CAA News Today
Conference Survival Guide Published
posted by Vanessa Jalet — December 15, 2008
The Conference Survival Guide has just been published as a downloadable PDF. The guide offers guidance to students, emerging professionals, and others attending their first conference for traveling to Los Angeles and navigating conference activities. Suggestions provided in the guide include tips for finding travel funds, options for budget travel, suggestions for lodging and dining, information on transportation in Los Angeles, listings of events and ways to actively participate in the conference, and guidelines for successful networking during the four-day event. The Conference Survival Guide is an annual publication put together by CAA’s Student and Emerging Professionals Committee. For more details, contact Vanessa Jalet, CAA executive assistant.
CIHA Papers to Be Published in 2009
posted by Christopher Howard — December 11, 2008
Conference papers from the 32nd Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art (CIHA), which convened in Melbourne, Australia, in January 2008, will soon be published by Miegunyah Press. Entitled Crossing Cultures: Conflict, Migration and Convergence, the book is edited by the conference convenor Jaynie Anderson.
Art and its history are not only created but are also discussed in one form or another on all the inhabited continents of the earth. Globalism has also assumed an art-historical aspect: indeed it has been described as art history’s most pressing issue. The themes are conflict, migration, and convergence in the visual, symbolic, and artistic exchanges between cultures throughout history. This publication will explore these themes.
This bound book is only available via a preorder form. It will not be available from any other outlets. Orders for this publication will be accepted until February 27, 2009—don’t miss this opportunity! Individual chapters of the book will also be available to purchase and download online in June 2009.
Preorder Graduate Programs in Art History
posted by CAA — December 05, 2008
CAA is now taking preorders of Graduate Programs in Art History: The CAA Directory. This easy-to-use directory includes over 260 schools and English-language academic programs in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and elsewhere worldwide. An index lists schools alphabetically and by state and country for quick reference.
Member Rate: $39.95 + shipping and handling
Nonmember Rate: $49.95 + shipping and handling
Please visit our online store to reserve your copy of the directory today. If you are ordering on behalf of an institution or department within a university, please use this form and submit via fax or post. At this time, online purchases can only be processed for individuals.
The directory is your indispensable, comprehensive guide to schools offering master’s, doctoral, and related degrees in art studies, including:
- History of Art and Architecture
- Visual Studies
- Museum Studies
- Curatorial Studies
- Arts Administration
- Library Science
Listings provide:
- Descriptions of specialized courses
- Number, names, and specializations of faculty
- Facilities such as libraries, image libraries, and labs
- Student opportunities for research and work
- Information on financial aid, fellowships, and assistantships
- Details on housing, health insurance, and other practical matters
Graduate Programs in the Visual Arts: The CAA Directory, which includes studio art, graphic design, applied arts and design, film production, art education, and conservation, will be available in early 2009.
Art Journal Conference Roundtable: Art and Transnationalism
posted by Christopher Howard — December 04, 2008
The editorial board of Art Journal seeks interested CAA members to join us at the 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles for a roundtable discussion on art and transnationalism.
Art in the twentieth century has been deeply shaped by exile, travel, and diaspora. Since about 1990, “globalization” has been driven by the trajectory of global finance and transnational capitalism, which in turn have intensified transnational circulation and art practice. Seen through this lens, the contemporary artist is a producer of commodified sameness, and even an unwitting vector for capitalist penetration into the peripheries. But transnational practice and exchange may also foster new imaginaries and solidarities at variance with capitalism. Can such practices transform the local by enabling a more direct social address? Postcolonial theory and globalization studies are enabling new ways of writing histories of modernisms as crossnational cultural forms. Thinking through transnationalism may productively reconfigure the disjunctive relationship between a local or national art history and a “global” art history of the modern and contemporary era.
Led by Art Journal editorial-board member Iftikhar Dadi, the roundtable discussion will be recorded and may provide material for publication in a future issue. The discussion will take place on Thursday, February 26, 2:00–4:00 PM, at a conference location to be announced.
