Rodrigo Guzman-Serrano, PhD Candidate, Participant in the Mellon Foundation Seminar in Curatorial Practice
Rodrigo Guzman-Serrano, PhD Candidate, Participant in the Mellon Foundation Seminar in Curatorial Practice
Martie Young, ‘great hero’ of Johnson Museum of Art, dies at 96
Martie Wing Young, art historian in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences, died at 96. He helped establish the Johnson Museum of Art, expanded Cornell’s Asian art collections and exhibitions, and shaped decades of teaching and museum leadership.
Ayesha Matthan, PhD ‘26, awarded the 2026 Joan and Stanford Alexander Dissertation Award by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Ayesha Matthan, PhD ‘26, has been awarded the 2026 Joan and Stanford Alexander Dissertation Award in Photography by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH).
Kaitlin Emmanuel, PhD ‘25, presents at Princeton University’s Program in South Asian Studies
Kaitlin Emmanuel, PhD ’25, presents at Princeton University’s Program in South Asian Studies
Twenty-three receive awards recognizing excellence and impact
Several Cornell College of Arts and Sciences graduate students and one faculty member from the college were honored with 2026 Graduate Excellence and Impact Awards. Presented May 13, the awards honor leadership, service and mentorship.
Kaja McGowan and Ellen Avril curate “The Hum of Life: A Thousand and One Tales from Bali” at the Johnson Museum.”
Kaja McGowan and Ellen Avril curate “The Hum of Life: A Thousand and One Tales from Bali” at the Johnson Museum.”
Iftikhar Dadi presents keynote at the CUNY Graduate Center
Iftikhar Dadi presents keynote at the CUNY Graduate Center
Student-created galleries explore Indonesian collection
Cornell University students in a practicum seminar curated an exhibit “Indonesia Embodied: Performing the Space Between” at the Johnson Museum. Students produced the show, highlighting Southeast Asian works and research on performance and provenance.
Faculty excellence in teaching and advising honored with 2026 awards
Cornell’s College of Arts & Sciences honors the winners of its 2026 teaching and advising awards. Faculty members Nicole Giannella, Karola Mészáros and Landon Schnabel stand out this year, earning major awards for excellence; many instructors and teaching assistants received recognition, as well.
Prof. Jolene Rickard receives Lifetime Achievement Award
The Native American Art Studies Association gave artist and art historian Jolene Rickard, professor in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences and in the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program (AIISP) in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, a lifetime achievement award. A citizen of the Skarù·ręʔ / Tuscarora Nation (Hodinöhsö:ni Confederacy), Rickard is…
Professor Jolene Rickard receives 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Native American Art Studies Association (NAASA)
Professor Jolene Rickard receives 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award by the Native American Art Studies Association (NAASA)
Meita Estiningsih, PhD Candidate, presented at the 2026 Annual Frick Symposium on the History of Art
Meita Estiningsih, PhD Candidate, presented at the 2026 Annual Frick Symposium on the History of Art
Jolene Rickard presented at the First America Conference at Yale University
Jolene Rickard presented at the First America Conference at Yale University
Jenna Marvin, PhD Candidate, Awarded Deanne Gebell Gitner ’66 and Family Annual Prize for Teaching Assistants
Jenna Marvin, PhD Candidate, Awarded Deanne Gebell Gitner ’66 and Family Annual Prize for Teaching Assistants
Anissa Rahadiningtyas, PhD ‘21, presents at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU
Anissa Rahadiningtyas, PhD ‘21, presents at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU
PhD candidate Ayesha Matthan publishes online essay on MoMA post: notes on art in a global context.
PhD candidate Ayesha Matthan publishes online essay on MoMA post: notes on art in a global context.
Juliana Fagua Arias, PhD Candidate, received Honorable Mention for the Dora Wiebenson Prize from HECAA
PhD candidate Juliana Fagua Arias received an Honorable Mention for the Dora Wiebenson Prize from the Historians of Eighteenth-Century Art & Architecture (HECAA). Awarded annually, the Wiebenson Prize recognizes an outstanding graduate student paper presented at a scholarly conference or sponsored lecture during the previous calendar year. Juliana was honored for her paper, “Kingfisher Azurite,…
Jolene Rickard to give Gretchen Taylor Millson Distinguished Lecture at UCLA
The UCLA Department of Art History proudly presents the 2026 Gretchen Taylor Millson Distinguished Lecture, featuring Jolene Rickard, Associate Professor, Departments of Art History + Visual Studies, Art American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, Cornell University.
