Faculty Publications

Wells Article Published in American Art Journal

American Art Fall 2020 Cover

Wells’s contribution to a “Commentaries” feature edited by Kristen Pat Buick on “Seeing the Survey Anew: White Racial Formation in the History of American Art, is “Indexing Whiteness to American Design,” which examines how the Index of American Design, a WPA project of the 1930s and 1940s, helped transform understandings of White racial identity in the United States. In the wake of the Immigration Act of 1924, Euro-Americans were seen less as a malignant horde of separate races and more as a benign collection of ethnicities that made up a unified White or “Caucasian” race. The Index of American Design produced thousands of illustrations documenting decorative arts before 1900 and constructed a canon of American art around these White ethnic groups. The Index excluded most objects made by Native, African, and Asian Americans and instead sought out “folk art” produced by relatively isolated or archaic groups descended from European immigrants. By celebrating the diversity of White Americans and presenting their material culture as the basis for a unified American art, the Index of American Design helped codify White racial formation and its underpinning of American national identity.

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Schaefer Publishes Book: Gustave Doré and the Modern Biblical Imagination

Book Cover Gustave Dore

Gustave Doré and the Modern Biblical Imagination explores the role of biblical imagery in modernity through the lens of Gustave Doré (1832-83), whose work is among the most reproduced and adapted scriptural imagery in the history of Judeo-Christianity.

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Leson Article Published in Bulletin of the John Rylands Library

“‘With the Lady of Coucy’: Noble Communities and the Completion of the Psalter-Hours John Rylands MS Lat. 117.” Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 96:2 (2020): 19–45.Judging from repetitious appearances of her marital arms in the painted line-endings, the Psalter-Hours John Rylands Library Latin MS 117 probably belonged to Jeanne of Flanders (c.1272–1333), daughter of Count Robert III of Flanders and in 1288 second wife to Enguerrand IV of Coucy. Yet the line-endings also contain some 1,800 diminutive painted escutcheons, many of which refer to other members of the local nobility active during the 1280s. This study, based on an exhaustive survey of the total heraldic and codicological evidence, suggests that the majority of the extant Psalter predated the Hours and that the two parts were combined after the 1288 marriage. The ‘completed’ manuscript bears witness to major events that unfolded in and around the Coucy barony over the course of the decade. It suggests a complex relationship between Jeanne of Flanders and a lesser member of the local nobility, a certain Marien of Moÿ, who may have served as her attendant.

Leson Article Published in Revue française d’héraldique et de sigillographie – Études en ligne

“The Coucy, the Boves, and Heraldry’s Coming of Age in the Resafa Cup.” Revue française d’héraldique et de sigillographie – Études en ligne (Mar. 2021): 1–28.A cup unearthed in 1982 at Resafa, Syria, is thought to be the earliest extant object decorated with an ensemble of authentic arms. The vessel is generally associated with the French baron and crusader Raoul I of Coucy (d. 1191/92), who died on the Third Crusade. Yet Raoul’s powerful uncle Robert of Boves (d. June 1191) was likewise present at the great siege of Acre and is believed to have borne the same arms, a situation that has so far received little consideration with respect to the Resafa cup. This essay weighs documentary and sigillographic evidence for both branches of the extended Boves-Coucy family against the heraldic evidence of the cup. While a perfect answer to the vessel’s heraldic puzzle remains elusive, the grander narrative of familial history and identity that emerges underscores the cup’s unparalleled place in the history of the heraldic arts. Its precocious collection of shared family arms epitomizes a critical moment in the development of heraldry, when the continuing proliferation of noble households necessitated the visual strategy of brisures. Ultimately, a longue durée perspective on Boves-Coucy heraldry recommends that we consider the cup’s arms with respect to anxieties about the disintegration of noble power and identity.