Participation is by invitation. Please send a brief email describing your interest in the topic and how you foresee contributing to the discussion to mid1@cornell.edu. Invitations to participate will be sent around February 1. Deadline: January 20, 2009.
Troubling Study on US Higher Education
posted by Christopher Howard — December 03, 2008
States are making little or no progress in providing affordable college opportunities or improving college completion rates for their residents, says a report released today by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The findings come as states face massive budget shortfalls that threaten higher-education funding, and the United States continues to lag behind other advanced nations on measures of higher-education performance.
Drawing on nearly two decades of data, the report, Measuring Up 2008, finds that while states have made modest gains in preparing students for college, more students are failing to graduate from high school. While college-enrollment rates for young adults are improving, enrollment rates are declining for older adults. The report also notes that the burden of paying for college is now higher for students in every state, and low college-completion rates have barely improved. Additionally, disparities persist in college access and success by income, race and ethnicity, and state.
According to the study, major gaps include:
- Affordability. The burden of paying for college has increased for all families but has increased substantially more for low- and middle-income families. Nationally, families in the lowest-income group (bottom 20 percent of the population) pay 55 percent of their income to attend public four-year colleges and universities (after accounting for all student financial aid)—a jump from 39 percent in 2000. Families in the middle-income group (middle 20 percent of the population) pay 25 percent of their income (up from 18 percent in 2000), and those in the top income group (top 20 percent of the population) pay 9 percent of their income (up from 7 percent in 2000). (See page 8 of Measuring Up 2008.)
- Additionally, college is more affordable in some states than others. At community colleges, the proportion of family income needed to pay for college expenses, after financial aid, has increased from 18 percent to 25 percent in Florida, and from 20 percent to 25 percent in Washington State. At public four-year institutions, the percentage of income needed to pay costs, after aid, has increased from 17 percent to 20 percent in Minnesota, from 19 percent to 34 percent in New Jersey, and from 29 percent to 41 percent in Pennsylvania. (See page 15.)
- High school completion. In Illinois, 95 percent of white young adults have a high school credential, compared with 82 percent of blacks. In Texas, 93 percent of white young adults have a high school credential, compared with 74 percent of Hispanics. (See page 14.)
- College attendance. In Connecticut and New York, 50 percent of white young adults are enrolled in college, compared with 34 percent of blacks. In California, 45 percent of whites are enrolled, compared with 27 percent of Hispanics. In Arizona, 40 percent of whites are enrolled, compared with 18 percent of Native Americans. (See page 14.)
- College graduation. In Delaware, 73 percent of white students complete a bachelor’s degree within six years of enrolling in college, compared with 41 percent of black students. In New York, 63 percent of whites do so, compared with 43 percent of Hispanics. In New Mexico, 47 percent of whites graduate within six years, compared with 25 percent of Native Americans. (See page 16.)
As a result of these inequities, US higher-education performance has been declining compared to other nations in recent years.
- In college completion, which has never been a strength of American higher education, the US falls in the middle of the pack: fifteenth among twenty-nine countries compared
- The US adult population ages thirty-five and older still ranks among the world leaders (second only to their peers in Canada) in the percentage who have college degrees, reflecting the educational progress of earlier times
- Among twenty-five- to thirty-four-year-olds, however, the US has slipped to tenth in the percentage having college degrees. This relative erosion of our national “educational capital” reflects the lack of significant improvement in the rates of college participation and completion in the US in recent years, compared with other countries
Measuring Up 2008 is the fifth in a series of biennial report cards issued by the National Center, based in San Jose, California. Like the earlier reports, this edition measures the performance of the nation and of each state in providing education and training beyond high school. Each state receives an A-to-F grade in each of five performance areas.
In addition to the national report card, detailed individual report cards are available for each of the fifty states. Upon release of Measuring Up 2008, the national and state report cards will be posted on the National Center’s website.
