HAA at the College Art Association Conference 2025
HAA friends and colleagues recently gathered at the American Folk Art Museum to tour Somewhere to Roost with exhibition curator and HAA PhD candidate Brooke Wyatt. The tour coincided with the 2025 CAA Annual Conference, connecting HAA faculty, students, and alumni in New York. The HAA community participated fully in the conference as attendees, presenters, and panel chairs.
HAA Research Highlighted in Pitt Research Annual Report
Clinical Professor Alison Langmed was highlighted in the 2023-2024 Annual Report issued by the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research.
Architecture Student Take Field Trip to Frick Environmental Center
On a chilly Saturday, students from the Architectural Studies Program enrolled in ARC 1203 Design Studio 3 met instructors Chris Guignon, Jen Donnelly, and Maria Cadena at the Frick Environmental Center in Frick Park. Students learned about the significant passive design techniques employed by the building and its landscape. Students learned about stormwater management, passive solar gain, natural daylighting, and construction techniques that mitigate heat loss. The Frick Environmental Center is a certified Living Building that has achieved LEED Platinum and is open to the public.
Ghosh Publishes Article in a Book on the History of Bengal Textiles
Graduate student Namrata Ghosh’s article, Textiles and Memories, appears in the book, Textiles from Bengal: A Shared Legacy (2024), published in conjunction with an ongoing exhibition of the same name in Kolkata, India. As the former Research Associate for the exhibition, Ghosh studied several textile collections and conducted extensive research that supported the curatorial vision of the project.
Reparative Histories of Art and Architecture, Department Receives Mellon Grant
Department of History of Art and Architecture at Pitt receives $500,000 Mellon Grant to center social justice analysis in the discipline.JANUARY 29, 2025 (PITTSBURGH, PA)—The Department of History of
Nygren Begins Term as Articles Editor for Renaissance Quarterly
On 1 January 2025, Christopher Nygren, Associate Professor and Department Chair, begins a three-year term as Articles Editor for Renaissance Quarterly, the leading interdisciplinary journal in the field of early modern studies.
Flatto Contributes to Volume on Protest Photography in Print
Diana Flatto contributed research and texts on feminist activism to "Flashpoint! Protest Photography in Print, 1950-Present," recently published by 10x10 Photobooks. Flatto, a PhD candidate, wrote for the book's "Gender" section, covering photography books, fliers, journals, alternative newspapers, posters, and zines from movements in Argentina, Ghana, Iran, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, South Africa, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Nakhaei Collaborates on Online Exhibition Exploring an Iranian Shrine
Graduate student Hossein Nakhaei collaborates on "The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin: An Online Exhibition of an Iranian Shrine," hosted by Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online. An online exhibition, exhibition catalog, and multi-media book in one, this website offers an alternative museological space for exploring the Emamzadeh Yahya’s many looks, functions, resonances, and stories over the last 700 years. The mirrored website in English and Persian includes six thematic galleries with over 70 contributions, including essays, films, digital interactives, and catalog entries.
Reinstallation of American Art Collection Co-Curated by King
Isaac King (Phd 2020) co-curates Crossing the Divide: American Art from the Permanent Collection at the BYU Art Museum. The exhibition, open through 2029, eschews chronology for thematic arrangements that examine “the diverse geographies, perspectives, lives and histories woven across the territorial boundaries of the United States.” Learn more about the exhibition at the BYU Art Museum website.
Secret Pittsburgh Podcast Visits the University Art Gallery
The Secret Pittsburgh Podcast interviewed Sylvia Rhor Samaniego as part of a behind-the-scenes tour of the University Art Gallery. The podcast's hosts speak with Rhor Samaniego about her career trajectory as well as artworks on display in the exhibitions “Rewilding” and “Broken Ground.” The Secret Pittsburgh Podcast is produced by students in the class “Secret Pittsburgh” Literature.
Museum Studies Students' Work Featured on Carnegie Museum of Natural History Social Media
Last semester, as part of Teaching Assistant Professor Deirdre Smith's class "Inside the Museum," Pitt Museum Studies students engaged with recently digitized letters from the Holland Correspondence Archive, which features letters written by former Carnegie Museum of Natural History Director William J.
HAA Advertises Postdoc in Reparative Art Histories
The Department of History of Art and Architecture is seeking applications for a Mellon Foundation Postdoctoral Associate position on “Reparative Art Histories.” We invite candidates who have completed or will complete a Ph.D. in the history of art, architecture, or visual culture to apply for this two-year appointment, running August 1, 2025, through July 30, 2027, that is funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation on the theme of social justice and disciplinary knowledge.
Lauren Taylor Publishes Article on Independent Senegal's First Art Museum
As the first museum to be built in Senegal following the nation’s independence, the Musée Dyamique, inaugurated in Dakar during the First World Festival of Negro Arts (1966), was an architectural expression of the roles that Senegal, negritude, and artistic exchange could play in healing a world torn by the violence of colonialism, the devastation of the World Wars, and the tensions of the Cold War. Its design emerged from a partnership between the Senegalese government and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Paula Kupfer Publishes Exhibition Review of the CMOA's "Widening the Lens"
Kupfer's review discusses the exhibition "Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape," underscoring its expansive and multidimensional approach to the history of landscape representation in photography. Aperture is a longstanding photography publisher based in New York. "Widening the Lens" is on view at the Carnegie Museum of Art until January 11, 2025.
Terry Smith Appointed Slade Professor at Cambridge 2025-6
Terry Smith has been appointed Slade Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Cambridge for 2025-2026. The Slade Professorship of Fine Art at Cambridge was founded in 1869 as the result of a bequest from the art collector Felix Slade (1788-1868). At the same time, similar chairs were founded in the Universities of Oxford and London. Holders of the Chair usually deliver eight public lectures and four classes for students in the department of the History of Art during either the Michaelmas or the Lent Term of their year in office.