NEWS Newsletter of the College Art Association Volume 31, Number 1 January 2006 Arthur C. Danto Is Boston Convocation Speaker rthur C. Danto, art critic for The Nation and Johnsonian A Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Columbia University 2 From the Executive Director in New York, will speak at Convoca- Nicola Courtright Elected CAA tion at the 2006 CAA Annual President Conference in Boston. His talk is entitled “Art and Interpretation.” 3 Search for New CAA Executive Director The author of such noted books as The Transfiguration of the Candidates for 2006–10 Board Commonplace (1981), Beyond the of Directors Brillo Box (1992), After the End of 4 John Szarkowski Is CAA Art (1996), and, most recently, Distinguished Scholar Unnatural Wonders: Essays from the 5 Book and Trade Fair in Boston Gap between Art and Life (2005), Danto taught philosophy at Columbia 6 Exhibitions at the Boston from 1952 to 1992, influencing Conference countless students of philosophy, art, 7 ARTspace in Boston Photo: Steve Pyke and art history. Annual Conference Update Arthur C. Danto Danto was recently curator of The Art of 9/11, a group show of art made 8 CAA Offers Preconference Workshops in response to the tragedy of 2001 terrorist attacks. The exhibition was held at apexart in the lower Manhattan neighborhood of Tribeca from September 7 to October 15, 2005. 11 Notice of the 94th Annual Danto earned a doctorate in philosophy from Columbia in 1952 and began teaching there Members’ Business Meeting that same year. He was chair of the Philosophy Department from 1979 to 1987 and served as 12 Former CAA Fellow: Gallery editor and president of the board of trustees for the Journal of Philosophy from 1975 to the Director Amy Ingrid Schlegel present. He is also a contributing editor to Artforum magazine. Danto has served as president 13 CAA Offers MFA and PhD of the American Philosophical Association and the American Society for Aesthetics. Fellowships Danto has written on a number of modern and contemporary artists in essays and exhibi- tion catalogues in addition to his reviews for The Nation, where he has been art critic since 14 Advocacy Update 1984. His work for this publication earned him CAA’s Frank Jewett Mather Award for art 15 CAA News criticism in 1996. 18 New Institutional Member Convocation at the Annual Conference takes place Wednesday evening, February 22, Categories and Benefits 2006, from 6:00 to 7:30 PM. A gala reception, to be held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Affiliated Society News follows this event. See http://conference.collegeart.org for full details. 21 Solo Exhibitions by Artist Members BOSTON CONFERENCE BEGINS ONE DAY EARLY. SEE 23 People in the News PAGE 6. 28 Classifieds From the Executive Director Nicola Courtright Elected CAA A New Tomorrow President fter nearly membership of 15,500, and an endowment icola twenty of nearly $9 million. The Annual Court- A years, I Conference has grown significantly in N right, will be stepping attendance, the number and types of ses- professor of fine down as executive sions offered, and related professional and arts at Amherst director of the social events; the prestigious publications College in Am- College Art program has added an additional journal, herst, Mass., has Association. These born digital, devoted to book and exhibi- been elected Photo: Andrei Ralko have been twenty tion reviews; we developed a graduate- president of the Susan Ball wonderful and student fellowship program and raised an College Art challenging years endowment to support it; we rose to the Photo: Irina Ivanova Association for a for me, personally and professionally. I challenge during the “culture wars” when Nicola Courtright two-year term, feel privileged to have been given the the arts and humanities were under attack, beginning May opportunity to lead CAA and have made taking a strong leadership role in advoca- 2006. many wonderful friends in the process. cy. (And we continue to do so for issues Courtright earned a BA in art history The association is well positioned to con- affecting our members, among them, free- from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, tinue its record of success with a dedicated dom of expression, funding in the arts and and a PhD at New York University’s membership, Board of Directors, commit- humanities, higher education, copyright, Institute of Fine Arts in 1990. A specialist tees, editorial boards, and staff. and workforce concerns.) I am proud of in the art and architecture of early modern When I joined CAA in January 1986, I what we have accomplished together in Europe, she is the author of The Papacy had big shoes to fill. I was told that my the past twenty years. This could not have and the Art of Reform in Sixteenth- predecessor, Rose Weil, had “brought happened without the help and support of Century Rome: Gregory XIII and