UCLA Art History

Dr. Steven Nelson, UCLA Art History Professor Emeritus has been appointed Inaugural Executive Director of Sam Gilliam Foundation.

The Board of Directors' announcement today ushers in the next chapter for the organization in advancing its mission of advocating the values and vision of pioneering artist Sam Gilliam through exhibitions, scholarship, and programs that elevate emerging artists and inspire the civic activism that was central to his practice and teaching.

Read more about this prestigious appointment at the foundation's website:
https://samgilliamfoundation.org/news/dr-steven-nelson-appointed-inaugural-executive-director-of-sam-gilliam-foundation/

Congrats Prof. Nelson!

Congratulations to Benjamin Krut, who is the one and only student graduating this academic year, completing four academic majors!

All of Benjamin's majors are in the UCLA College Division of Humanities: art history, comparative literature, Near Eastern languages and cultures, and philosophy.

A feature article has been published about his journey at UCLA on the Humanities website: https://humanities.ucla.edu/news/benjamin-krut-four-majors-class-of-2026/ so check it out!

Congrats Benjamin on this rare and impressive achievement!

The Bruin who landed the quad - UCLA Humanities Meet Ben Krut, the only member of the UCLA Class of 2026 who can call himself a quadruple major.

What a phenomenal session! This week, students in Professor Thiago Puglieri's inaugural Technical Art History GE course (ART HIS 26) had the exclusive opportunity to connect directly with some of the most visionary leaders shaping the future of research and conservation.

In this conversation, they dived into the incredible, dynamic career trajectories, unique challenges, and possibilities that exist when you cross the academic aisle and work at the intersection of the Arts & Science.

A massive, heartfelt thank you to the incredibly generous guest panelists for sharing their time, insights, and wisdom:

- Dr. Tom Learner – Head of Science, Getty Conservation Institute (GCI)

- Dr. Andrew Perchuk – Interim Director, Getty Research Institute (GRI)

- Dr. Rachel Rivenc – Head of Conservation & Preservation, Getty Research Institute (GRI)

UCLA Department of Art History's faculty, graduate students and staff kicked off the Memorial Day weekend with a visit to LACMA's new David Geffen Galleries last Friday.

UCLA alum David Bardeen, Assistant Curator, European Painting and Sculpture and his colleague Alexandra Kaczenski, Assistant Curator, European Painting and Sculpture, guided the group through the vast and eclectic collection in the new gallery.

A huge thanks to them both for their time and expertise in describing the diverse artwork on display!

We highly recommend a visit to LACMA to view the amazing exhibit for yourself!

Remember, admission is free to county residents after 3 PM.

Professor Tiffany Barber will be giving a TEDxUCLA Talk on Tuesday, May 26 entitled "Data Consciousness: The Ethics of Seeing in the Age of AI."

Art History undergrad Cylin Wang is this year’s organizer and has put together an incredible group of speakers for this year's talk.

Ten TEDx Talks around this year's theme of "Renaissance Revival" will be filmed live for an audience of 350 UCLA students and community members at Northwest Auditorium on campus from 6-9 pm.

In the entire TED Talk repertoire, fewer than a handful are delivered by art historians so the addition of Professor Barber’s talk is especially meaningful!

Check out the details here: http://bit.ly/4nDiF40

Congrats Professor Barber!

TEDxUCLA Pitch Check out this Presentation designed by CYLIN WANG.

Professor Stella Nair will be presenting a talk at the Stanford Symposium on Music and the Brain on Saturday, May 23rd.

Professor Nair, will present a talk entitled “Music, Architecture, and Soundscapes in the Ancient to Early Modern Andes.”

“Listening in the Past, Sound, Space, and the Aesthetics of the Sublime” is the title of this annual event hosted by the Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.

The symposium is a gathering of scholars, engineers, and artists who collaborated on a multi-year research initiative exploring the interaction between architectural and natural spaces, and the sounds that are created and experienced within them.

What makes a place ‘sacred’? What is it about architectural acoustics that can elicit awe? How did ritual sounds and music develop for these spaces?

For complete details, check out:
https://ccrma.stanford.edu/trt/symposia.html

"No Place like Home: Eighteenth-Century London in an Age of Change," an exhibition curated by the wonderful students in Professor Zirwat Chowdhury's winter quarter Ahmanson seminar will be open at UCLA's Clark Library until June 16.

Cover design, featuring portraits of each student, by senior art history major, Juno Lumetta.

Dr. Jolene Rickard gave the Department’s annual Gretchen Taylor Millson lecture on “Creative Defiance as Sensory Ecology” yesterday.

In her expansive and insightful talk, Rickard challenged us to rethink the very structures through which knowledge has been organized, such as what counts as art, what counts as theory, whose histories shape institutions, and how Indigenous knowledge systems continue to generate new intellectual and creative futures.

Dr. Jolene Rickard is a professor in the Departments of Art History and Art at Cornell University. She is one of the most influential Indigenous intellectuals working today — a Tuscarora artist, theorist, curator, educator, and member of the Hodinöhsö:ni Confederacy.

Rickard’s scholarship and creative practice have fundamentally reshaped the fields of Indigenous art history, visual studies, museum studies, and contemporary art.

We would like to thank Professor Rickard for her profoundly eye-opening talk and we hope to continue with this deeply engaging conversation!

The Williams Andrews Clark Memorial Library, the UCLA Dept of Art History and the Winter 2026 Ahmanson Seminar are pleased to present "No Place Like Home, Eighteenth-Century London in a Age of Change."

This exhibit opening will be held at the Clark on Tuesday, May 12th from 3-4:30 PM.

All are welcome to attend the exhibit and a chance to meet the curators!

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United States and Peru, on Wednesday, May 20th, the Fowler Museum, in collaboration with the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, Waystation Initiative, CMRS Center for Early Global Studies, Andean Laboratory at UCLA, and the Consulate General of Peru in Los Angeles, will host "Fowler Talks: Across Borders, Across Time," an in-person public program spanning the afternoon and evening.

The event will feature Carlos Wester La Torre and remarks by Christopher Donnan, director emeritus of the Fowler Museum and Cotsen Institute at UCLA, Silvia Forni, Shirley & Ralph Shapiro Director of the Fowler Museum, and our very own Stella Nair, professor of art history and director of the Andean Laboratory at UCLA.

Kindly RSVP, all are welcome!