Wells Article Published in Archive of American Art Journal

Part of a special issue on Feminism and Archives, “Reading Feminism in Modern Tapestry’s Archive” examines the archive for modern tapestry, a largely forgotten medium but one that, Wells argues elsewhere, played a crucial role in the development of modernist abstraction. In this article, Wells provides a feminist reading of modern tapestry’s archive by using it to demonstrate the multiple forms of essential, yet often overlooked, labor that women have historically performed in the production of art. Wells argues that the women’s movement of the 1970s transformed the historical record but also advanced a relatively narrow idea of “women’s art” that focused on textiles and other domestic crafts at the expense of the kinds of administrative, commercial, and marketing roles revealed by the archive. An “archival reading of feminism” can shed light on these omissions in the historical record.Smithsonian Archives of American Art

Wells Publishes in Interior Provocations

Prof. Kay Wells has recently published an essay on “The Uncanny Design of the Thorne Miniature Rooms” in the edited volume, Interior Provocations: History, Theory, and Practice of Autonomous Interiors, with Routledge press. Wells’s essay analyzes the uncanny aesthetic effect produced by the Thorne Miniature Rooms, a set of dollhouse sized period rooms designed in the 1930s by the wealthy Chicago socialite Narcissa Niblack Thorne. This research is part of Wells’s next book project, Uncanny Revivals: Designing Early America during the Rise of Fascism, which examines the nationalist politics and uncanny aesthetics of colonial revival design projects in the 1930s and 1940s. Book available for sale

Tiffany Publishes e-Spania Article

Professor Tanya Tiffany has recently published the following Spanish language article: “El pincel y la pluma en la Vida de sor Estefanía de la Encarnación,” co-authored with Laura R. Bass, in “Arte y Literatura en el Siglo de Oro: el legado crítico de Emilio Orozco Díaz,” special issue, e-Spania. Revue interdisciplinaire d’études hispaniques médiévales et modernes, no. 35 (2020). http://journals.openedition.org/e-spania/33822. [Peer-reviewed article]

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Tiffany Article Published in Sixteenth Century Journal

This essay examines the religious practice of Sor Margarita de la Cruz (1567–1633), a niece of Philip II who spent her adult life as a nun at the Descalzas Reales in Madrid. At the center of Margarita’s devotional practice were highly lifelike polychrome sculptures of the Christ child, which she cradled and clothed, imitating and reinforcing the dynastic rituals of motherhood performed by court women. I argue that Margarita’s engagement with the infant Christ helped her negotiate the boundaries between her religious vocation and her purported duty to bear children and extend the Habsburg line. Especially important to my analysis of the sacred and worldly frameworks of Margarita’s piety is the hagiographical Vida  written by her confessor. Published in an exquisitely illustrated tome, Margarita’s Vida  codified, in both content and material production, her status as an exemplar of the Pietas Austriaca , the fervent Catholicism central to the Habsburg’s self-definition.

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Johung published in PUBLIC Journal

Johung’s article, “Pluripotent Selves and the Performance of Stem Cells” was published in a special volume on Interspecies Communication (PUBLIC Journal #59, eds. Meredith Tromble and Patricia Olynyk) in July 2019.

The article explores Guy Ben-Ary’s performance installation, cellF, which utilizes induced pluripotent stem cell technologies in order to regenerate his skin cells into a neural network capable of interacting with musicians in real time and space. The article considers the entanglement of pluripotent stem cell and non-living catalyst as necessary for both the endless renewal and redistribution of life beyond itself.

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Johung publishes new book, Vital Forms: Biological Art, Architecture, and the Dependencies of Life

Jennifer Johung’s second monograph, Vital Forms: Biological Art, Architecture, and the Forming of Life, was published by the University of Minnesota Press in October 2019.

The book examines cutting-edge developments in biotechnological research—including tissue-engineering, stem cell science, regenerative medicine, and more—while bringing biological art and architecture into critical dialogue.