the CAA where it is today” and that it was up so many of you, and of the strong, dedi- Tower of the Winds in the Vatican (New to me “to take it where it will be tomor- cated, hardworking CAA staff. York: Cambridge University Press, 2003). row.” That tomorrow is here today, and it The tomorrow of twenty years ago is Courtright has also published in the is time for a new tomorrow. During my here. We recently completed a new strate- Grove Dictionary of Art, Zeitschrift für time here, CAA has grown from a budget gic plan (2005–10) that takes CAA to the Kunstgeschichte, and The Art Bulletin. of $750,000, a staff of 6, a membership of brink of its centennial. That plan includes She recently organized an international 6,000, and an endowment of $1 million to many exciting goals, among them to conference on the latest subject of her a budget of $4 million, a staff of 30, a “develop new exhibition opportunities research, the expression of political ide- comparable in quality to our prestigious ologies of rule for early modern French publications program,” to “build an infra- queens in the art and architecture of their Volume 31, Number 1 structure to gather and analyze field data,” palaces. CAA News is published six times per year by the and “to advocate on workforce issues.” Courtright has been a member of the College Art Association, 275 Seventh Avenue, We are making steady progress on the pri- CAA Board of Directors since 2000 and 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001; orities and goals in the plan; now is the served as vice president for publications www.collegeart.org. time for new leadership to come in, build from 2004 to 2006. Editor-in-Chief Susan Ball on the momentum in place, establish a CAA’s Board chooses the president Editor Christopher Howard new baseline, and take CAA to a new from among its elected officers in the fall Designer Steve Lafreniere tomorrow. It will be up to all of you to during the current president’s final year of continually revisit these goals and help Material for inclusion should be sent via e-mail to service, thereby providing a period in Christopher Howard at [email protected]. realize them. which the incoming officer can learn the Photographs and slides may be submitted to the Happily for me, I will maintain a close responsibilities of the presidency and pre- above street and e-mail addresses for considera- relationship with CAA. I am excited about pare for his or her term. The president- tion; they cannot be returned. All advertising and my next steps, which include pursuing a submission guidelines can be found at elect continues to serve in his or her elect- www.collegeart.org/news. project that has long been on my mind and ed capacity until he or she assumes the that many of you have been urging me to office of president. Copyright © 2006 College Art Association undertake—that is, producing a published history of CAA. CAA will celebrate its Founded in 1911, the College Art Association promotes excellence in scholarship and teaching centennial in 2011, and we believe that in the history and criticism of the visual arts and our organization’s history is important to in creativity and technical skill in the teaching document. Among the more notable and practices of art. CONTINUED ON PAGE 30 2 CAA NEWS JANUARY 2006 is well positioned to begin an exciting new Board except for Robertson, who was a Search for New CAA era. Board member from 1998 to 2002. Executive Director The search for a new executive director Our search is directed by Gregory is already in motion. The CAA Board Kandel, a director at Management appointed a search committee that reflects Consultants for the Arts, a company that t the October 2005 meeting of the CAA’s diverse strengths and constituen- brings a depth of understanding of cultur- CAA Board of Directors, Susan cies. Balance was sought in many ways, al, humanities, and related communities, A Ball announced that, after nearly including geographic location, profession, including academia. No stranger to CAA, twenty years of service, she will step gender, and ethnicity, among other criteria. Kandel worked closely with the Board to down as executive director. In July 2006, The following colleagues agreed to serve develop its current strategic plan and she will become director of the Centennial on the committee: Diane Edison (artist, advised a recent publications task force Book Project in preparation for CAA’s Georgia), Dale Kinney (art historian and that established governance guidelines for one-hundredth anniversary in 2011. administrator, Pennsylvania), Paul Jaskot our journals program. The search commit- Ball’s energetic stewardship has brought (art historian and administrator, Illinois), tee has worked with him to clarify CAA’s about a number of remarkable accomplish- Susan Grace Galassi (curator, New York), needs for the coming years and to locate ments.