Department News - Manhattanville College · display of indigenous arts over the course of the 20th century –away from an “ethnographic” focus to one that ... Dan), Section:

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NEWSLETTER | Issue 38 Summer 2018

Department News

Following a growing trend in our field,

moving forward we will be known as the

Department of Visual Studies and Art

History! This name change recognizes

the shifts that have taken place in the

study of visual artifacts, which has

moved away from a “canonical”

approach to one that is much broader.

The department schedules numerous events throughout the

year to support current students and to reach out to our

alumni. We also keep in regular contact with our alumni

through a dedicated Facebook group, our Annual Newsletter,

and a dense network of personal relationships.

In addition to the field trips we planned as a part of our regular

curriculum, the department organized the following events

and activities during the 2017-18 academic year:

• November 7, 2017 The Art History Department co-

sponsored a calligraphy demonstration with the Muslim

Students Association. This was held in conjunction with

Professor Saleeby-Mulligan’s course on Islamic Art.

• November 29, 2017 The Arthur M. Berger Lecture,

presented by Dr. Virginia-Lee Webb, a consultant and

expert on Oceanic and African art and photography who

was formerly Research Curator in the Department of the

Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art (1975 – 2009), drew an

enthusiastic audience. Her talk, titled “Envisioning a New

Approach: New York Museums of the Arts of Africa, the

Pacific and the Americas,” explored the evolution of the

display of indigenous arts over the course of the 20th

century – away from an “ethnographic” focus to one that

includes the work of artists from these great non-European

civilizations in the canon of art history.

VISUAL STUDIES & ART HISTORY NEWSLETTER | Issue 38 Summer 2018

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• December 8, 2017 The Art History Department held its

Holiday Party at Professor Rafanelli’s home; it was

attended by students, current and former faculty, and

alumnae (see photos below: Gina Viggiano ‘11 and Katie

Johnson ‘10; Morgan Thomas ‘14 and Ali Hoyt ‘14).

• April 11, 2018 An Open House for students interested in

our proposed 2019 Rome Trip was well attended, and we

are hoping we will have ample enrollments for the study

tour to take place.

• April 13, 2018 The Spring Berger Field trip took faculty

and students to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where

tours were led by Professors Cifarelli, Rafanelli, Hannum

and Saleeby-Mulligan (see photos below).


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• April 17, 2018 Manhattanville College hosted Designing

Memory, an event exploring the relationship between

monuments and memory; while not a departmental event,

it was coordinated by Professor Megan Cifarelli, included

a film and presentation by Professor Lisa Rafanelli, an

exhibit by alumna Michelle Pings-Gaines ‘12, and other

members of the department devoted considerable time

and energy to ensuring the quality of this event (see

photos below).

• May 4, 2018 The Annual Spring Barbecue at Professor

Hannum’s home took place on a lovely spring day (see

photo).

• May 19, 2018 Professor Saleeby-Mulligan hosted a

“champagne toast” for our graduates and their families in

the Art History office prior to Commencement (see photo

below of Olivia Nairy and her family at the event).


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FACULTY NEWS Professor Megan Cifarelli

Professor Megan Cifarelli has had a busy year. She

completed the final year of her term as department chair,

chaired the Committee on Committees, and served as Chief

Curator of the Designing Memory event on April 17. She is

Incoming Chair of the School of Arts and Sciences faculty.

Beyond Manhattanville, she serves as Field Editor for reviews

of books on ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Near

Eastern art and architecture for the College Art Association’s

CAAreviews.org. She is National Lecturer for the

Archaeological Institute of America, chaired the

Corresponding Members Committee, Archaeological Institute

of America (through 2018), and was appointed to the program

committee for the annual meetings of the Archaeological

Institute of America.

Articles or chapters by Professor Cifarelli recently published

and in press (should be published before the end of 2018):

• “Copper Alloy Belts at Hasanlu, Iran: A case study in

hybridization and heteroglossia in material culture,” (with

Roberto Dan and Manuel Castelluccia), Cambridge

Archaeological Journal 27 (June 2018).

• “Entangled Relations over Geographical and Gendered

Space: Multi-Component Personal Ornaments at

Hasanlu,” in Proceedings of the Workshop Exhibiting an

Imaginative Materiality, Showing a Genealogical Nature:

the composite Artefacts in the Ancient Near East, edited

by Silvana di Paolo. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2018.

