Art History

Professor Alexandra Sofroniew will present her paper, “Did Votive Offerings Stop Working? The End of the ‘Votive Habit’ in Republican Italy,” at a conference at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, on May 23.

Srđan Tunić (M.A., ‘23) has just published “Queering the Urban Space” in the journal Street Art & Urban Creativity. Congratulations Srđan!

Jingwei Zeng, Visiting Scholar in art history, has just published “Some Contributing Factors to the Modernity of Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century’s Chinese Calligraphy and Paintings” in the journal Art Frontier.

The journal, Art Frontier, is co-edited by another Visiting Scholar in art history Junping Liu.

Caroline Riley is a research associate with a Ph.D. in the History of Art and Architecture from Boston University (2011-2016). She is currently a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow working on her second book Thérèse Bonney and the Power of Global Syndicated Photography.

Tell us a bit about your background and research interests.

Professor Michael Yonan gave the keynote lecture for the conference “Fragile Things: Material Culture from the Russian Empire” this past Friday, April 12.

Even though Margaret Culuris-Harp (M.A., ‘24) is nearing completion of a first M.A. in art history, she is already looking ahead at her next scholarly enterprise: continuing her studies at Hebrew University with a Fulbright Fellowship. Maggie, who specializes in late Roman art history and archaeology in both the Levant and North Africa, will pursue interdisciplinary research in archaeology, art history, Jewish studies and religious studies to better understand the cultural spaces of these regions.

Professor Katharine Burnett’s recent publication, “UC Davis Global Tea Institute Professional Tea Certificate Program, 2023–2024,” was published in the World Green Tea Association bulletin Ryokucha(Vol. 54, March 2024, pp. 45–46; Japanese translation, “カリフォルニア大学 デービス校 世界茶文化科学研究所 2023-2024年 茶専門家認定プログラム”;).

Professor Talinn Grigor will take a look at “”Minor’ Architects” in a public zoom lecture at the Pence Gallery on Saturday, April 6. Professor Grigor explores why, given the staunchly nationalist policies of the 1920s-30s, many of the indigenous architects of Iran’s Modern Movement came from the ranks of the country’s religious and gender minorities, including Christian Armenians and Baha’is.

This lecture is part of the Pence Gallery’s Art History Lecture Series. Registration is required. For details and registration, 

Allison Grenda (M.A., ‘20) will give a public lecture at the Pence Gallery as part of their Art History Lecture Series.  “The Parthenon Through the Ages: From Ancient Rituals to Modern Controversies” is scheduled for Saturday, March 23 from 1-2 pm via Zoom

Congratulations to Emily Szasz (M.A., ‘22) on her new position as Program Coordinator, Volunteer Services at the Museum of Tolerance and Simon Wiesenthal Center. Emily will be in charge of all aspects of the Volunteer Department, including numerous volunteers, college interns, and high school students who are involved in the Museum of Tolerance and Simon Wiesenthal Center in a variety of capacities.

Emily will start her new position on March 4.

A special exhibition of Japanese tea ware features both art objects and rare books from the UC Davis’s Global Tea Institute Collection of Art and Material Culture. This small exhibition – “Heaven and Earth in a Small Pot” – is on view in the Archives and Special Collections Reading Room of Shields Library throughout this winter quarter.

Professor Michael Yonan has authored an essay in the newly published book Interiors in the Age of Enlightenment: A Cultural History edited by Stacey Sloboda (London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2024).

Professor Katharine Burnett’s newly released article “Contemporaneity in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Painting, Theory, and Criticism” has been published in the latest issue of Ming Studies (Volume 2023, Issue 88, pp. 3-33).

Professor Katharine Burnett is on a whirlwind tour of Taipei, Taiwan where she is presenting papers and lectures at several Taiwanese universities and colloquia.

Professor Heghnar Watenpaugh has contributed an article to the recently published book Ordering Imperial Worlds: From Late Medieval Spain to the Modern Middle East edited by Susan Slyomovics.