The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education promotes public policies that enhance Americans’ opportunities to pursue and achieve a quality higher education. Established in 1998 by a consortium of national foundations, the center is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. It is not associated with any institution of higher education, with any political party, or with any government agency. The National Center is solely responsible for Measuring Up 2008.
Troubling Study on US Higher Education
posted by Christopher Howard — December 03, 2008
States are making little or no progress in providing affordable college opportunities or improving college completion rates for their residents, says a report released today by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The findings come as states face massive budget shortfalls that threaten higher-education funding, and the United States continues to lag behind other advanced nations on measures of higher-education performance.
Drawing on nearly two decades of data, the report, Measuring Up 2008, finds that while states have made modest gains in preparing students for college, more students are failing to graduate from high school. While college-enrollment rates for young adults are improving, enrollment rates are declining for older adults. The report also notes that the burden of paying for college is now higher for students in every state, and low college-completion rates have barely improved. Additionally, disparities persist in college access and success by income, race and ethnicity, and state.
According to the study, major gaps include:
- Affordability. The burden of paying for college has increased for all families but has increased substantially more for low- and middle-income families. Nationally, families in the lowest-income group (bottom 20 percent of the population) pay 55 percent of their income to attend public four-year colleges and universities (after accounting for all student financial aid)—a jump from 39 percent in 2000. Families in the middle-income group (middle 20 percent of the population) pay 25 percent of their income (up from 18 percent in 2000), and those in the top income group (top 20 percent of the population) pay 9 percent of their income (up from 7 percent in 2000). (See page 8 of Measuring Up 2008.)
- Additionally, college is more affordable in some states than others. At community colleges, the proportion of family income needed to pay for college expenses, after financial aid, has increased from 18 percent to 25 percent in Florida, and from 20 percent to 25 percent in Washington State. At public four-year institutions, the percentage of income needed to pay costs, after aid, has increased from 17 percent to 20 percent in Minnesota, from 19 percent to 34 percent in New Jersey, and from 29 percent to 41 percent in Pennsylvania. (See page 15.)
- High school completion. In Illinois, 95 percent of white young adults have a high school credential, compared with 82 percent of blacks. In Texas, 93 percent of white young adults have a high school credential, compared with 74 percent of Hispanics. (See page 14.)
- College attendance. In Connecticut and New York, 50 percent of white young adults are enrolled in college, compared with 34 percent of blacks. In California, 45 percent of whites are enrolled, compared with 27 percent of Hispanics. In Arizona, 40 percent of whites are enrolled, compared with 18 percent of Native Americans. (See page 14.)
- College graduation. In Delaware, 73 percent of white students complete a bachelor’s degree within six years of enrolling in college, compared with 41 percent of black students. In New York, 63 percent of whites do so, compared with 43 percent of Hispanics. In New Mexico, 47 percent of whites graduate within six years, compared with 25 percent of Native Americans. (See page 16.)
As a result of these inequities, US higher-education performance has been declining compared to other nations in recent years.
- In college completion, which has never been a strength of American higher education, the US falls in the middle of the pack: fifteenth among twenty-nine countries compared
- The US adult population ages thirty-five and older still ranks among the world leaders (second only to their peers in Canada) in the percentage who have college degrees, reflecting the educational progress of earlier times
- Among twenty-five- to thirty-four-year-olds, however, the US has slipped to tenth in the percentage having college degrees. This relative erosion of our national “educational capital” reflects the lack of significant improvement in the rates of college participation and completion in the US in recent years, compared with other countries
Measuring Up 2008 is the fifth in a series of biennial report cards issued by the National Center, based in San Jose, California. Like the earlier reports, this edition measures the performance of the nation and of each state in providing education and training beyond high school. Each state receives an A-to-F grade in each of five performance areas.
In addition to the national report card, detailed individual report cards are available for each of the fifty states. Upon release of Measuring Up 2008, the national and state report cards will be posted on the National Center’s website.