• “Hasanlu, the southern Caucasus, and early Urartu,”

invited contribution to a Festschrift for Mirjo Salvini, edited

by Pavel Avetisyan, Roberto Dan and Yervand Grekyan

(Oxford: Archaeopress, 2018), in press.

• "A Decorated Bronze Belt from Gargul, Iran,” (with Kazem

Mollazadeh and Ali Binandeh), (accepted for publication in

Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies).

• “East of Assyria? Hasanlu and the Problem of

Assyrianization,” in Assyrian Peripheries, edited by

Virginia Herrmann and Craig Tyson (Boulder: University

Press of Colorado, 2018), in press.

• “Gendered Artifacts and Costly Signaling Theory at

Hasanlu, Iran,” in Studying Gender in the Ancient Near

East, edited by Agnès Garcia Ventura and Saana Svärd

(Lake Winona, IL: Eisenbrauns, 2018), in press.

Conference presentations and invited lectures this year

include:

• “The Hasanlu Decorated Belts in Context,” (with Roberto

Dan), Section: Images in Context, (ICAANE) International

Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East,

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (April 3-7, 2018).

• “Again with the Hasanlu Lion Pins,” Symposium Outward

Appearance vs. Inward Significance: Addressing Identities

through Attire in the Ancient World, The Oriental Institute,

University of Chicago (March 1-2, 2018).

• “Lion-pins from Hasanlu, Iran: Unusual artifacts in a

unique archaeological context,” in the session Bodies,

Death and Adornment at the Annual Meetings of the

Archaeological Institute of America, Boston, MA (January

3-8, 2018).

• “Hasanlu and Urartu,” Southern Caucasus Colloquium,

Columbia University Department of Anthropology

(December 9, 2017).

• “Sex, Gender, and Identity in Antiquity,” Staten Island

Archaeology Society, Wagner College, Staten Island, NY

(January 28, 2018).

Professor Cifarelli has also been asked to be the keynote

speaker at an international workshop on gender in the ancient

near east, which will take place in April 2019 at the University

of Ghent, Belgium.

Finally, she is engaged in the following ongoing projects:

Article: “Again with the Hasanlu Lion Pins,” in Outward

Appearance vs. Inward Significance: Addressing Identities

through Attire in the Ancient World, edited by Aleksandra

Hallman, Oriental Institute Symposia 14 The Oriental Institute,

University of Chicago (forthcoming 2019).

Article: “Dress and Other Genders at Hasanlu, Iran,” in

Fashioned Selves: Approaches to Dress in Antiquity, edited

by Megan Cifarelli (Oxford: Oxbow Books, under contract for

2019 production).


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Professor Gillian Greenhill Hannum

Professor Gillian Greenhill Hannum took over as department

chair on July 1, 2018. She, too, has had a busy year, serving

as Director of the Atlas ePortfolio Program, Secretary of the

Faculty Compensation Committee, co-advisor to the

Manhattanville chapter of the National Society of Leadership

and Success, and President of the Manhattanville Faculty

Alliance. She was a First-Year Program Instructor and co-

taught the Castle Scholars Capstone (Fall and Spring) with

Lauren Ziarko, Special Collections Librarian and College

Archivist. She also sat on an Orientation sub-committee, the

Retention Committee, and the Center for Inclusion Advisory

Board. In broader service to the discipline, she judged

photographic competitions at Westchester Photographic

Society, Westchester Color Camera Club, and Stamford

Photography Club. She also continues to serve as Vice

President and newsletter editor for The Print Club of New

York (an art collecting organization).

Professor Hannum’s publications this year include:

• (with Alison Carson and Christine Dehne) “Rising from the

Ashes: Blazing a New Trail for the Manhattanville Portfolio

Tradition,” in Bret Eynon and Laura Gambino (eds.)

Catalyst in Action (Stylus Publishing, forthcoming Fall

2018).

• (with Alison Carson and Christine Dehne) “Manhattanville

College’s Atlas Program: Designing a Roadmap for

Success in College and Beyond,” International Journal of

ePortfolio, Vol. 8, no. 1 (2018), 73-86.

• “No Typical Tourist: Photographer Zaida Ben-Yusuf in

Meiji Japan,” in Sarah J. Lippert (ed.) Artistic Responses

to Travel in the Western Tradition (Routledge 2018).

