Robert Swain Gifford painting titled A Kansas Ranch

Homecoming: Five Decades of American Art Studies at the University of Kansas

A Franklin Murphy Symposium celebrating KU's graduate program in American art history & honoring the career of Dr. Charles Eldredge, Hall Distinguished Professor Emeritus of American Art & Culture.
Over 20 KU PhD alumni presented talks on aspects of their research in American art.

Murphy Distinguished Alumni Lecture

November 8, 2018
Murphy Distinguished Alumni Lecture
Dr. Randall Griffey (PhD '99), Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art
"The Yellow Brick Road to The Met: Reflections on Kansas, Art History, Then, and Now"
Spencer Museum of Art Auditorium (SMA 309)

Griffey speaking at lecturn showing powerpoint

Gallery Talk in the exhibition “Larry Schwarm: Kansas Farmers”

November 9, 2018
Gallery Talk in the exhibition “Larry Schwarm: Kansas Farmers”
Kate Meyer (PhD ’11), Spencer Museum of Art Curator of Works on Paper
Connie Perkins Central Court, Spencer Museum of Art

Meyer giving art talk to group of people

Gallery Talk in the exhibition “Soundings”

November 9, 2018
Gallery Talk in the exhibition “Soundings”
Charles Eldredge, Hall Professor Emeritus of American Art and Culture
Larry and Barbara Marshall Family Balcony, Spencer Museum of Art

Eldredge art talk with group

Symposium Session I

November 9, 2018
Emily Stamey (PhD ’09), Curator of Exhibitions, Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, “Glass Slippers, Poison Apples, and Contemporary Art”

Brittany Lockard (PhD ‘12), Assistant Professor of Art History and Creative Industries, Wichita State University, “Cindy Sherman's Disaster Series: Vomit and the Rise of Eating Disorders in America”

Ellen C. Raimond (PhD ’16), Assistant Curator for Academic Programs, Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, "Stars, Stripes and Immigration: The Self-Portraits of Tseng Kwong Chi, Nikki S. Lee, and Annu Palakunnathu Matthew"

Mindy N. Besaw (PhD ‘15), Curator, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, “History is Painted by the Victors: Paradigm Shifts in American Art”

Kerry A. Morgan (PhD ’02), Director of Gallery and Exhibition Programs, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, “De-Centering Whiteness: History Lessons from Sam Durant's Scaffold”

Group of people at art talk

Franklin Murphy Keynote Lecture

November 9, 2018
Franklin Murphy Keynote Lecture
Dr. Elizabeth Broun (PhD '76), Director Emerita, Smithsonian American Art Museum
"Charles Eldredge: Action Figure on the Potomac"
Alderson Auditorium, Kansas Memorial Union

Group of people at lecture

Symposium Session II

November 10, 2018
Jerry N. Smith (PhD ’12), Chief Curator, Dayton Art Institute, “A Look at Washington on His Deathbed, 1851, by Junius Brutus Stearns”

Jill R. Chancey (PhD ’06), Assistant Professor of Art History, Nicholls State University, “On the Threshold: Eastman Johnson's Piccolo Player”

Letha Clair Robertson (PhD ’10), Professor of Art History, Collin College, “Art + Industry in a Confederate POW Camp: Carved Powder Horns from Camp Ford”

Elizabeth A. Williams (PhD ’15), David and Peggy Rockefeller Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, RISD Museum, “Gorham Silver: Designing Brilliance, 1850-1970”

Group of people at art talk

Symposium Session III

November 10, 2018
Deborah J. Wilk (PhD ’05), Associate Professor of Art History, University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, “Stay-at-Home Moms: Performing Motherhood at the Border”

JoLee G. Stephens (PhD ’11), Adjunct Instructor of Art History and Humanities, Howard Community College, “Staging the Exotic: American Art and the Dance of Denishawn”

Cynda L. Benson (PhD ’94), Professor of Art History, Savannah College of Art and Design, “Romaine Brooks and the Theatrical Gothic”

Lara Kuykendall (PhD ’11), Associate Professor of Art History, Ball State University, “Florine Stettheimer’s Dada Patriotism”

Nancy Strow Sheley (PhD ’00), Professor Emerita of English, California State University Long Beach, “Becoming Agnes Pelton”

Woman giving PowerPoint lecture

Symposium Session IV

November 10, 2018
Mark White (PhD ’99), Wylodean and Bill Saxon Director, Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, “Catharsis and Spectacle in Will Shuster's Zozobra”

Lea Rosson DeLong (PhD ’83), Independent Scholar and Curator, Des Moines, Iowa, “Depression and Disappointment: Gordon Samstag's Young Man Desires Position”

J. Richard Gruber (PhD ’87), Director Emeritus, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, University of New Orleans, “Thomas Hart Benton: Seeing the South”

Reed Anderson (PhD ’08), Associate Professor of Art History, Kansas City Art Institute, “Grant Wood's Sultry Night and the Politics of Depicting Men Bathing”

Shirley Reece-Hughes (PhD ’06), Curator of Paintings and Sculpture, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, “West Texas Incident: Everett Spruce's Surreal Regionalism”

Five panelists seated

Symposium Session V

November 10, 2018
Kathryn Boyer (PhD ’94), Independent Art Historian and Owner of Boyer Ink, Trollhättan, Sweden, “Compartment C, Car 293: Exploring the Realism of Edward Hopper”

Donald E. Sloan (PhD ’04), Assistant Professor Emeritus of Art History, University of Wisconsin – La Crosse, "The Rise and Fall of Political Art"

Laura K. Minton (MA ‘14, ABD), Curatorial Assistant, Prints and Drawings, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, “Traveling in Place: The Art of Joseph E. Yoakum”

Samantha Lyons (MA ‘12, ABD), Graduate Research Assistant, Kress Foundation Department of Art History, University of Kansas, “All in Good Taste: Robert Kushner's Fashion Feasts, c. 1970”

Sam Watson (PhD ’05), Assistant Professor of Art History, University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, “Embodied Difference: Andy Warhol and R.C. Gorman Share a Meal”

Five panelists seated

Concluding Reception

November 10, 2018
Symposium speakers, honored guests, and the Eldredge family attended a closing reception dinner held at the Adams Alumni Center.

Groups of people seated at tables