Art History Department at SUNY New Paltz

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Art History Department at SUNY New Paltz Towards a broad and varied understanding of world art traditions...

NOT TO BE MISSED! The Art History Association's Lecture Series, Spellound: Magic, Monsters, and the Supernatural cont...
10/26/2026

NOT TO BE MISSED! The Art History Association's Lecture Series, Spellound: Magic, Monsters, and the Supernatural continues Monday, November 9, at 7 PM EST on Zoom with "From Devilish Dragons to Violent Vegetables: Creatures of Myth and Imagination in Europe and the Americas, 500-1500."

Join us for a great presentation with the three curators of the recent exhibition, "Creatures of Myth and Imagination: Europe and the Americas," at The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Joanne Pillsbury, Andrall E. Pearson Curator of Ancient American Art, Laura Filloy Nadal, Curator, Arts of the Ancient Americas, and Julia Perratore, Associate Curator, Medieval Art.

Our guests will explore fantastical creatures made on either side of the Atlantic Ocean between 500 and 1500 CE.

Inspired by elements of the natural world, these hybrid beings compound features and attributes in ways that defy the boundaries of nature, crossing species in the same way they themselves appear capable of traversing social and conceptual categories. In this talk, the curators will consider composite beings that unite features of humans, animals, vegetables, and even minerals, encouraging us to consider the challenges sculptors, metalsmiths, and weavers face when giving form to specific ideas, and how their imaginative interpretations have given us some of the world’s most terrifying, and most beloved, works of art.

The link to register for the Zoom talk is in our bio!
https://suny-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/1ElPM8ZWSaG5JnZLyJ8r2w

image: Tzinacantecuhtli (Bat Lord), detail, c. 800-900 by a Zapotec (Be'ena'a) artist, ceramic and slip, height 81 1/2 inches.

Fine & Performing Arts at SUNY New Paltz
SUNY New Paltz Art History Association

Thursday, November 5 at 7PM in SAB 118A, the Department of Art History is hosting its annual Internship Workshop! Learn ...
10/26/2026

Thursday, November 5 at 7PM in SAB 118A, the Department of Art History is hosting its annual Internship Workshop! Learn all the tips and tricks YOU need to land a great internship in art history and related fields such as museums (all aspects), libraries, archives, galleries, and more.

You don't have to be a declared Art History major/minor/or concentrator to join us; there's lots of valuable information for ALL students considering an internship. Yummy refreshments will be served too!
SUNYNP Art History Association
Fine & Performing Arts
Career Resource Center
The Dorsky Museum of Art
New Paltz Alumni

What a wonderful tour of "In Our Time: R.B. Kitaj and Books" we enjoyed by curator, Professor Reva Wolf and her students...
10/23/2026

What a wonderful tour of "In Our Time: R.B. Kitaj and Books" we enjoyed by curator, Professor Reva Wolf and her students/ researchers, Nina Zar and Sophia Parker! Special guest, writer and professor at The New School, Robert Polito, delighted us with a copy of Kitaj's 1950 high school yearbook from Troy, NY, that portends, even at that young age, the artist's personality and interests.

The "In Our Time" portfolio from 1969/1970 engenders many allusions, literary/historical references, and connections among the prints that resonate today as well. During the seminar that led to the show, Wolf's students made discoveries about the prints that add to Kitaj scholarship. A catalog with student essays and by others including Wolf and New Paltz faculty from The Design Department and the Sojourner Truth Library, is available for sale at the museum. Congratulations all and thanks to Dorsky Director, Anna Conlan, for hosting!
Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (SDMA)

Fine & Performing Arts at SUNY New Paltz
SUNY New Paltz Art History Association

R.B.Kitaj

SUNDAY, October 18, at 2 PM! Books and Art Panel Discussion at in New Paltz, NYTo Register, the link is here or in our ...
10/16/2026

SUNDAY, October 18, at 2 PM! Books and Art Panel Discussion at in New Paltz, NY
To Register, the link is here or in our Bio: https://eltinglibrary.libcal.com/event/17669285

Details:
The Elting Memorial Library, Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, and Unison Arts Center proudly present:

Books as Art and Artist Books: R. B. Kitaj's In Our Time and Tom Phillips' A Humument

A panel discussion with artists Michael Oatman and Buzz Spector moderated by Reva Wolf, Professor of Art History, SUNY New Paltz.

