University of Pennsylvania History of Art Department

Congratulations to the class of 2026!

1. History of Art MA graduates: Ava Cappitelli, Nina Huang, and Sawyer Leroux Taylor-Arnold

2. History of Art PhD graduate, Elliot Mackin, pictured with Prof. Ivan Drpić.

3. AAMW PhD graduates Helen Wong and Brigitte Keslinke, pictured with Darlene Jackson, Graduate Coordinator in the History of Art Department.

ARTH students Rita de Cássia do Monte Lima and Iris Péron-Ames receive the 2026 Stallybrass Prize in the History of Material Texts.

Graduate student Marina George also received an Honorable Mention.

This prize is awarded to the best essays in the study of material texts written by students at Penn, in both an undergraduate and a graduate category.

Rita de Cássia do Monte Lima, "On the Edge of the Herbal: Knowledge, Images and Unmaking in the Schoenberg Herbal (LJS 419)"

Judges’ citation: Rita’s precise and erudite investigation of an herbal held in the Schoenberg Collection is both deep and broad. She has prepared a detailed, thorough examination of one typical source, but her study expands far beyond that source into a provocative investigation of what she calls “alchemical herbals” and natural knowledge in the early modern period. Her essay weaves together a wide array of comparisons and scholarly approaches. In the end, she argues, herbals like this one “makes visible the faultlines between inherited traditions and emerging epistemic ideals.”

Iris Péron-Ames, “Enshrining the Word: The Shrine of the Cathach” (written for ARTH 5400, Professor Sarah Guérin)

Judges’ citation: The judges found this a mature piece of scholarship that shows real knowledge of a whole specialist field, early medieval reliquaries and their iconography. Péron-Ames gives a deep dive into the materiality, history, and significance of a single object, the Irish Shrine of the Cathach, a psalter associated with early Irish saints that was later enclosed within a decorated casing. In this essay, Péron-Ames displays not only her art-historical expertise but also her argumentational skills as she explores the meaning of the “word made flesh” in this eleventh-century object.

Marina George, "Following Threads: The Layered Histories of a Crazy Quilt attributed to Queen Lili'uokalani, the Last Sovereign of the Kingdom of Hawai'i."

TOMORROW - Wednesday, April 29, 2026 - 3:00pm in Jaffe 113

COLLOQUIUM - André Dombrowski, "Monet and the Invention of Fog"

Image: Claude Monet, Morning Haze, 1888, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Iris Péron-Ames receives the 2026 Rose Undergraduate Research Award for “Diana in the Garden: Image and Transgression in the Roman Hortus,” advised by Prof. Ann Kuttner.

Congratulations to Iris Péron-Ames for being inducted into Phi Beta Kappa!

TODAY - THUNE COLLOQUIUM PANEL, "The Forbidden Image: Art and Censorship Then and Now”

Wednesday, April 8, 2026 - 3:00pm to 4:30pm
Jaffe 113 with reception to follow in Jaffe 104

Shira Brisman, Associate Professor in Early Modern Art

Sharon Hayes, Professor and Chair of Fine Arts

Jessa Lingel, Associate Professor of Communication; Director, Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Program (GSWS); Affiliate Faculty in Cinema and Media Studies

Prof. Julie Nelson Davis has been appointed as the Ishibashi Foundation Visiting Scholar in the Kunsthistorisches Institut at the University of Zurich for Fall 2026.

https://www.khist.uzh.ch/de/chairs/ostasien/gastdozierende/jnelsondavis.html

ARTH Major Amanda Rodriguez (BA’26) accepted her offer of admission at the History of Art PhD Program at the University of California, Berkeley. She starts in Fall 2026. Congratulations!!!

ARTH Minor Agustina Hufschmid will be presenting at the 2026 SUNY New Paltz Undergraduate Art History Symposium on Saturday, April 11th at 5pm.

"The Transformation of Tiananmen Square: Comparing Imperial and Communist Spatial Organization in Beijing”

REGISTER and see full program at:

https://hawksites.newpaltz.edu/2026arthistorystudentsymposium/2026-symposium-schedule/sat-4-6-sessions15a-c/

Thursday, April 9, 2026 - 6:00pm to 9:00pm
The Incubation Series Exhibition Opening
"Combinatorium"
Automat Collective (1400 N American St, 1st Floor)

REGISTER:

Exhibition Opening Reception: Combinatorium · Luma Join us for the opening of Combinatorium on Thursday, April 9th, 6-9 p.m. at Automat Collective. Combinatorium features the work of UPenn MFA candidates…