Letter from the Chair Welcome Ruth Allen Bonna D
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WINTER 20/21 art historyVOLUME 12 / NUMBER 1 NEWSLETTER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ART HISTORY AT EMORY UNIVERSITY IN THIS ISSUE Letter from the Chair Welcome Ruth Allen Bonna D. Wescoat Remembering Sidney Kasfir Greetings in this 55th year of Art History at Emory Art Circles Samothrace Mellon Fellows Corinth Colloquium NEWS Faculty Undergraduate Undergraduate Alumni Graduate Student Graduate Student Alumni During the 2020 pandemic faculty meetings were held via Zoom distinctly remember admiring the number and yet managed to persevere, succeed, and 2020 on New Year’s Day: how crisp it make us exceedingly proud. The chronicle of I sounded and how balanced it looked; a this year is like no other in the 55 years of our Send all inquiries to: number not on the way to something but department. Art History Department having already arrived. It was promising. The 2019-20 academic year began in Emory University Years studying the ancient Greeks, with typically lively fashion, starting with our 581 S. Kilgo Circle 133 Carlos Hall their keen awareness of fortune’s devastating welcoming Ruth Allen as the Curator Atlanta GA 30322 reversals, should have made me more wary. of Greek and Roman Art at The Carlos Phone: 404.727.6282 It has been an extraordinary year, but not for Museum. The exhibition, Through a Glass, Fax: 404.727.2538 arthistory.emory.edu any of the reasons we might have imagined Darkly, co-organized by Walter Melion with at its inception. With remarkable fortitude, contributions from our graduate students, flexibility, and kindness, the Art History drew crowds to the Carlos Museum and Editors: Bonna Wescoat and Linnea Harwell Department’s students, staff, faculty and culminated in the tenth Lovis Corinth Copy editor: Ivy Chen alumni have weathered wrenching changes colloquium. Courtesy of the John Howett Designers: Nicole Corrigan, Linnea Harwell, and Christopher Sawula Visit our website at arthistory.emory.edu. 2 art history Winter 20/21 Letter from the Chair continued from page 1 Travel Fund, Christina Crawford In an effort to advance from took her students to investigate emergency remote teaching to online architectural initiatives in Alabama. proficiency, we committed much of Lisa Lee and Dana Haugaard teamed June to ECOTS, or Emory College up to teach a class focused on Online Teaching Strategies training. engaging art through its materials. Attempting to navigate our new Students from Emory, Morehouse, learning management system, Canvas, and Spelman came together for a was an eye-opener. But everyone Mellon Curatorial Seminar. eventually became proficient, aided The turn of the new year began in by Nicole Corrigan. Summer field sadness over the loss, on December programs turned into virtual group 29th, of our beloved colleague, Sidney endeavors with surprisingly positive Kasfir, a lioness within the field of results. African art, Emory, our department, In an effort to beat the COVID-19 and her family. Elizabeth Pastan curve, we began the fall semester ear- shares here a tribute to Sidney with ly, and amid the turbulence surround- highlights of the memorial celebration ing us on so many levels, we continue held for her at Emory. We began our to offer our traditionally excellent brisk program of featured lecturers, education in art history. We have including Heather Hyde Minor, Emily been delighted to welcome our new Pugh, and William Brumfield. At the graduate students, Christopher Askew end of winter, we had splendid news Students participate in Student Studio a creative program co- (Roman), Miltos Kylindreas (Greek), that our colleague, Lisa Lee, had sponsored by the Carlos Museum and the Art History Department and Chesly Monie (African) art, now sailed through the tenure review. completing their first semester. Several But by spring break the ominous national health situation faculty capitalized on one of the most rewarding advantages of upended our academic community and we pivoted to remote online teaching—the opportunity to invite artists and scholars from learning. The effort affected not only all classroom teaching and around the world to join our classes. Webinars have taken the place the cancelling of our numerous guest lectures and two international of public lectures, with stimulating presentations and discussions symposia, but also the mentoring of honors students and PhD from Nancy Um, Lia Markey and Suzanne Karr Schmidt. candidates. Despite the challenge, four undergraduate seniors Key to our success has been the stalwart team that administers completed excellent honors theses and five of our graduate our programs and provides the critical bridges between faculty, students finished their PhDs. These dissertations represent the students, and the university: Blanche Barnett (ADA), Linnea culmination of years of research and writing, and while we were Harwell (graduate program), and Laurie Carter (undergraduate not able to perform the hooding