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Schaefer Published in Material Religion: The Journal of Art, Objects and Belief

Sarah C. Schaefer’s article, “Illuminating the Divine: The Magic Lantern and Religious Pedagogy in America, c. 1870-1920,” appears in Material Religion: The Journal of Art, Objects and Belief 17, no. 3 (September 2017), 275-300

This article explores the use of magic lantern presentations for religious pedagogy in America. It examines performance strategies, types of images, and the ways in which slides could be manipulated to create active contemplation and evangelizing zeal among viewers.

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Schaefer Reviews Book by Thomas Crow

Sarah C. Schaefer, review of No Idols: The Missing Theology of Art by Thomas Crow, caa.reviews, 2 April 2018

Thomas Crow is one of a number of current art historians who are drawing more attention to the role of religion in modern art. Read Professor Schaefer’s review here:

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Counts Published in Journal of Archaeological Science

Professor Derek B. Counts published “Chemical Analyses and Production Technology of Archaeological Glass from Athienou-Malloura, Cyprus,” in Journal of Archaeological Science. Reports 23 (2019), 700-713, co-authored with colleagues from UCLA and Davidson College (with Y. Lin, T. Liu, M. Toumazou, I. Kakoulli).

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Counts Article Published in Construction and Building Materials

Professor Derek B. Counts published “Evaluation of hydroxyapatite effects for the consolidation of a Hellenistic-Roman rock-cut chamber tomb at Athienou-Malloura in Cyprus,” in Construction and Building Materials 150 (2017), 333-344, co-authored with colleagues from UCLA and Davidson College (X. Ma, M. Balonis, H. Pasco, M. Toumazou, I. Kakoulli).

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Leson Article Published in Journal Speculum

Richard Leson’s “ ‘Partout la figure du lion’: Thomas of Marle and the Enduring Legacy of the Coucy Donjon Tympanum.” Speculum 93:1 (January 2018): 27-71.

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Wells Publishes New Book, Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry between Paris and New York

Kay Wells’s first book, Weaving Modernism: Postwar Tapestry between Paris and New York, was released by Yale University Press in March 2019. With revelatory analysis, Weaving Modernism examines how the postwar revival of French tapestry as a medium for modern art contributed to the discourse and marketing of modernism on both sides of the Atlantic.

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Wells Article Published in Art Journal

Kay Wells recently published the “Laboring Under Globalization: Tapestries by Contemporary Artists,” in Art Journal. This article examines how contemporary artists have recently produced tapestries in ways that engage with and simultaneously disavow the forces of globalization.

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Pacifico Article Published in Journal of Contemporary Archaeology

Pacifico, David. 2018. “Beyond the Property Paradigm: Fragments for an Anarchist Approach to Archaeological Heritage.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 5(2): 283-302.


Johung Published in The Routledge Handbook to Biology in Art and Architecture

Associate Professor Jennifer Johung published her a chapter on “Demonstrable Plasticity” across stem cells and contemporary art and performance practices in The Routledge Handbook to Biology in Art and Architecture (London: Routledge, 2017)

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Johung Published in the Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbook on Gender + Nature

Associate Professor Jennifer Johung published a chapter on feminist “BioArt” in the Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbook on Gender + Nature. London: Macmillan, 2016.

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Jennifer Johung Published in Theory, Culture, and Society 

Associate Professor Jennifer Johung published an article on the intersections between contemporary art and synthetic biology, “Speculative Life: Art, Synthetic Biology and Blueprints for the Unknown,” in the journal Theory, Culture, and Society 33.3 (2016): 175-188.

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Tiffany Publishes Velazquez Article

Professor Tanya Tiffany publishes Velazquez article– Velázquez Re-Examined: Theory, History, Poetry, and Theatre [with Giles Knox] Brussels: Brepols Publishers, 2017). Includes translation (from Spanish) of “Heresy, Judaism, and Paganism in the Hall of Realms,” by Javier Portús.

