The Sarofim School of Fine Arts’ Art History Department proudly presents the 2020-21 Art History Visiting Scholar Lecture with Rebecca VanDiver, Assistant Professor of African American Art at Vanderbilt University. 

African American artist Loïs Mailou Jones (1905-1998) was unapologetic in her desire to make history–professionally and artistically. This lecture considers Jones’s legacy as both an artist and an artist educator on the canon of African American art. We will also consider the significance of and challenges faced when writing Black women into the canon of Western art. 

Rebecca VanDiver is Assistant Professor of African American art Vanderbilt University. She is the author of Designing a New Tradition: Loïs Mailou Jones and the Aesthetics of Blackness (Pennsylvania State University Press 2020). Her writing has appeared in American ArtCallalooArchives of American Art Journal, and elsewhere. Her research has been generously supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute for Citizens and Scholars, the ACLS, and others.

This virtual event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP below to receive the link.

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