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Art History

‘In These Times: The Intricate Riddle of Life’
Cartoon of hands open with books and flowers flowing from the palms.

Image: Marina Muun

‘In These Times: The Intricate Riddle of Life’

The first three episodes of the OMNIA podcast’s fourth season discuss the link between making art and making meaning, and how creativity shines a light on the way out of adversity in tough times, past and present.

The changing face of portraiture at Penn
portrait in leidy labs

Homepage image: A portrait in Leidy honors Nathan Francis Mossell, who, in 1882, became the first African American student to earn a medical degree from Penn. With its placement in the accessible portion of the building’s stairway, this new portrait gallery is highly visible to students, staff, faculty, and visitors who spend time in the Biology Department.

The changing face of portraiture at Penn

Efforts around campus aim to diversify those honored in portraits and rethink how to approach representation through art.

Katherine Unger Baillie

Annie Ma bridges the contemporary with classics
Woman in formal dress stands in front of blue geometric artwork

 Annie Ma foregrounding artwork by Jet LeParti.

Annie Ma bridges the contemporary with classics

Annie Ma, a junior in the School of Arts & Sciences, responded to the rise in anti-Asian violence with a renewed sense of identity and purpose, reconciling her love for classics with her love for contemporary East Asian culture.

Kristina García

Inspiring the next generation of archive scholars
students examine a long scroll in the archive class

Homepage image: Graduate students in the Inside the Archive course look on as Bill Whitaker, the curator and collections manager at the Weitzman School of Design’s Architectural Archives, unfurls an artifact from the Louis Kahn Collection.

Inspiring the next generation of archive scholars

Through Inside the Archive, a course taught by Liliane Weissberg of the School of Arts & Sciences, Penn students explore what an archive is, how history gets written, and what is ahead in a digital future.
Keepers of the cultural memory
An old and large book upside down on a table, being held by two sets of hands, one gloved, the other not. There are boxes and other materials all around.

Workers at the rare manuscripts and old printed books department of the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum store them in cardboard boxes to reduce the risk of damage in the event of an attack in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Friday, March 4, 2022. (Image: AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

AP Photo/Bernat Armangue

Keepers of the cultural memory

In wartime, saving human lives is a top priority. But secondary considerations often include preserving the cultural heritage also under siege. Penn experts offer their thoughts as the situation in Ukraine continues to unfold.

Michele W. Berger

Justin McDaniel on life, death, religion, and his latest book
A row of gilded Buddha figures sit under a canopy swathed in red cloth

Buddhist temples (like the one above in Wat Pho, Thailand) are often ornately decorated with gilded statues, flowers, and incense. “Religion,” says McDaniel, “is often a celebration, not an austere retreat.” (Image: Frida Aguilar Estrada on Unsplash.)

Justin McDaniel on life, death, religion, and his latest book

In his new book, “Wayward Distractions,” the School of Arts & Sciences’ Justin McDaniel compiles articles on art and material culture spanning his 20-plus years of scholarship.

Kristina García

The philosophy of visual studies
Three students standing outside

The Class of 2022 has eight visual studies majors, including (from left) Zuqi Fu of Beijing, Eli Ricanati of Santa Monica, California, and Morgan Jones of Albany, New York.

The philosophy of visual studies

Founded 20 years ago, the interdisciplinary major of visual studies creates a bridge for students to combine interests, including philosophy, art history, architecture, fine arts, and psychology.
The great Helga hype
Slate.com

The great Helga hype

Gwendolyn Dubois Shaw of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke about the painter Andrew Wyeth. “His work was so out of fashion that it never went out of fashion. It was consistently American,” she said. “Wyeth had a really strong, enduring appeal.”