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List of Ying Wang Published Articles:

“The crucial change: comparison between the silk textile of Mawangdui and early silk production —the relationship of silk production and royal control viewed from the bone spatula of the late Shang Dynasty,” Proceedings of the International Symposium Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Excavation of the Han Tombs at Mawangdui. Ed., Hunan Museum. Changsha: Yuelu Publishing House, 2017, 666-677

“He Wei’s painting on Tibetan Series( a selected section)”,“The Voice of Nature” Chinese Landscape Oil Painting. Ed. by The Voice of Nature Oil Painting Art Research Institute of China. Beijing: Wenhua Fazhan Chubanshe, 2017, 204-209

“The Tibet Series, Oil paintings of He Wei” “The Sound of Nature ”, The First Chinese Landscape Oil Painting Exhibition. Beijing: Shidai huawen Shuju, 2014, 323-327.

“The Disappeared Mulan Temple,” In Scholarship and Inheritance. Bi Jianxun, Zhao Li, ed. Shijiazhuang: Hebei Meishu, 2011, 374-381

“The Cloud Brocade and Yangzhou”, online version. The 12th Biennial Symposium, Textile Society of America, 2010-19. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tsaconf/140

“The Funeral Culture at Anyang and the Court Ladies of King Wuding.” In Yao Zongyi, ed. History of Scholarship and the Studies of Ancient Chinese Civilization. Shijiazhuang: Hebei Jiaoyu Press, 2007

“Royal Hunting of the Shang and the Salt Lake at Hedong.” Huaxue., Vol. 8. 2006. pp.102-108. Ed. Yao Zongyi. Beijing: Zijincheng/The Forbidden City Publishing House

Professor Ying Wang Edited Book

Bronze Age China, Style and Material, Cambridge Scholars Publisher, 2010 (Introduction and editing) https://www.cambridgescholars.com/bronze-age-china-16 https://www.amazon.com/Bronze-Age-China-Style-Material/dp/1443822825


Sarah Schaefer’s “Mr. Burke’s Spectacles

Sarah Schaefer, Assistant Professor of Modern Art published “Mr. Burke’s Spectacles,” a catalogue essay for “The World Turned Upside Down: Apocalyptic Imagery in England, 1750-1850.”
Haggerty Museum of Art
Marquette University, 2017-18.

Kay Wells Article Published in 19th Century Studies Journal

Assistant Professor Kay Wells recently published the article, “The ‘Merely Imitative Mood’: British Japonisme and Imperial Mimesis” in Volume 27 of 19th Century Studies. Here is a link to the journal’s most recently published article titles. Just follow the “Subscription” link on the left side of the page to find out more about subscribing to the ’19th Century Studies’ journal.

NCSA Nineteenth Century Studies Association


Wells published in Textile Studies

K.L.H. Wells, Assistant Professor, published in Textile Studies, no. 0, Textile Terms: A Glossary (2017): 77-79, edited by Anika Reineke, Anne Röhl, Mateusz Kapustka und Tristan Weddigen.
Publisher: Part of the SNF Research Project “TEXTILE. An Iconology of the Textile in Art and Architecture”, University of Zurich.
Year: 2017

Mobilizing the Past for a Digital Future: The Potential of Digital Archaeology

Derek Counts
Author: Derek Counts, Professor — with E. W. Averett of Creighton University and Jody Michael Gordon of Wentworth Institute of Technology
Publisher: Digital Press at the University of North Dakota
Year: 2016

Rockefeller’s Guernica and the Collection of Modern Copies

Author: K.L.H. Wells, Assistant Professor
Published in: Journal of the History of Collections (257-277)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2015

A fragmented past: (re)constructing antiquity through 3D artefact modelling and customised structured light scanning at Athienou-Malloura, Cyprus

Author: Derek B. Counts, Professor — with E. W. Averett of Creighton University and Kevin Garstki of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Published in: Antiquity 90 (pp. 206-218)
Year: 2016