The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education promotes public policies that enhance Americans’ opportunities to pursue and achieve a quality higher education. Established in 1998 by a consortium of national foundations, the center is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. It is not associated with any institution of higher education, with any political party, or with any government agency. The National Center is solely responsible for Measuring Up 2008.
Fall Publication Grants Announced
posted by Christopher Howard — December 03, 2008
CAA has announced the recipients of its two book-grant programs, the Millard Meiss Publication Fund and the Wyeth Foundation for American Art Publication Grant.
Fall Meiss Grant Winners
CAA has awarded six Millard Meiss Publication Grants for fall 2008. Thanks to the generous bequest of the late Prof. Millard Meiss, these grants are given twice annually to publishers to support the publication of scholarly books in art history and related fields.
The grantees are:
- Mehmet-Ali Atac, The Mythology of Kingship in Neo-Assyrian Art (Cambridge University Press)
- Daniel Connolly, The Maps of Matthew Paris: Medieval Journeys through Space, Time, and Liturgy (Boydell and Brewer)
- Joyce de Vries, Caterina Sforza and the Art of Appearances: Gender, Art, and Culture in Early Modern Italy (Ashgate)
- Finbarr Barry Flood, Objects of Translation: Material Culture and Hindu-Muslim Encounter (Permanent Black)
- Victoria George, Whitewash (Pindar Press)
- Roslyn Hammers, Art, Technology, and Labor in Early Modern China (Hong Kong University Press)
Books eligible for a Meiss grant must already be under contract with a publisher and be on a subject in the arts or art history. Authors must be current CAA members. Application criteria and guidelines are available from the CAA Publications Department. Deadlines: March 15 and October 1 of every year.
Wyeth Publication Grant Winners
CAA is pleased to announce five recipients of the Wyeth Foundation for American Art Publication Grant for 2008. Thanks to a second generous three-year grant from the Wyeth Foundation, these awards are given annually to publishers to support the publication of one or more book-length scholarly manuscripts in the history of American art, visual studies, and related subjects.
The books receiving a grant are:
- Carol Clark, Charles Deas and 1840s America (University of Oklahoma Press)
- William Innes Homer, The Paris Letters by Thomas Eakins (Princeton University Press)
- Anna Indych-López, Muralism without Walls: Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros in the United States, 1927–1940 (University of Pittsburgh Press)
- Kirk Savage, Monument Wars: Washington, the National Mall, and the Transformation of the Memorial Landscape (University of California Press)
- Kristina Wilson, The Modern Eye: Stieglitz, MoMA, and the Art of the Exhibition, 1925–1935 (Yale University Press)
Books eligible for the Wyeth Grant have been accepted by a publisher on their merits but cannot be published in the most desirable form without a subsidy. The topic must be in American art; authors must be current CAA members. Application criteria and guidelines are available from the CAA Publications Department. Deadline: October 1, 2009.
December 2008 Issue of The Art Bulletin Published
posted by Christopher Howard — December 02, 2008
The December 2008 issue of The Art Bulletin, the leading publication of art history in English, has just been published. Your copy will arrive in the mail in the coming days.
In his essay for the journal’s Interventions series, Partha Mitter interrogates the nexus of power and authority that has effectively marginalized non-Western modernism and proposes a revisionist methodology. Alastair Wright, Rebecca M. Brown, Saloni Mathur, and Ajay Sinha write brief responses to Mitter’s text.
For “The Body of Eve in Andrea Pisano’s Creation Relief,” Jack M. Greenstein examines the artist’s treatment of the figures in the fourteenth-century Creation of Eve panel on the campanile of Florence Cathedral, which set a new standard for naturalism in relief sculpture.
With “In Form We Trust: Neoplatonism, the Gold Standard, and the Machine Art Show,” Jennifer Jane Marshall considers the Museum of Modern Art’s 1934 exhibition as a case study for investigating interwar American modernism’s negotiation between meaning, materiality, and value. Also in twentieth-century art, Claude Cernuschi and Andrzej Herczynski clarify the mechanics of Jackson Pollock’s handling of liquid paint under gravity and the broader implications for the meaning and ethos of his work.
