Full-Time Faculty

Clement Akpang
Clement Akpang

Assistant Professor of Art History, Art History Program

Clement Akpang, Corcoran's Art History Program, holds a PhD in art and art theory/history from the University of Bedfordshire in Luton, U.K. Prior to coming to GW, he was a Junior Core Research Fellow for the Institute for Advanced Studies at the Central European University in Hungary.

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photo of alexander dumbadze
Alexander Dumbadze

Associate Professor & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Art History

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.
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Lisa Lipinski
Lisa Lipinski

Associate Professor of Art History, Art History Program

Lisa Lipinski is art historian and specialist in the fields of modern and contemporary art. She teaches courses in the history and theory of photography, 19th and 20th-century art in Latin America, the United States, and Europe, and Art Historiography. Read More  


Mika Natif
Mika Natif

Associate Professor of Art History, Art History Program

A specialist in Islamic art, Mika Natif focuses on the intercultural exchanges and global connections that Muslim societies forged with Europe during the premodern era.
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hand drawn sketch of bibiana obler by student, Travis Beauchene
Bibiana Obler

Program Head and Associate Professor of Art History

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.
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photo of barbara von barghahn
Barbara von Barghahn

Professor of Art History; Transfer and Study Abroad Advisor, Art History Program

Professor von Barghahn is a Professor of Art History. She teaches Northern Renaissance and Baroque art, Spanish and Portuguese art, colonial art of Latin America and Brazil. In 2011, Professor von Barghahn was the curatorial advisor to the National Gallery of Art exhibition, The Invention of Glory: Afonso V and the Pastrana Tapestries, which traveled to museums in Dallas and San Diego.
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