She also gave several conference presentations and invited

lectures:

• (with Michaela Muckell ‘17 MAT ‘18) “Charting a Course

from Classroom to Career: Manhattanville College’s Atlas

Compass Class,” AAEEBL/CRA International Seminar

ePortfolios & More: The Developing Role of ePortfolios

within the Digital Landscape held at Dublin City University,

Ireland from May 23-25, 2018 (see photo).

• “Women Photographers 1840 – 1940,” Stamford

Photography Club, Stamford, CT, April 18, 2018.

• “The Golden Age of Irish Art,” Scarsdale Women’s Club,

Scarsdale, NY, April 12, 2018.

• (with Alison Carson, Christine Dehne, Kyoko Mona, Joi

Sampson, Wil Tyrrell) “Manhattanville College’s Atlas

Program: Designing a Roadmap for Success in College

and Beyond,” Association of American Colleges and

Universities Annual Meeting Forum on Digital Learning

and ePortfolio, Washington, D.C., January 27, 2018.

• (with Catherine Medeot and Lauren Ziarko) poster

presentation on “Picturing the Past: Exploring

Manhattanville’s History through Photographs in the

Archives,” Council of Independent Colleges Consortium on

Digital Resources annual conference, Washington, D.C.,

September 2017.


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Professor Lisa Rafanelli

Professor Lisa Rafanelli finished her second year as Faculty

Chairperson and completed her first year as a member of the

Academic Affairs Committee, Manhattanville Board of

Trustees. In addition, she served on the search committee for

Interim Provost and organized and chaired the first

Manhattanville Faculty Research Symposium, held October

18, 2017, at which fourteen faculty members presented

current research. Together with Professor Cifarelli, she

planned the proposed Rome Study Tour for March 2019 and

designed a new introductory course in the discipline, ARH

1000: Visual Studies and Art History, Learning to Look. She

also participated in a month-long Design Thinking Workshop,

“Project Dewey,” led by IDEO, in June 2018. In broader

service to the discipline, she is an outside reviewer for

Routledge Press.

She again offered her popular freshman honors seminar,

Saints and Sinners, which explores the exploits of the

Renaissance Papacy from the late 14th to mid-16th centuries

(see photo of field trip to the Met, below).

Among her recent research projects have been several with a

Manhattanville focus:

• Invited Speaker, “Michelangelo, Manhattanville, and the

1964-65 World’s Fair,” Manhattanville Alumni Reunion,

June 9, 2018. (Former faculty member Mary Lee Baranger

and alumna and staff member Michelle Pings-Gaines ‘12

were in the audience.)

• Film, “The Preservation of Memory: Joseph Sibbel’s Jesus

of the Sacred Heart for Manhattanville College (1897),”

written and narrated by Lisa Rafanelli, produced by

Michael Castaldo, Lisa Rafanelli and Lauren Ziarko, part

of Designing Memory event (Manhattanville College, April

17, 2018). (See related article in the Manhattanville

Magazine.)

Professor Rafanelli’s conference presentations and invited

lectures this year include:

• “From Imitazione to Musealization: Michelangelo’s Pietà

and its Afterlife (16-18th centuries),” in Souls of Stone,

Funerary Sculpture, from Creation to Musealization,

Museu Nacional de Arte Antigua, Lisbon, Portugal

(November 2-4, 2017).

• Invited Speaker, “The Representation of Saint Mary

Magdalene in the Western Tradition,” Davis Discoveries

Series, Davis Museum, Wellesley College (December 1,

2017) (see poster below).

• “‘Artistic Progeny’ and the Afterlife of Michelangelo’s

Vatican Pietà,” The Afterlife of Sculptures: Posthumous

Casts in Scholarship, the Market, and Law, The Catalogue

Raisonné Scholars Association: Dedalus Foundation, New

York (May 1-2, 2018).

Watch for her forthcoming publication:

• “Michelangelo’s Vatican Pietà: From Imitazione to

Musealization,” in Souls of Stone. Funerary Sculpture,

from Creation to Musealization (Lisbon, Museu Nacional

de Arte Antigua, in press).


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Professor Deborah Saleeby-Mulligan

Professor Deborah Saleeby-Mulligan continues to direct the

Museum Studies Program. She also serves as Assistant

Director of the Castle Scholars Honors Program and on the

Committee on Committees.

