Art History | Penn Today

Six people standing in a parking lot looking at a colorful mural on the wall of a building.

Art history on foot: A class tour of public works of art

A summer course in history of art took students to the streets of Philadelphia to view and discuss murals, sculptures, and other public artworks.

One fateful night with Donny Hathaway

Guthrie Ramsey of the School of Arts and Sciences said that when evaluating artists with mental illnesses, “we should simply put it into context, like we do other aspects of their upbringing, rather than making it some mysterious gift that they seem to be bestowed.”

Student standing in front of a stand of forsythia.

Photo finish

Graduating senior Wilson Fisher will use a Fulbright Award to study photographers and other artists in Ukraine.

Seven students gathered together looking at a painted Chinese scroll unrolled on a table.

Rare Chinese scroll unfurled at Penn Museum

Students in a history of art course taught by Professor Nancy Steinhardt had the chance to closely examine a rare 200-year-old painted Chinese scroll at the Penn Museum.

Four people standing in front of a painting, clapping and looking at each other.

Cuban horizons

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw’s art history classcurates a new Arthur Ross Gallery exhibition of paintings by Roger Toledo after visiting his Havana studio.

Five events to watch for in March

Happening around campus this March: the world premiere of ‘Vessels’ at the Annenberg Center, a lecture on trees from China, and a visit to Kelly Writers House from reporter Emily Jane Fox.

Susan Radov leads a tour of the China Gallery with sculptures in the background

A tour of the ancient world—in Mandarin

The Penn Museum offers tours of its exhibits in Mandarin, increasing cross-cultural access to its invaluable assemblage of objects on display, the only known museum in Philadelphia with regularly scheduled tours in the language.

Iconic preservation: A plan for the O’Keeffe home and studio

A balance of science and critical thinking, plus reverence for the artist’s work and devotion to her space, makes the conservation assessment by a PennDesign team especially meaningful.

How a businesswoman became a voice for art’s black models

Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw of the School of Arts and Sciences spoke about the importance of contextualizing “African-American art and visual culture and artistic production.” She went on to note that many black students may not pursue the field of art history due to poor representation in faculty and curriculum.

Wide view of art gallery showing many paintings on the walls and about ten people looking at them

Engaging citizen curators

An innovative exhibition at the Arthur Ross Gallery features 50 works from Penn’s art collection chosen by the public in a crowdsourced exhibition. More than 600 people voted for their favorite to be included in “Citizen Salon,” on display through March 24.

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