On the occasion of the exhibition, In Our Time: R. B. Kitaj and Books, currently on view at , two accomplished artists whose art involves books and who are big fans of the work of R. B. Kitaj (1932-2007), come together to discuss the connections between Kitaj's varied uses of books within his visual art and influential artist book project A Humument by Kitaj's friend, the British artist and writer Tom Phillips (1937-2022).

For additional programming in association with the exhibition In Our Time (October 22 tour of the exhibition, October 24 program at Unison Arts Center with Pablo Helguera, and November 8 performance at the Dorsky Museum with Daria Irincheeva), go to the Public Programs page on the Dorsky site: https://www.newpaltz.edu/museum/programs/public_programs.html










Images:
Left: R.B. Kitaj, The Pursuit of the House-Boat, photo screenprint in the portfolio, In Our Time: Covers for a Small Library After the Life for the Most Part (collection Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, © R. B. Kitaj Estate, courtesy of PIANO NOBILE, London; photo, Robert Hansen-Sturm).

Right: Tom Phillips, A Humument, 1980 edition, page 15 (collection Princeton University Library).

On October 22, at 4 PM the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, , SUNY New Paltz students from Professor Reva Wolf's Fall 2025 s...
10/13/2026

On October 22, at 4 PM the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, , SUNY New Paltz students from Professor Reva Wolf's Fall 2025 seminar on R.B. Kitaj's In Our Time portfolio, will give gallery talks at the exhibition, In Our Time: R. B. Kitaj and Books on the research they did for their catalogue entries and exhibition wall text.

Students Nina Zar, class of 2028, and Sophia Parker, class of 2026, will by joined by Professor Wolf.

Images:
R. B. Kitaj, How to Read and Marlborough (Mark Rothko), photo screenprints in the portfolio In Our Time: Covers for a Small Library After the Life for the Most Part (collection Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art; copyright R. B. Kitaj Estate, courtesy of PIANO NOBILE, London; photo, Robert Hansen-Sturm)

If you have any special accessibility needs, please contact Brian Willmont of the Dorsky at [email protected].

Are you destined for graduate school? Or just thinking about applying? Then join us on Thursday, Oct. 26, at 7 PM in SAB...
10/13/2026

Are you destined for graduate school? Or just thinking about applying? Then join us on Thursday, Oct. 26, at 7 PM in SAB 118A as Professor Keely Heuer, Chair of the Department of Art History, presents "Illuminating Graduate School," her annual workshop for all students who are considering graduate school in the liberal arts in their foreseeable future, not simply those who are interested in applying for MA and PhD programs in Art History or Museum Studies.

When: Thursday, October 26 at 7 PM
Where: Smiley Art Building 118A

Refreshments will be provided!






New Paltz Fine & Performing Arts
New Paltz Art History Association

📣Mark Your Calendars! Professor Kerry Dean Carso Kerry Carso will present her research in our first "Art History in Acti...
10/07/2026

📣Mark Your Calendars! Professor Kerry Dean Carso Kerry Carso will present her research in our first "Art History in Action: Our Faculty Present Their Scholarship" event of the 26-27 academic year!

Thursday, October 22nd, at 5:30 PM in JFT 1010, Professor Carso talk is "Washington Allston’s Monaldi: A Tale (1841): A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Interdisciplinary Research"

About the talk:

"The 19th Century American artist Washington Allston bridges the worlds of art and literature in his novel Monaldi: A Tale (1841). Full of Gothic intrigue and suspense, Allston’s novel tells the story of a renowned and idealistic Italian artist named Monaldi who descends into madness and despair after falling prey to the machinations of his evil poet-friend Maldura and a bandit named Fialto. In his time, Allston achieved fame as a Grand Manner history painter in both Great Britain and the United States, but his novel has received less attention from scholars than his paintings.