ceremony or celebrate in person, program). We are also grateful to Becky Baldwin, who will retire the departmental virtual gathering in celebration of the honored at the end of the year, after 20 years as our Image Specialist in the students was one of the most moving graduation parties we have Visual Resources Library. held. The members of our department continue to win prestigious Our graduating undergraduates, too, including eleven majors, grants and fellowships, as you will learn in the Faculty News and four minors, and three minors in architecture had to forgo pomp Graduate Student News sections. and circumstance in favor of letters, mugs, and a festive Zoom call As ever, we want to thank our donors for their generous support during which the faculty shared the ways each one of our students of the department. All of these contributions help us to fund student had left their particular mark. research, undertake travel seminars, award student prizes, and Our summers, usually a time of research, writing, and travel, organize special events. We are especially thankful to the generous were also upended. The death of George Floyd and so many donors who have established endowed funds for the department. others affected us along with the rest of the nation. As an initial 2021 will be different. Exactly how remains outside our reach, response, several members of our community worked to craft an but we have confidence in our resilience and offer best wishes for exhibition on our website, Art, Architecture, and the Advocacy for your health, peace, and safety in the coming months. Please do stay Black Lives, selecting images that capture moments in the history in touch. n of protest and advocacy for racial justice, written in the language of art and architecture and centered on Atlanta and the Southeast (http://arthistory.emory.edu/home/news/black-lives-art.html). Students Margaret Nagawa and Faith Kim worked with Susan Bonna D. Wescoat Gagliardi to craft Art Circles, an ongoing opportunity to share Interim Chair of the Art History Department difficult conversations about race and social justice. Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Art History Director of Excavations, Sanctuary of the Great Gods, Samothrace Visit our website at arthistory.emory.edu. Winter 20/21 a r t h i s t o r y 3 Marc Ernstoff Prize in Art History Sarah McPhee he Art History Department is thrilled to announce that Dr. Marc Ernstoff, Art History major in the Emory College Tclass of 1974, has generously endowed a new fund for the department. The endowment will support the annual award of the Marc Ernstoff Prize in Art History, designed to support a Dr. Marc Ernstoff 74C (Art History major) broad array of undergraduate learning opportunities that foster connections between the visual arts and the sciences. Students Dr. Ernstoff intends the prize to enhance a liberal arts education may apply for funds to support such activities as summer work through experiences that reveal how studying art and architecture on excavations or in conservation labs; internship support; helps one understand the natural world and how science and art architectural training; or travel to exhibitions, museums, libraries, impact one another. We had hoped to award the first Ernstoff Prize and archives to conduct research related to an independent study this past April but the pandemic thwarted our plans. Art History project or an honors thesis. Acknowledging the dynamics of majors and minors, History/Art History majors, and Architectural his own undergraduate experience as an Art History major and Studies minors, in their first through third years are all eligible and subsequent career as a research scientist and medical oncologist, should stay tuned for the call for proposals in spring 2021! n Art History Welcomes Dr. Ruth Allen, Curator of Greek and Roman Art Eric Varner he Art History Department was awarded one of the museum’s delighted to welcome Dr. Ruth Mellon internships; they are TAllen to Emory in the fall of 2019 working on an upcoming as the new curator of Greek and Roman exhibition of the Carlos gems, Art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum. which is slated to open in Dr. Allen received her B.A. from August of 2022. Since her Cambridge University, her MA from the arrival in Atlanta last fall, Dr. Courtauld Institute, and her PhD from Allen has been getting familiar Cambridge. Prior to coming to Atlanta, with the collection of classical Allen worked at the Institute of Classical art and how it can benefit the Studies in London, and held curatorial larger Emory community. She positions at the British Museum and has retrieved works out of the J. Paul Getty Museum. She has co- storage for display, reinstalled curated several exhibitions including some of the cases, and initiated The Classical Now at Kings College the cleaning and conservation London and Recasting: Classical Casts of the ancient silver, which will and Contemporary Art at the Cambridge eventually be displayed in a case Museum of Classical Archaeology.