The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute recently appointed Dr. Aruna D’Souza as associate director of its research and academic program. D’Souza, a noted scholar of nineteenth-century French art and feminist art history, most recently served as an associate professor at the State University of New York’s Binghamton campus. D’Souza will join Michael Ann Holly, the research and academic program’s Starr Director, in administering the wide range of scholarly events and activities that make it one of the most distinctive academic initiatives in the field of visual arts.
D’Souza holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. She graduated with honors from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, earning a bachelor of arts degree. The author of Cézanne’s Bathers: Biography and the Erotics of Paint (Penn State University Press, 2008) D’Souza has written and lectured extensively on a wide variety of topics pertaining to both French and feminist art. While a Clark fellow, she conducted research for Open Secrets: Intimacy Between Street and Home in Nineteenth-Century Paris, a study of how changing ideas of closeness (often prompted by new technologies, such as the telephone, or new institutions, such as the department store) were visualized in late nineteenth-century painting and popular illustration.
“During her tenure here at the Clark, Aruna impressed her colleagues with her keen intellect, blending her appreciation for the history of art with a commitment to contemporary art,” said Michael Conforti, director of the Clark. “This combination makes her an ideal choice to guide future research and academic projects at the Clark.”
“We are very pleased to have such a vibrant, energetic colleague joining our staff,” said Holly. “Her broad fascination in the philosophical and theoretical foundations of the history of art, and her engaging and dynamic personality, give us great confidence that Aruna will contribute immensely to the imaginative ambitions of the Research and Academic Program.”
The Clark is unusual in that its dual mission as both a museum and a center for research and higher education allows its research and academic program to encourage fresh approaches to the understanding of issues and objects from a variety of periods and genres of art. Visiting fellowships are awarded each year to promising and established art historians, critics, and museum curators with the aim of fostering a critical commitment to inquiry in the theory, history, and interpretation of visual representations. To date, the research and academic program has hosted more than 230 scholars from more than 26 countries from around the world. RAP’s Mellon Fellowship program further encourages global participation in programs devoted to research related to the visual arts. Clark Conferences, Symposia, Lectures, Seminars, Colloquia, and Conversations, hosted in Williamstown and in a variety of international venues, focus on vital topics in the field and address questions that contribute to a broader public understanding of the role of visual art in culture.
The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm (daily in July and August). Admission is free November through May. Admission is $15 June 1 through October 31. Admission is free for children 18 and younger, members, and students with valid ID. For more information, call 413 458 2303
clarkart.edu