This year, she was especially busy with curatorial work,

organizing an exhibition that covered two venues:

• “Violated Bodies: New Languages for Justice and

Humanity” exhibition co-curated with Kyunghee Pyun,

Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY, Old Westbury, NY,

February 5 – March 15, 2018.

• “Violated Bodies: New Languages for Justice and

Humanity” exhibition co-curated with Kyunghee Pyun, The

Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery, February 28 – April 13,

2018 (see photo of Museum Studies students at the

exhibition below).

A smaller version of the exhibit will be presented at

Manhattanville in the Arthur M. Berger Gallery this fall. The

exhibit also resulted in a publication:

• Deborah Saleeby-Mulligan and Kyunghee Pyun. Violated

Bodies: New Languages for Justice and Humanity. New

York: John Jay Criminal College, 2018 (exhibition catalog).

In addition, Professor Saleeby-Mulligan had several paper

presentations and invitations to speak:

• “The legacy of Rabindranath Tagore,” Invited Keynote

Speaker, Tagore Society of New York, Consulate of India,

New York, NY, May 6, 2017.

• "The Power of Political Art," Faculty Research Blitz, Mville,

October 18th, 2017.

• “Peace on the Walls: Reinventing Political Street Murals in

Belfast,” presented at the College Art Association Annual

Conference, Los Angeles, CA, February 22, 2018.

• Curatorial Talk, “Violated Bodies: New Languages for

Justice and Humanity” Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY,

Old Westbury, NY, March 13, 2013.

• Curatorial Talk, “Violated Bodies: New Languages for

Justice and Humanity,” The Anya and Andrew Shiva

Gallery, March 15, 2018.

• “Troubled Walls,” presented at the 6TH Annual Dean

Hopper Conference, Drew University, Madison, NJ, April

21, 2018.

Faculty Development/Conference Attendance:

• “Street Art, Vandalism vs. Capitalism- Which is the Dirtier

Word?”, ArtsWestchester, White Plains, NY, June 12,

2017

• “In Dialog: Westchester/Connecticut,” the Aldrich Museum

of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT, August 6, 2017.

• “Reuse Reconsidered Conference,” Brown University,

Providence, Rhode Island, September 15-17, 2017.

• College Art Association Annual Conference, Los Angeles,

CA, Feb. 20-24, 2018.

• 6th Annual Dean Hopper Conference, Drew University,

Madison, NJ, April 20-21, 2018.


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News of Former Faculty Sister Eleanor Carr ‘44 moved next door to Teresian House

in Albany, where she was visited in mid-May by Professor

Greenhill Hannum and Professors Emeritae Baranger and

Kaufman. She remains in good health, but now in her mid-

90s, she enjoys the extra assistance available at her new

residence and receives regular visits from her friends at the

Lodge at Avila.

Professors Emeritae Mary Lee Baranger and Laura

Kaufman joined current faculty member Gillian Greenhill

Hannum for a glorious week in Venice at the beginning of

June (see photos). Highlights included a cruise on the Brenta

Canal with a visit to Palladio’s Villa Foscari, a tour of the Cini

Foundation on the island of S. Giorgio Maggiore and the

Vatican’s Biennale presentation of actual small chapels in the

park at the far end of the same island. Of course, a trip to

Torcello was also on their itinerary!

Former faculty member Diane Wolfthal writes from

Rice University: “I am still teaching (and publishing)

and happily so.”

We are saddened to report that former adjunct faculty

member Francis Sprout passed away suddenly on

November 2, 2017. He had been living in Florida

and gaining many accolades for his art.


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News from Alumni An early November event, organized by Manhattanville’s

Office of Alumni Relations and coordinated by Assistant

Director Michelle Pings-Gaines ‘12, turned into a mini

alumni reunion for art historians. Professor Hannum and

Professor Randy Williams of Studio Art reprised an event they

had done several years ago at the Metropolitan Museum of

Art called “Four Paintings, Two Perspectives.” The tour

involved deep discussion of four different paintings, looking

through the eyes of an artist/art educator and an art historian.

