Why your Art History class may be the most important class you take

In “The Art of learning: Why art history might be the most important subject you could study today,” Art historian Noah Charney argues that the study of art history and a humanities-based education is more important than ever.  The emphasis placed on the study of STEM subjects can diminish the perceived value of the humanities major, leading some to view these disciplines as purely whimsical and unpractical. In fact, Charney points to John Berger and his groundbreaking book Ways of Seeing to show how Art history develops the skills that increase critical thinking which are especially important in this age of fake news and alternative facts.

Read the entire article here.

Lost painting found in kids movie

Gergely Barki probably expected a quite, uneventful evening as he and his daughter Lola watched “Stuart Little” in 2009. But Barki, a researcher at the Hungarian National Gallery (Magyar Nemzeti Galéria), “nearly dropped Lola from my lap. A researcher can never take his eyes off the job, even when watching a Christmas move at home.” What grabbed Barki’s attention was a long-lost avant garde painting used as a prop in the film.  The painting was “Sleeping Lady with Black Vase” by Róbert Berény, a member of the pre-World War I movement Group of Eights. Berény’s painting disappeared in the 1920s but was found in an antique shop in Pasadena by a set designer from Sony Pictures and Columbia Pictures. “Sleeping Lady with Black Vase” will be sold on auction December 13.

Read more here.

Art historian and visiting lecturer Melanie Michailids

The Art History Program mourns the loss of our colleague and friend Melanie Michailidis. Melanie died on Friday night in a car accident in Saint Louis, Missouri where she was a post-doctoral fellow with the Washington University and the Saint Louis Art Museum.

A historian of Islamic art who specialized in Medieval Iranian architecture, Melanie was a Visiting Lecturer in this program from 2008-2010. She taught courses in Islamic art and architecture and filled in for Professor Watenpaugh who was also one of her professors at MIT where Melanie received her PhD in 2007. Melanie was an enthusiastic and popular instructor and was nominated for an Excellence in Teaching Award here at UC Davis.

Anyone wishing to send condolences to the family of Melanie Michailidis is asked to use the following address:
The Grimsley Family
c/o Department of Art History and Archaeology Washington University in St Louis
CB 1189
One Brookings Drive
St Louis MO 6313

Washington University in Saint Louis’ announcement and obituary
Melanie discussing the Saint Louis Museum’s Islamic collection

Art Historian Leo Steinberg, 1920-2011

Leo Steinberg, art historian and critic, died on Sunday at the age of 90. Steinberg studied Renaissance and Baroque art but his writings — his best know works include “Other Criteria: Confrontations With Twentieth-Century Art” (1972) and “The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion” (1983) — revealed a broad range of interests. He held professorships at Hunter College and University of Pennsylvania but also taught at Stanford, UC Berkeley, Princeton, Columbia, Harvard and the University of Texas at Austin. To read more, go to the New York Times article.