Research and Innovation

The essay analyzes how the Japanese government variously used its exhibition spaces at American world’s fairs in the 20th century to present an image of the country conducive to the economic and geopolitical goals embraced by the government and industry.

A state of the scholarship essay on Japanese modern art.

Between its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the outbreak of World War I, France experienced a tremendous rise in populist nationalism, the aftershocks of which can still be felt today. In examining the forces that shaped the arts of this period―from the academy to the avant-garde, and from the museum to public spaces―this volume explores the relationship between the arts and political conflict and the impact of nationalism during the early modern period in France.Fifteen distinguished contributors provide a comprehensive overview of a range of artistic media over five decades. Generously illustrated with works by artists including Georges Braque, Maurice Denis, Edouard Manet, and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, as well as with images from the popular press, the book addresses such topics as how artists memorialized the Franco-Prussian War and connections between nationalism and artistic styles. Collectively, the essays represent a new approach in treating nationalism as a common thread among political and philosophical movements generally seen in terms of their ideological differences.

Writing for the general public is a high priority for me. I was excited by the opportunity to write about Basquiat for the new collection of AP Art History Resources on Khan Academy. This was a chance to revise many of celebrity-focused opinions of his work and to communicate his accomplishments as a painter to a new audience.

The Women in Archaeology Interest Group consists of AIA members with an interest in the position of women in the modern field of archaeology, and in promoting its understanding to members of the AIA through its various programs and publications.

Authored short, object-centered essays on the dissemination of statues of Queen Victoria across the British Empire and reproductions of Hiram Powers’ Greek Slave in a range of media.

Winner of the William MB Berger Prize for British Art History 2015. Between 1777 and 1784, the Irish artist James Barry (1741-1806) executed six murals for the Great Room of the [Royal] Society of Arts in London. Although his works form the most impressive series of history paintings in Great Britain, they remain one of the British art world's best kept secrets, having attracted little attention from critics or the general public. James Barry's Murals at the Royal Society of Arts is the first to offer an in-depth analysis of these remarkable paintings and the first to demonstrate that the artist was pioneering a new approach to public art in terms of the novelty of the patronage and the highly personal nature of his content. Ultimately, as this book seeks to show, the artist intended his paintings to engage the public in a dialogue that would utterly transform British society in terms of its culture, politics, and religion. In making this case, the book brings this neglected series into the mainstream of discussions of British art of the Romantic period, revealing the intellectual profundity invested in the genre of history painting and re-evaluating the role Christianity played in Enlightenment thought.

One of the highest-quality replicas of the Achilles and Penthesilea group was excavated at Aphrodisias in 1966-67. Recent research has identified additional fragments belonging to the group. Study of these fragments clarifies our knowledge of this important Roman replica and its Hellenistic original. The Aphrodisias replica was discovered in its late antique context, in the Tetrastyle Court of the Hadrianic Baths. The Achilles and Penthesilea was juxtaposed with a replica of the so-called Pasquino Group and a nude male torso wearing a chlamys. All three statues faced east, toward the main square of the city, the North Agora. Our study elucidates the thematic intent behind this sculptural ensemble and the poignancy of the contrast between Penthesilea and her pendant, the young warrior in the Pasquino group. The material from Aphrodisias, together with its known find context, allows for new reconstructions of a major Greco-Roman statue group and elucidates this statue's repair and display throughout the fifth century C.E.

Focusing on the relationship between ancient Rome and modern America, the Pellegri Grant supports innovative teaching and research on the part of its grant winners. I have used part of this grant to support graduate instruction on archaeological excavation on the Bay of Naples and to facilitate my own research and publication.

Ancient Greek and Roman art provides a window through which one can gain an appreciation for ancient self-consciousness of, and engagement with, images. In particular, this chapter addresses Greek and Roman representations of art and architecture that appear as metapictures within larger images. I refer not only to images of the same kind as their support (vases on vases, for instance) but also to metapictures more generally - that is to say, images of vases, sculpture, or architecture represented in other media. This chapter demonstrates that metapictures can be understood as significant documents for our understanding of the underlying intentions of their artists and even the contemporary reception of images and practices of image making in antiquity.