For “Four Paintings, Two Perspectives: Take Two,” the

subtheme was “Men Looking at Women and Women Looking

at Women.” The four works, which were considered in

chronological order, were: Georges de la Tour (French, 1593-

1653) The Fortune Teller, Adélaïde Labille-Guiard (French,

1749-1803) Self-Portrait with Two Pupils, Marie Gabrielle

Capet (1761-1818) and Marie Marguerite Carreaux de

Rosemond, Berthe Morisot (French, 1841-1895), Young

Woman Seated on a Sofa, and Pablo Picasso (Spanish,

1881-1973), Gertrude Stein. Among the art history alumni in

attendance were Frances Leahey Johnson ‘77, Leslye

Smith ‘80, Lisa Wackerman Iwanowski ‘81, Libby Sporer

Moffit ‘88 and son Jack, Mirella Hajjar ‘94 and husband

Hadi, Lynn Nevin Cukaj ‘94, Suzanne McGovern ‘94, Jilda

Manikas ‘99, and Janet Walker MA ‘92 (who had written her

master’s thesis under Gillian’s supervision). While there, we

also ran into Rylee Eterginoso ‘04, who did a dual degree in

studio art and art history and is Program Manager at the

Staten Island Museum.

Diana Gisolfi ‘62 published a book on Veronese in 2017

with Yale University Press, it is titled Paolo Veronese and

the Practice of Painting in Late Renaissance Venice. Anne

Driesse Villanova ‘81 had a long piece in the Summer 2018

Manhattanville Magazine (see page 43) about her almost

30 years of work as an art conservator at the Harvard

museums; her current position is Senior Curator of Works

of Art on Paper at the Harvard Art Museums. Greg Jecman

‘83 has recently retired from the National Gallery of Art after

a 34-year career.

Christine Hackerott Hull ‘96 visited Professor Hannum when

she spent a week in New York with her son Colm in early

April. Mary Stadalnick Hafferty ‘96 reports that since the

birth of her daughter, she has returned to work part-time as

an Architectural Historian at MassDOT. She has just

completed a multi-year project repairing the remaining

milestone markers along the Upper Boston Post Road.

Daughter Magnolia is an art historian in the making, enjoying

museum trips and especially interested in modern sculpture!

Marisol Willmore Williams ‘96 has been working in a

general construction business she and her husband own in

South Florida since 2009 but is considering making a career

change into teaching. Caroline Conzatti ‘99 writes: “In May I

started a new job as the assistant director of the Community

Boating Center in New Bedford. After ten years at my

previous job, I was anxious to go to work at a small, local non-

profit and I am very pleased that it worked out! While I

continue to do a variety of volunteer work, my main

commitment is still with the New Bedford Art

Museum/ArtWorks!, where I took over as chair of the board in

January. We recently went through a search for a new

executive director, who will be starting later this month,

starting an exciting new chapter for the museum.”

In January 2018, in the middle of a blizzard, Professor

Cifarelli had the pleasure of attending a paper given by

Jennifer Tafe ‘02 at the Annual Meetings of the

Archaeological Institute of America in Boston. Jennifer's

paper, Nikosthenes: Innovation and Identity in Late Archaic

Vase Painting, outlined research she is doing for her Ph.D.

in Art History at Boston University.

Catherine McKeon Mondkar ‘06 (see photo below with

Professor Hannum) stopped by the department for a quick

visit in December while visiting her mother; she and her

husband relocated to the Bay Area of California in 2017, a big

change for a life-long New Yorker!


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Professor Hannum also got to see Elizabeth Brown ‘06 (see

photo above) when she visited Duke University to give an

ePortfolio presentation in March. Elizabeth is loving Duke,

and Gillian was able to attend a symposium organized by

Duke art history grad students at the end of her visit to the

university.

Andrew Deacon ‘08 was named to Northwest Connecticut

Chamber’s Young Professionals’ “40 Under 40” — the first

edition of Litchfield County’s Leaders Under 40. Nominations

of remarkable young people living and working in the

northwest corner of the state, who are making a difference in

their company, school, or community, were received

throughout the month of March. Over 100 nominations were

received. Awardees were selected by a panel of local leaders

who evaluated each nominee using the following criteria:

career or educational achievement to-date, commitment to

excellence in their industry, leadership within their

organization, involvement in the community, leadership in

community organizations, and potential impact to the

community’s future. He begins a new phase of his career this

fall as an Assistant Principal. Andrew mentored a student in

Professor Hannum’s Atlas class this spring.

