they redefined visual pleasure and reclaimed female traditions of craft and decorative patterning in the installa- tions of Jane Kaufman, Howardena Pindell, Valerie Jaudon, Kozloff and Schapiro.

Running concurrently with WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution on display at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (with collaborative programming planned), Claiming Space showcases many artists who are not included in that exhibit and features breakthrough works such as Schapiro's major pattern and decoration piece, Anatomy of a Kimono, a 52-foot, 10-panel construction, now in Switzerland and not exhibited here since the 1970s.

Claiming Space will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with introductory essay by the co-curators and statements by each artist. Corollary programming, featuring artists’ panels and films, will be announced.

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Alumni News

2007 Alum

Heather Domencic (August ‘07) recently began work at the Teaching Company in Chantilly, Virginia, where she manages intellectual property rights issues for the company. In 2006–2007, Heather served as assistant visual resources curator in the art history program at AU. Heather’s excellent technical skills and experience and training in the VRC as a graduate assistant (2004–2006), made her the perfect candidate for that position. As assistant curator, Heather helped supervise the graduate assistants and was responsible for data back-ups and trouble-shooting MDID operations. Additionally, Heather worked on plans for the upcoming exhibition being curated by Norma Broude and Mary Garrard.

Class Notes Palm Beach, Florida, where she is the Harold and Anne Berkley Smith Curator of American • Kathe Hicks Albrecht (MA ‘89) traveled to NYC Art. this spring. While there, she caught up with Samara Minkin (MA pending) and husband • Cynthia Jaworski (MA ‘05) worked until this Trent Gegax. Samara is an art consultant, with summer at the National Gallery of Art in Wash- both a commercial and private client base. Ad- ington DC for the program of special meetings ditionally, Kathe met with Katja Zigerlig (MA and publications at the Center for Advanced ’98), who has just been promoted to Director of Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA). She coordi- Fine Arts and Jewelry Business Development at nated symposia, lectures, conferences, and AIG Art Insurance group. They toured the art other events. She assisted with the district of Chelsea, checking out the latest instal- “Orsanmichele and the History and Preservation lations and catching up on news over lunch in of the Civic Monument, Part 2” symposium held the art district. Katja recently returned from a in Florence, Italy. Cynthia recently left the Na- trip to China with the Young Collectors Group tional Gallery and will be teaching an art history at MOMA and this summer will be at the Ven- course at Northern Virginia Community College ice Biennale. in the fall and plans on applying to doctoral programs next year. • Bryna Campbell (MA ‘03) and husband Mike moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in August 2006. • Still life paintings by Susan Lawson-Bell (MA ‘96) Bryna is pursuing a PhD in American Art at were featured in Chalice and Urn, a recent Washington University and Mike is working at show at the Little Gallery at Mepkin Abbey in the Kemper Art Museum as head of educational Moncks Corner, South Carolina. programs. • Frances McNally (BA ’07) is heading to New • Founding ARTifacts Co-editor, Trish Ballard York where she will attend graduate school in Fleischman (MA '95) and husband Andrew an- TESL studies on a Melinda and Bill Gates schol- nounced the birth of their daughter, Elizabeth arship. Frances’ work at American University Kincaid, on July 13, 2007. Congratulations! was also under the auspices of the Gates Foun- dation. We will greatly miss Frances’ presence • Amy Hammond (MA ‘05) recently became the as she could often be seen tapping out papers Exhibition Manager and Preparator for the Sus- on her laptop and adding to the camaraderie quehanna Art Museum in Pennsylvania. She of the VRC. plans, designs, and installs exhibitions and pro- vides support for the Executive Director and Di- • Jobi Okin Zink (MA ’98) is the Registrar and Cu- rector of Outreach Education. ratorial Associate at the Jewish Museum of Maryland. She also manages the traveling exhi- • In March 2007 Marissa Pascucci (BA ‘96) began bitions program and collections internship pro- work at the Norton Museum of Art in West gram. She recently wrote a commentary on

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several artists for Generations, the magazine of • Kate Stilwill (MA ’06) is working full-time at The the Jewish Museum of Maryland. Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, as the Assistant to the Associate Director of the Center • In April, 2007, Katie Poole (MA ‘02) reported on for the Study of Modern Art. She is working “the arrival of the newest addition to the Poole with Ruth Perlin, the Associate Director of the household, a strapping 486 page PhD disserta- Center. tion…The Medici Grand Dukes and the Art of Conquest: Ruling Identity and the Formation of • Marissa Vigneault (MA ’02), doctoral candidate a Tuscan Empire, 1537–1609 .“ Congratula- at Bryn Mawr, has completed her preliminary tions Dr. Poole! exams and is conducting research on feminist artist Mary Kelly for her dissertation. Marissa is • Vanessa Rocco (BA ‘92) works at the Interna- an adjunct professor at The College of New Jer- tional Center of Photography in New York City. sey. She caught up She recently curated the show Louise Brooks with AU alums, fac- and the “New Woman” in Weimar Cinema ulty and staff at the (January 9–April 29, 2007). The public program CAA conference in for the show included a panel discussion on New York in Febru- “Exhibiting the ‘New Woman’: Louise Brooks, ary. Last year, Ma- Amelia Earhart, and Marianne Brandt,” which rissa visited fellow was moderated by Linda Nochlin. Panel partici- alum and (then) Rut- pants included Rocco, Kristen Lubben, and Eliza- gers doctoral candi- beth Otto. date Katie Poole (MA ’02) in Florence • Elena Sanchez-Cortina (MA ‘05), having spent (here they are at the the past few years in New York City, has re- Giambologna show turned with her family to Mexico City, Mexico. at the Bargello).

Want to Participate in the Claiming Space Exhibition?

As previously mentioned, Professors Norma Broude and Mary Garrard are curating the upcoming exhibi- tion Claiming Space: Some American Feminist Originators, opening on November 6, 2007 at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center. We certainly hope that you will be able to attend the exhibi- tion opening or view the show during its run at the University Museum. This significant exhibition will bring together major large-scale pieces by feminist artists whose breakthrough work during the 1970s be- came the foundation for the global Feminist Art Movement. The show joins WACK!, Global Feminisms, and other exhibitions, panels, and events that have been scheduled across the country during 2007 and 2008.

The project is an unusually ambitious one, for which the museum is still fundraising. We would like to give our alums the opportunity to contribute to the success of Claiming Space through donations earmarked for this event. Additionally, we would like to extend an invitation to attend the show’s opening. It will be a special evening of art, friendship, reminiscence, and a time to celebrate this significant movement in art and scholarship.

Please send donations to: Rachel Friedmann, Assistant Director American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center 4400 Massachusetts Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20016

Note: Checks should be made out to American University, specifying the Claiming Space Exhibition in the memo line. All levels of donation are gratefully welcomed.

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(Departmental News, continued) Summer Plans for Current Grad Students which was recently featured in American Weekly, Kelly Bloom and Liza Key are both working at the American University’s newspaper. We were Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. pleased to add Dr. Langa’s book to a fairly lengthy list of AU faculty-authored books now in the Kassa- Allie Gilden is at the National Gallery of Art. low Collection. Layla Seale is working in the VRC at AU, scanning and cataloging African art images and assisting with the bulk upload of several thousand Scholars Resource digital images. She is also working for the University Museum on the upcoming fall exhibition curated by Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard.

Gwen Van Ostern is teaching in New York City this summer. She is working in an American University summer program geared to high school students from across the country. During the one-week in- tensive learning experience, these high school stu- dents live at college dorms in the New York City area and take classes in several different academic disciplines. Gwen will be teaching a contemporary art course. She developed the curriculum for the course and set up her class lectures using the AU- MDID program. She will be teaching in three sum- Current graduate students Layla Seale (left) and Beth Hanks (right) enjoy the mer sessions. new books purchased at the National Gallery of Art bookstore

DID YOU KNOW?

Oliphant is another spelling for the word elephant! The term also refers to the ancient wind instrument made from elephant tusks. This is a detail of a sixteenth-century Sapi-Portuguese ivory oliphant from Sierra Leone.

Beth Hanks poses with some of the new books

Send us your ARTifacts

Email Kathe Albrecht at [email protected]

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Making A Difference

The ARTifacts editors are continually impressed by the contributions of our alumni and their breadth of influ- ence throughout the world. After graduation from American University, our alums establish themselves at significant cultural, educational, and commercial institutions. In this new section, we will highlight one of those institutions in each issue. If you would like your institution profiled in an upcoming issue of ARTifacts please contact the editors.

As a way to introduce both this new section and the new co-editor, we’ve chosen to highlight the Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. Hillwood is a 25-acre estate nestled along Rock Creek Park in northwest Washington, D.C. It is the former resi- dence of cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and houses her vast collection of fine and decora- tive arts. The museum has one of the most com- prehensive collections of eighteenth- and nine- teenth-century Russian Imperial art outside of Rus- sia as well as an extensive collection of eighteenth- century French decorative arts. Highlights include a diamond crown worn by Empress Alexandra at her marriage to Nicholas II; Beauvais tapestries de- signed by François Boucher; two Imperial Easter eggs by Carl Fabergé; La Nuit by William-Adolphe Bouguereau; and a collection of costumes and Courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens accessories worn by Mrs. Post or her family. Hillwood also boasts 12 acres of formal gardens, complete with a putting green! For more information on Hillwood, please visit their website at www.hillwoodmuseum.org.

Visual Resources Curator and ARTifacts Co-editor, Kathe Albrecht (center), celebrates the end of the school year with current students. Have a great summer everyone!

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Full Time Faculty Visual Resources Curator • Norma Broude, Professor • Kathe Hicks Albrecht PhD, Columbia University MA, American University (Modern European Art) [email protected] [email protected] Adjunt Faculty • Kim Butler, Assistant Professor • Marilyn E. Heldman PhD, Johns Hopkins University PhD, Washington University (Italian Renaissance Art) [email protected] • James Hutson PhD candidate, University of Maryland • Mary D. Garrard, Professor Emerita PhD, Johns Hopkins University • Rachel Cropsey Simons (Italian Renaissance Art) PhD, University of Maryland [email protected] (Northern European Art) [email protected] • Helen Langa, Associate Professor PhD, University of North Carolina (American Art) [email protected]

• Issa Lampe, Assistant Professor PhD, Harvard University (Modern European Art)

ARTifacts

AU Art History Newsletter c/o Kathe Albrecht Visual Resources Center Katzen Arts Center American University 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20016

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