Student spotlight: Leonardo Santamaria Montero
Leonardo Santamaria Montero, doctoral candidate in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences, studies visual and material culture of 19th-century Central America. His dissertation work is supported by a Zhu Family Graduate Fellowship.
Jolene Rickard to give talk at Forge Project
Jolene Rickard, Associate Professor of History of Art, will participate as a panelist in the Forge Project, Saturday May 2nd.
'The A&S requirements were permission to keep learning'
Olivia Kim is majoring in economics and history of art & visual studies
Hu Shih Distinguished Lecture with Dr. Wu Hung (University of Chicago), 4/23/26
The East Asia Program is honored to have Wu Hung, the Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor of Art History and Director of the Center for the Art of East Asia at the University of Chicago, to give the 2025-2026 Hu Shih Distinguished Lecture “Emperor Qianlong’s Peepshow Boxes: A Case of 18th-Century Global Interaction in…
Pulse of Art History with Rebeca L. Hey-Colón 4/28/2026
AbstractThis talk discusses the work of Firelei Báez, an Afro-Latinx visual artist of Dominican and Haitian descent whose art interjects into the histories of Hispaniola. As the only island in the Caribbean Sea that shares a land-based border with another country, Hispaniola (comprised of the Dominican Repuublic and Haiti) is the pulsing center of Báez’s…
Anne-Solène Bayan, PhD Student, recognized with the Exemplary Leadership & Service Award: Early Career Student
History of Art & Visual Studies is pleased to announce that Anne-Solène Bayan, PhD student, is being recognized with the Exemplary Leadership & Service Award: Early Career Student!
Elemental Readings III: The Matter of Earth
Join the Department of Performing and Media Arts and the Department of Classics for Elemental Readings III: The Matter of Earth, a symposium spanning four days and various locations from Thursday, April 23 through Saturday, April 25, and on Friday, May 1. See below for a complete list of events, including guest speakers, panel discussions,…
History of Art & Visual Studies Announces the Baskerville Undergraduate Travel Grant
Thanks to the generous support of the Estate of Charles Baskerville, History of Art & Visual Studies is delighted to offer eligible students travel support through the Baskerville Undergraduate Travel Grant. The purpose of these funds is to support student participation in summer experiences or to attend conferences related to their studies in History of…
Classical art historian Annetta Alexandridis dies at 58
Annetta Alexandridis, classical archaeologist and art historian in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences, died April 13. Known for her hands-on approach, she was associate director of the Harvard-Cornell Exploration of Ancient Sardis, Türkiye and co-curated the Cornell Plaster Cast Collection.
HART Club will host Kathryn Kremnitzer (BA '13) for an Alumna Career Chat, 5/4/26
The History of Art Club will host alumna Kathryn Kremnitzer (BA '13) on May 4th for a career chat about working in the professional art world.
ICM NEW CONVERSATIONS - C.J. Wan-Ling Wee - "Shanghai Spirit": The Shanghai Biennale 2000 and the Transnational–Postcolonial
Sponsored by the Institute for Comparative Modernities.Co-sponsored by the Department of History of Art and Society for the Humanities.
Cynthia Robinson presents at UK Association for Art History Annual Conference, 4/8/2026
Cynthia Robinson, Professor of History of Art & Visual Studies, will present at UK Association for Art History Annual Conference on April 8th 2026. She will speak in the panel "Art History: Facts and Fiction?" about her forthcoming project in a presentation titled, "An Angelic Apparition in the Generalife: Alhambra Scholar Goes Rogue, Starts Writing…
AIA National Lecture with Dr. Fae Amiro, 4/14/2026
Join us for an Archaeological Institute of America National Lecture on April 14th, 2026 at 5:00 PM in Goldwin Smith Hall, G22.This William E. Metcalf Lectures in Numismatics will be given by Dr. Fae Amiro (Assisstant Professor at Mount Allison University).
Nancy Lin to present at "Performing PostSocialism" at the University of Vienna, 4/9-4/10
Nancy Lin, Assistant Professor in History of Art & Visual Studies, will present at the conference Performing PostSocialism: Cultures of Performance-Making in Twenty-First-Century China at the University of Vienna, April 9th and April 10th 2026.