In July, Katie Johnson ‘10 became director of stewardship

and donor engagement at the Leukemia and Lymphoma

Society, which is in Rye, NY; she is also a volunteer at the

Wolf Conservation Center in South Salem – a magical place

to visit if you’ve not been. Alumna Crystal Sourour ‘10

attended Professor Rafanelli’s lecture organized by the

Dedalus Foundation in early May. Gina Viggiano ‘11 is now

Executive Assistant to the President at Christie’s in New York.

Amy Novak ‘12 has returned from the Met Breuer to the main

Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she is now Assistant

Manager of Visitor Experience. Sarah Connors ‘13 continues

to love her job as Museum Manager at Hudson Valley Center

for Contemporary Art in Peekskill. She was a guest lecturer

this spring in Professor Saleeby-Mulligan’s Museum Studies

capstone class. Ali Hoyt ‘14 continues to enjoy work at

Nickelodeon. She served as an alumni mentor for a student in

Professor Hannum’s Atlas class this spring. Megan Duffy ‘15

is in a master’s degree program for Library and Information

Studies at St. John’s University and has been interning at St.

Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers. Lisa Colten ‘16, a double

major in art history and communication studies who works in

the publishing industry in New York for Meredith Corporation,

was a panelist, along with Professor Hannum, at an event for

prospective students and their families this spring; she, too,

has served as an Atlas mentor. Jessica Iodice ‘16 has been

working as an assistant manager at Swarovski and also did a

temporary, part-time stint with Bonham’s Auction House.


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The Class of 2018 The department graduated six students this year. Three

students received departmental honors: Kaitlin Halloran,

Olivia Nairy, and Elizabeth Sweeny; Kaitlin and Liz also won

the Berger Award for Excellence in Art History — an award

presented to a student or students who have received

departmental honors and have been admitted to graduate

school (see items elsewhere in this newsletter written by

Kaitlin and Liz about their grad school plans).

George Anderson, who came to us as a transfer student,

completed his degree requirements in January. He has

undertaken post-graduation internships in development at

Cerebral Palsy Westchester and Farmstead Arts Center in

Basking Ridge, NJ. Yara Haddad has been accepted into an

advanced undergraduate voice program at Manhattan School

of Music, where she will begin classes this fall. Olivia Nairy

and Samantha De Laurentis are both planning to work for a

while prior to considering future study. Olivia did her

internship in the Collections Department at the Rochester

(NY) Museum and Science Center, and Samantha interned in

the Education Department at the Bruce Museum in

Greenwich, CT.

Kaitlin Halloran ‘18 writes:

I will be attending Stony Brook

University in the Fall for a

graduate degree in Art History &

Criticism. While studying Art

History, I have become

interested in Abstract

Expressionism and plan on

further researching this

movement. Stony Brook

University’s graduate program focuses on modern and

contemporary art, and I believe that my interest in the 20th

century art movement is a good foundation for learning about

modern art. In the future, I want to become a curator, and by

earning an MA in Art History & Criticism, my knowledge of

contemporary art will be extremely beneficial.

Elizabeth Sweeny ‘18 writes:

After graduating Manhattanville

College with my Bachelor of

Arts Degree, I plan to attend

Purchase College (SUNY

Purchase) starting this Fall. I am

enrolling in Purchase College’s

MA Program in Modern and

Contemporary Art, Criticism,

and Theory.

Throughout my studies at Manhattanville, I have had the

opportunity to engage in independent research; take

theoretical seminars; and enhance my research, writing, and

critical thinking skills. I have taken art history courses in a

wide range of art historical styles, geographies, and time

periods and am particularly interested in Impressionism and

African Art, as well as the complexities of the modern art

world. Working as a Supplemental Instruction Leader (SI) for

courses such as Contemporary Art, African Art, and Greek Art

has been a valuable and rewarding experience. As an SI, I

conducted weekly review sessions, offered helpful study tips,

and mentored students.

I plan to continue to share my love of art with others during

my graduate studies at Purchase College, where I hope to

work as a Teaching Assistant. I have also received a partial

scholarship towards tuition. Purchase College’s MA Program

in Modern & Contemporary Art, Criticism, and Theory sounds

like a fascinating program. Not only will I have the opportunity

to study the complexities and intricacies of the modern art

world, but I can also frequently explore the Neuberger

Museum’s fabulous collection of both African and modern

artwork. Through Purchase College’s program, I will be able

to combine my different art historical interests and grow as a

scholar. I am excited about this new venture and I can’t wait

to continue chasing my dreams!