"Professor Carso’s new edition (University of Wales Press, 2026) draws attention to this semi-forgotten novel in the transatlantic Gothic canon. Professor Carso will give a behind-the-scenes look at the primary research and new discoveries she uncovered while researching and editing Allston’s novel."

BONUS! Professor Carso has a blog post on her new book at the University of Wales Press website. Go to
https://www.uwp.co.uk/monaldi-a-tale-1841/ (or to Link in our Bio!)

Refreshments will be provided.

For accommodations, please contact Art History Chair, Professor Keely Heuer, as soon as possible by email at [email protected] or by phone: 845-257-3829.

SUNYNP Art History Association
Fine & Performing Arts
SUNY New Paltz English





15m

👻💀👹What better time of year to focus on magic and the supernatural! On October 15, The Art History Association kicks off...
09/29/2026

👻💀👹What better time of year to focus on magic and the supernatural! On October 15, The Art History Association kicks off its tantalizing lecture series, Spellbound: Magic, Monsters, and the Supernatural in Art. Join us for our first speaker on Thursday, October 15, at 7 PM EST. Zoom 🔗 in our bio!

Dr. Radcliffe Edmonds
Paul Shorey Professor of Greek, and Professor and Chair of Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies at Bryn Mawr College

"Drawing Down the Moon: Defining Magic in the Ancient Greco-Roman World"

In this talk Dr. Edmonds considers the "bindings and curses, love charms and healing potions, amulets and talismans–from the simple spells designed to meet the needs of the poor and desperate to the complex theurgies of the philosophers, [with which] the people of the Greco-Roman World made use of magic to try to influence the world around them. But what did magic mean to the people of ancient Greece and Rome? How did Greeks and Romans not only imagine what magic could do, but also make use of it in their own lives? Dr. Edmonds will explore how the ancients–and modern scholars–talked about magic, delving into the archaeological record and classical literary traditions to examine images of witches, ghosts, and demons; the fantastic powers of metamorphosis, erotic attraction, and reversals of nature; as well as all manner of magical rituals and paraphernalia."

"Drawing Down the Moon" will be delivered via Zoom on Thursday, October 15, at 7 PM EST. Registration is required. The 🔗is in our bio.

SUNYNP Art History Association
Fine & Performing Arts
SUNY New Paltz Anthropology Club
New Paltz History Club
npanthropologyclub

On Friday, September 25, Professor Reva Wolf gave a paper, "Folly or Madness? Translating Goya's Captions," at the annua...
09/29/2026

On Friday, September 25, Professor Reva Wolf gave a paper, "Folly or Madness? Translating Goya's Captions," at the annual symposium of the Hispanic Society’s Goya Research Center in New York City.

Following the museum’s recent exhibition Goya and the Age of Revolution, this year’s symposium, Art and Atrocity in Goya's Prints, centered on the artist's depiction of war.

Professor Wolf is pictured second from the right in the first photo.

Congratulations!

SUNY New Paltz 🧡💙
Fine & Performing Arts

09/29/2026

📣🎉The 2025-2026 Department of Art History Newsletter is live! We've transitioned to an academic year format, so early every Fall semester, we will be sharing department news.

🔗is in our Bio and below. We are sure you will have great fun learning of and celebrating the many accomplishments and happenings of our colleagues, students, and alumnx that make the Department of Art History at SUNY New Paltz such a dynamic and connected community.

We are enormously grateful to all the faculty, emeriti, alumnx, and current students who took the time to share their achievements with us. You all never cease to amaze and inspire! 🧡💙

https://www.newpaltz.edu/fpa/art-history/newsletter/vol-6-2025-2026/





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