Jenna Marvin, PhD Candidate, Awarded Zhu Family Fellowship
Jenna Marvin, PhD Candidate in History of Art, was awarded the Zhu Family Fellowship in the Humanities.
Donor’s fund enables dedicated humanities research
Jonathan Zhu, J.D. ’92, whose A.D. White Fellowship allowed him to attend Cornell, has established the Zhu Family Graduate Fellowships supporting humanities doctoral students at Cornell University. Each of the three 2025 fellows – who are pursuing art history, anthropology, and science and technology studies, appreciates that the fellowship’s financial support paired with release from…
Admitted Class of 2030 seeks real-world impact
Cornell admits the Class of 2030 emphasizing real-world impact, enrolling 5,776 students from 102 countries. At Cornell University, the diverse cohort reflects the land-grant mission and applied learning goals across multiple colleges.
Visual Culture Colloquium with Andrea Berlin 4/7/26
AbstractIn this talk I examine what happens to a place when political power vanishes. I focus on the famous site of Sardis, in the years before and after the Peace of Apamea (188 BCE). Before, Sardis played a starring role as the capital of Seleucid cis-Tauric Asia. After, Sardis became a minor city within the…
Ben Anderson speaks at inaugural event for The Encounter Series, Columbia University
Ben Anderson, Associate Professor in History of Art, gave a response talk at the inaugural event for The Encounter Series at the Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University, 2/26/2026.
Nancy Lin to present in panel at University of Chicago, April 2-4
Nancy Lin, Assistant Professor in History of Art, will present in a panel at "Beyond Boundaries: a symposium in honor of Wu Hung" at the University of Chicago's Center for the Art of East Asia, April 2-4, 2026.
Jolene Rickard to give talk at Tufts University
On March 25 Jolene Rickard (Tuscarora, History of Art & Visual Studies, Cornell University) will give a talk entitled "Creative Defiance as Sensory Ecologies." She will be in discussion with Claudia Mattos Avolese (SMFA, Visual and Material Studies).
The Findley Lecture with Murad Khan Mumtaz 3/24/2026
AbstractIslamic art is often misrepresented as an iconophobic tradition. As a result of this assumption, the polyvalence of figural artworks made for Hindustan’s Muslim audiences has remained hidden in plain view. By combining an art historical survey with an analysis of primary Indo-Persian literature, this talk shows how figurative painting was intimately linked to a…
History of Art Undergraduate Honors Thesis Symposium, 3/20/2026 11:00 AM, HART Gallery
Please join us on Friday March 20th at 11:00 AM in the History of Art Gallery to support and celebrate the History of Art & Visual Studies Graduating Honors Students as they present their exciting research at the Honors Thesis Symposium!
Visual Culture Colloquium with Jennifer Roberts 3/17/26
AbstractIn July of 1965, NASA’s Mariner 4 spacecraft made a historic flyby of Mars, capturing the first photographs ever sent back to Earth from another planet. The image data was transmitted to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena at an agonizingly slow pace, trickling out as a series of numbers on long strips of paper.…
Making an impression: A new approach to classical concepts of the image
For the ancient Greeks, an image could be understood as a seal pressed on a material to leave a mark, as opposed to an inferior imitation (mimēsis), scholar Verity Platt argues in a new book.
Ancient Copies, Modern Methods: Replication, Translation, and Reception in the Work of Margarete Bieber
Abstract: This talk explores how feminist archival practices challenge conventional histories and open new ground for understanding Hellenism and Classicism. By placing Eva Palmer Sikelianos’s radical practice of alternative archaeologies and her complex archival legacy into conversation with the life and work of Margarete Bieber, the presentation asks: What becomes possible when the margins of…
Patricia Ekpo to give talk on Senga Nengudi
To mark the closing of Senga Nengudi at Dia Beacon and celebrate the recent publication of Senga Nengudi: Populated Air, Dia presents a lecture by scholar Patricia Ekpo. Deploying a black-feminist methodology, Ekpo discusses previously unpublished drawings, anecdotes, and poetry by Nengudi in relation to her sculptures and other media works in the exhibition. Held…
Museum installation focuses on small figures in large landscapes
A new student-led installation at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art explores the role of “staffage" figures.