A very special thank you to my family for always offering their

love and wonderful support! And thank you to the

Manhattanville College community and Art History

Department for also helping make my undergraduate career

an amazing experience!


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Other Student News Rebecca Ribeiro ‘19 had a wonderful experience this spring

interning at the Katonah Museum of Art. The timing was

serendipitous as the major exhibition the museum was

mounting during her time there was “Long, Winding Journeys:

Contemporary Art and the Islamic Tradition” (February 25 –

June 17, 2018). It happened that Rebecca was concurrently

enrolled in Professor Deborah Saleeby-Mulligan’s class on

Islamic Art. As a result, she was able to add quite a bit of

insight as the museum put together tours, learning resources

and children’s activities. It was definitely a win/win situation

for all involved.

The department gave the following awards at the

Undergraduate Awards Ceremony in April: Excellence in Art

History-First Year (Michael Cruz), Excellence in Art History-

Second Year (Juliette Macron), Excellence in Art History-

Third Year (Omar Reatiga, Rebecca Ribeiro), Clemencia

Saleeby Award for Excellence in Art History (Rebecca

Ribeiro).

UPCOMING EVENTS You are most warmly invited to join us for the Fall 2018 Arthur

M. Berger Lecture. This annual lecture is a highlight of the

year for our department. This year, it will be held on Thursday

evening, October 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the West Room of Reid

Hall. Our speaker will be Deborah Willis, Ph.D., who is

University Professor and Chair of the Department of

Photography and Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at

New York University and has an affiliated appointment with

the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Social and

Cultural Analysis, Africana Studies, where she teaches

courses on Photography and Imaging, iconicity, and cultural

histories visualizing the black body, women, and gender. Her

research examines photography’s multifaceted histories,

visual culture, the photographic history of Slavery and

Emancipation; contemporary women photographers and

beauty. She received the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur

Fellowship and a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. Willis

is the author of Posing Beauty: African American Images from

the 1890s to the Present; and co-author of The Black Female

Body A Photographic History; Envisioning Emancipation:

Black Americans and the End of Slavery; and Michelle

Obama: The First Lady in Photographs (both titles a NAACP

Image Award Winner). Professor Willis’s curated exhibitions

include: "In Pursuit of Beauty" at Express Newark; "Let Your

Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits” at the

International Center of Photography and "Reframing Beauty:

Intimate Moments" at Indiana University. Since 2006 she has

co-organized thematic conferences exploring imaging the

black body in the West such as the conference titled Black

Portraiture[s] which was held in Johannesburg in 2016. She

has appeared and consulted on media projects including

documentary films such as Through A Lens Darkly and

Question Bridge: Black Males, a transmedia project, which

received the ICP Infinity Award 2015, and American

Photography, PBS Documentary. She will speak on "Critical

Narratives in Visualizing the Black Body in Photography and

Popular Culture." She notes that images of the black subject,

whether artistic, documentary, or anthropological, are forever

fixed in the popular imagination through photography. From

the medium’s beginning, race and gender have shaped and

controlled the reception of photographic portraits, both

politically and aesthetically. Black American photographers

responded to their own lives and their communities in similar

ways since the 1840s. Some evoked an emotional message

that went beyond the self-representation but connected in the

re-characterization of the African American experience. The

photographers coupled the aspirations and dreams of their

subjects with their own. Since the 1930s, black photographers

working all over the diaspora are responding to social issues

that take them beyond the sometimes-insular photographic

community. They comment on politics, culture, family, and

history from internal and external points of view. This lecture

will mediate between the objectification of the black body and

(re) presenting the black body as it connects to the

photographs by black and white photographers working from

1840 to the present, some who are actively involved in

changing the course of photo history and fundamentally

imaging the black body in Western art.

We may also have space available for alumni on the Rome

Trip, which will take place during Manhattanville’s spring

vacation in March of 2019. Led by Professors Cifarelli and

Rafanelli, it will focus on Ancient through Baroque art in the

Eternal City. If you would like an itinerary and price

information, please contact Professor Megan Cifarelli at

[email protected].

Documents

Department News - Manhattanville College · display of indigenous arts over the course of the 20th century –away from an “ethnographic” focus to one that ... Dan), Section: