A respected art history scholar with expertise in modern and contemporary art, Italian studies, and gender and sexuality, Dr. Poggi will assume the directorship at the Institute in September 2017.
NYU President Andrew Hamilton and Provost Katherine Fleming have announced the appointment of Christine Poggi – a respected art history scholar with expertise in modern and contemporary art; Italian studies; and gender, sexuality, and women’s studies – as the new Judy and Michael Steinhardt Director of the New York University Institute of Fine Arts, effective September 1, 2017.
Dr. Poggi is currently professor of Art History at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in Italian Studies in the Department of Romance Languages.
As director, she will lead one of the most well respected graduate schools and research centers in art history, archaeology, and art conservation in the world. Housed in the landmarked Duke Mansion on 78 Street and 5 Avenue, the Institute of Fine Arts has produced many of the nation’s leading art historians, museum directors, curators, and conservators since its founding in 1932.
Andrew Hamilton said, “The Institute of Fine Arts is a shining jewel in NYU’s crown, with a rich reputation for scholarship on art that spans centuries from ancient Egypt to modern and contemporary art. Her commitment to high academic standards will ensure that the Institute will continue to enjoy a reputation for excellence, and her demonstrable success at the University of Pennsylvania in encouraging cross-department collaborations and institutional partnerships is very much in line with the emphasis we put on such efforts here at NYU.”
“We thank Patricia Rubin for her eight years of stewardship as director. And we thank the Search Committee for their excellent work in identifying Dr. Poggi as the right candidate to usher the Institute of Fine Arts into its next exciting phase,” Hamilton added.
Katherine Fleming said, “Christine is a fantastic choice for the Institute’s next director; her reputation as a teacher and mentor precede her. And her service last April as Chair of an external committee convened by my office to evaluate the Institute of Fine Arts and NYU’s Department of Art History enables her to take the reins all the more quickly and effectively.”
Dr. Poggi’s career is marked by a profound commitment to scholarship, research, and the training of graduate and undergraduate students. She has been a proactive partner with museums and other arts organizations on a national basis, and is known for her mentorship of students across disciplines. At the University of Pennsylvania, she has served as Chair of the Undergraduate Program; Chair of the Graduate Program; Director of the Program in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies; and, Director of the Alice Paul Center for the Study of Gender, Sexuality, and Women.
Christine Poggi said, “I am honored to be selected as the next director of this wonderful institution, and to have the opportunity to work with such a distinguished group of scholars and students in the center of our nation’s art world. The combination of the Institute’s reputation for excellence, its deep and enduring ties to the city’s greatest cultural institutions, its committed community of supporters and patrons, and its connection to a world-class research university all contribute to stimulate tremendous growth and innovation. I look forward to this challenge, and to working closely with everybody in the Institute of Fine Arts community to realize the Institute’s great potential.”
A scholar of wide-ranging interests, Dr. Poggi’s principal areas of study include modern and contemporary art and criticism, early 20th-century avant-gardes, the invention of collage, and the rise of abstraction. She is widely published; her books include In Defiance of Painting: Cubism, Futurism, and the Invention of Collage (Yale University Press, 1992); and Inventing Futurism: The Art and Politics of Artificial Optimism (Princeton, 2009), which was awarded the Modern Language Association’s Howard R. Marraro Prize. In addition to the Marraro Prize, she is the recipient of fellowships from the Fulbright Commission, Whitney Humanities Center at Yale University, National Endowment for the Humanities, American Association of University Women, Dedalus Foundation, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She also received the University of Pennsylvania’s Abrams Memorial Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Dr. Poggi received her B.A. from the University of California at Santa Cruz, her M.A. from the University of Chicago, and her Ph.D. from Yale University, where she received the Frances Blanshard Fellowship Fund Prize for the best dissertation of the year in the history of art.
About the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU
Founded in 1932, the Institute of Fine Arts is a center of graduate training and research in art history, archaeology, and conservation. The Institute has a permanent faculty unrivalled in the breadth and depth of its expertise and unparalleled in the range of its adjunct lecturers from top museums, research institutes, and conservation studios. The Institute has conferred more than 1600 degrees, and its alumni hold leadership roles as professors, curators, museum directors, archaeologists, conservators, critics, and institutional administrators throughout the U.S. and internationally.