Art History Faculty

Alexander Dumbadze
Alexander Dumbadze is Associate Professor of Art History. His essays and criticism have been published in a variety of national and international publications. He is also a co-founder and former president of the Society of Contemporary Art Historians. He teaches courses on contemporary art, theory, and historiography. Read More
Gillian Elliott
Dr. Gillian B. Elliott is a historian of Medieval art focusing on the political context of Romanesque sculpture in the Holy Roman Empire, specifically in northern Italy and in Alsace, France. Read MoreDr. Elise A. Friedland
Elise A. Friedland holds a BA in Classics from Williams College and an MA and PhD in Classical Art and Archaeology from the University of Michigan.Read More
Philip Jacks
Philip Jacks is a Professor in the Art History Program within the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design. Most recently, Professor Jacks designed and oversaw construction of the new Seminar Room and Graduate Lounge on the first floor of Smith Hall of Art.Read MoreAndy Johnson
Andy Johnson is the Program Administrator for the Art History Program and Director of Gallery 102. Andy is a DC-based arts writer, editor, and art historian.Read More
Christiane Joost-Gaugier
Professor Joost-Gaugier earned her AB, AM, and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. She was awarded an honorary PBK degree from Harvard University for Lifetime Achievement.Read More
Lisa Lipinski
Lisa Lipinski's teaching and research interests include modern and contemporary art and theoretical approaches to the visual arts, Surrealism and the art of René Magritte, the body in modern and contemporary art, and Abraham Lincoln’s influence on America art and culture. Read More
Katherine Markoski
Katherine Markoski is an art historian with a specialty in modern and contemporary art. As the 2009-10 recipient of the Dedalus Foundation Dissertation Fellowship and a 2014-15 Smithsonian American Art Museum Postdoctoral Fellowship, Markoski examined the significance of notions of community to artistic practice at Black Mountain College.Read More
Lynn Matheny
Dr. Matheny currently serves as Interim Head of Interpretation at the National Gallery of Art, leading a team of educators to shape interpretation of both the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions.Read More
Cristin McKnight Sethi
Professor McKnight Sethi is a curator and historian of South Asian art. Her research and teaching interests include textiles and folk art, the intersection of gender and practices of making, networks of circulation and exchange, the anthropology of art, and postcolonial theory.Read More
Mika Natif
Mika Natif is an Islamic Art Historian who focuses on trans-cultural artistic connections between Muslim societies and Europe, diversity and religious tolerance in Islamic art, and the role of women as patrons, artists, and subject matter in the pre-modern Persianate spheres.Read More
Bibiana Obler
Professor Obler's research and teaching interests include modern and contemporary art and craft from the late nineteenth century to the present, with emphases on twentieth-century avant-gardes, theories of gender and cross-cultural representation, photography, applied arts, and intellectual history.Read More
Paul Reuther
Paul Reuther is the Visual Resources Coordinator. Paul is a painter, a teacher, and an image collections curator. Paul currently teaches Technical Art History (AH3170) and heads the Visual Resources Center in the Art History Program. Read More
Lilien F. Robinson
A specialist in nineteenth-century European art, Professor Robinson’s primary research focus since 2003 has been on Serbian painting. Her most recent research includes a comparative study of Serbian and French history painting in “History Painting: Its Transformative Implications,” (in press) and a long term book project on nineteenth-century Serbian painting.Read More
Sandra Tropper
Sandra Tropper has been a fine art appraiser and consultant in the Washington D.C. area for more than 25 years. She holds the designation of Fellow in the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and has a specialty in Fine Arts.Read More