The reviews section includes Ellen T. Baird’s assessment of Elizabeth Hill Boone’s recent book Cycles of Time and Meaning in the Mexican Books of Fate, and Kymberly N. Pinder’s evaluation of the exhibition Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love at the Walker Art Center, among other reviews. Please read the full table of contents for more details.
Morey and Barr Award Finalists
posted by Lauren Stark — November 11, 2008
CAA is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2009 Charles Rufus Morey Book Award and the Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Award. The winners of both prizes, along with the recipients of other Awards for Distinction, will be announced in mid-December and presented in February during Convocation at the 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles.
The Charles Rufus Morey Book Award honors an especially distinguished book in the history of art, published in any language between September 1, 2007, and August 31, 2008. The finalists are:
- Anthony J. Barbieri-Low, Artisans in Early Imperial China (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007)
- Jennifer A. González, Subject to Display: Reframing Race in Contemporary Installation Art (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008)
- D. Fairchild Ruggles, Islamic Gardens and Landscapes (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008)
- Harvey Stahl, Picturing Kingship: History and Painting in the Psalter of Saint Louis (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2008)
The Alfred H. Barr, Jr., Award for museum scholarship is presented to the author(s) of an especially distinguished catalogue in the history of art, published between September 1, 2007, and August 31, 2008, under the auspices of a museum, library, or collection. The finalists are:
- Tim Barringer, Gillian Forrester, and Barbaro Martinez-Ruiz, eds., Art and Emancipation in Jamaica: Isaac Mendes Belisario and His Worlds (New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, in association with Yale University Press, 2007)
- Wolfram Koeppe and Annamaria Giusti, Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from the Palaces of Europe (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, in association with Yale University Press, 2008)
- Terese Tse Bartholomew and John Johnston, eds., The Dragon’s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan (Chicago: Serindia Publications, in association with the Honolulu Academy of Arts and the Kingdom of Bhutan, 2008)
- Shelley Bennett and Carolyn Sargentson, eds., French Art of the Eighteenth Century at the Huntington (San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, in association with Yale University Press, 2008)
A second Barr award will be awarded, intended for but not restricted to smaller museums, libraries, or collections. It takes into consideration the size of the collection or exhibition. The two finalists are:
- Phillip Earenfight, ed., A Kiowa’s Odyssey: A Sketchbook from Fort Marion (Seattle: University of Washington Press, in association with the Trout Gallery, Dickinson College, 2007)
- Ella Reitsma, assisted by Sandrine Ulenberg, Maria Sibylla Merian and Daughters: Women of Art and Science (Zwolle, the Netherlands: Waanders, in collaboration with the Rembrandt House Museum and the J. Paul Getty Museum, 2008)
Convocation at the 2009 Annual Conference takes place on Wednesday evening, February 25, 5:30–7:00 PM, in West Hall Meeting Room 502AB at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The event is free and open to the public.
For more information about CAA’s Awards for Distinction, please contact Lauren Stark, CAA manager of programs, at 212-691-1051, ext. 248.
November CAA News Published
posted by Christopher Howard — November 03, 2008
The November CAA News has just been posted to the CAA website. Click on the cover at left to download a PDF of the issue. Printed copies for individual and institutional members will be mailed soon, to arrive in mid-November.
Read about Leonardo López Luján, the renowned archaeologist who is giving the keynote address at Convocation at the 2009 Annual Conference in Los Angeles, and about Continental Rifts: Contemporary Time-Based Works of Africa, the CAA Annual Exhibition at UCLA’s Fowler Museum curated by Mary Nooter Roberts. The issue also contains important conference information, including how to apply to, and become a mentor for, the Artists’ Portfolio Review and Career Development Mentoring programs.
The deadline for submissions to the January issue is November 10, 2008. Please see the newsletter submission guidelines for instructions or write to Christopher Howard, CAA News editor.