In the 2024-25 academic year, we are proud to bring back the Arts Masterclasses series. There will be 3 masterclasses per semester. We’ll visit precontact Latin America, 14th-century Europe and travel with the African diaspora, among other topics. All masterclasses will be held on Thursdays from 1-2 pm, via Zoom. The Baruch community is warmly encouraged to attend.
Register for one or all of the sessions at https://bit.ly/artsmasterclasses. All sessions are open to the Baruch community free of charge.
September 26th, 2024
1-2 pm, on Zoom
The Altarpiece of the Lamb of God: Perspectives on the Ghent Altarpiece
Karen Shelby, associate professor, Baruch College
The altarpiece was one of the most important aspects of the medieval Christian church. Spaces above, behind, and on altarpieces were adorned with objects and images that reflected liturgy and church history designed to be seen on or in proximity to the altar for purposes of celebrating the sacred. The famous Ghent Altarpiece (1432) also incorporated images of local Flemish sites near the city of Ghent. Beyond its sacred role in Sin-Baafs, the central panel pulled viewers into an expansive and exotic landscape taking them on a mystical and secular journey beyond Ghent. The moment the Ghent Altarpiece was unveiled to the public, on May 6, 1432, it became an object of pilgrimage for artists and was viewed by an untold number of visitors. Herbert and Jan van Eyck’s use of oil paint provided a level of detail that was unprecedented. At the time of its conception, the altarpiece represented a new artistic vision, in which the idealization of the medieval tradition gave way to an exacting observation of nature and un-idealized human representation. The altarpiece continues to bring tourists to the city of Ghent serving as an almost singular identifier. This talk will outline a brief history of the altarpiece and discuss several twenty-first century activities, artworks, and exhibitions inspired by the altarpiece.
October 31st, 2024
1-2 pm on Zoom
Wari Feather Panels: An Introduction to Andean Art
Mary Brown, Professor of Art History, Moravian University
In Andean culture, textiles are a key form of social and political expression. The pre-Inka Wari (c. 600-900 CE) were among the Andean cultures who excelled in the creation of textiles ranging from personal adornment to large-scale display pieces. Far surpassing merely decorative items, these creations represent a record of meaning rendered in materials, techniques, and imagery. Among the most celebrated Wari creations are a series of large featherwork panels assembled to create a stunning blue and yellow abstract design. This session explores the creation and function of these panels and what they can reveal about the role of material culture in Wari life, while introducing broader concepts of Andean art such as textile primacy, abstraction, and art as an animate experience.
November 21st, 2024
1-2 pm on Zoom
The Head of a Woman (Woman) by Elizabeth Catlett: An Anomaly Within The Artist’s Practice
Heather Nickels, Doctoral student in art history at Columbia University
Many lesser-known artists contributed to the Harlem Renaissance, such as the African American and Mexican artist, Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012). This talk centers around Head of a Woman (Woman) (1942-1944), a painting by Catlett, who is largely remembered as a master printmaker and sculptor. Like her prints and sculptures, this painting combines the many influences from which she pulled inspiration: Mexican muralists and printmakers, historic Pre-Columbian and contemporary West African sculpture, Cubists and other European modernists, and fellow African American artists working in the United States and abroad. In examining this painting, we will explore one of the major themes the artist returned to throughout her long career: the experiences, struggles and accomplishments of Black women across the world.
February 27, 2025
1-2 pm on Zoom
The Art and Career of Yasuo Kuniyoshi
Tom Wolf, Professor of Art History at Bard College
Yasuo Kuniyoshi was the most important Asian American artist in the United States in the first half of the 20th Century, thanks to his individualistic painting style. In 1948 he had the honor of being the first living artist to have a retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. It was an ironic honor since, due to immigration laws, he was not allowed to become an American citizen, although he was a fervent opponent of Japanese aggression during World War II. This presentation will trace the evolution of Kuniyoshi’s distinctive modernist style, which blends elements of American folk art and Japanese aesthetics. Recognizing Baruch’s historic identity as a college focused on business, I will conclude with some stories about how Kuniyoshi’s work has fared in the art market.
March 20, 2025
1-2 pm on Zoom
The Power of the Photo Club Network: Connecting Photographers Across Ideological Divides and Political Borders
Alise Tifentale, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art History, CUNY Kingsborough and Queensborough
Through the exhibition history of one print, this talk examines the power of the photo club network—a global system of self-curated, self-financed, and self-edited publications, exhibitions, and competitions that connected photographers across ideological divides and political borders throughout the twentieth century. Double Profile (1942) by German-Argentine photographer Annemarie Heinrich (1912–2005) is an example of her signature style, which involved the motif of the double and the technique of combination printing—a creative method that she developed in her work for illustrated magazines in the 1940s. Heinrich was an accomplished portrait, theater, and cinema photographer whose portraits of glamorous celebrities regularly appeared on the covers of Argentina’s major illustrated magazines. In addition to her successful professional career, Heinrich was also a dedicated participant in photo club culture. Her dedication is embodied in a unique collage that documents the global travels of Double Profile during the 1940s and 1950s through international photo club exhibitions in Latin America, USA, Europe, and Asia. In conversation with a forthcoming major exhibition “Global Pictorialism” at Tate Modern in London (2025–2026), this talk highlights the legacy of the photo club network.
April 24, 2025
1-2 pm on Zoom
Original Etchings by Emil Singer – Transatlantic Connections at the Jewish Museum Vienna
Caitlin Gura, Curator, Jewish Museum Vienna
In 2019 and 2023, the Jewish Museum Vienna received two separate donations of original etchings by Austrian artist Emil Singer (1881–1942) from two American collectors. The artworks depict a pastel-colored Alt-Wien (Old Vienna) featuring opulent buildings on the Ringstrasse and the romantic idyll of the Viennese countryside, among other scenes. The works were produced predominantly during the Interwar Period when the Habsburg monarchy had been dissolved and the fledgling First Republic of Austria was founded. During this time, tourism began to flourish. The etchings proved an affordable, yet still valuable art form and souvenir. Through an analysis of a small selection of etchings, this lecture takes a deep dive into the interwoven stories behind these nostalgic renderings: It will explore the artist’s continued efforts to earning a living despite the Nuremberg Laws and his American clientele’s (ultimately unsuccessful) attempts to save him from persecution, the dedication of particular individuals in keeping Emil Singer’s legacy alive in the decades following the Holocaust, and issues of provenance and restitution.