University of Dayton Professor of Art History Roger J. Crum will present the J. Bernard Schultz Lecture in Art History at WVU, Thursday, Aug. 27, as part of the activities celebrating the opening of the new Art Museum of WVU. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Dr. Crum will discuss “Renaissance Florence as Prequel to the Art Museum of WVU,” at 5 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall (Room 200A) of the Creative Arts Center.

Drawing on his professional background, Crum will discuss how the modern institution of the art museum has many roots in Renaissance Florence.

From the idea of commissioning and collecting objects as art, to the broader concept of how works of art in Florence were specifically made and displayed with regard to the viewer in mind, Crum says that many parallels can be drawn between Renaissance Florence and the present-day art museum concept.

Crum, who is a liaison for global and intercultural initiatives at the University of Dayton, has directed numerous education abroad programs in Italy. He has also held the Graul Chair in Arts and Languages and received the Outstanding Teaching Award of the University of Dayton College of Arts and Sciences.

He has been a Samuel H. Kress Foundation Fellow to the Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florence, and a member of the School of Historical Studies at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study.

Crum specializes in Renaissance Florence and modern Italy, but has published as well on the sculpture of Edgar Degas, the religious imagery of Barnett Newman, the photography of the Wright brothers, and the future of the book. He received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art history from the University of Michigan and his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh.

His major publications include “Donatello Among the Blackshirts: History and Modernity in the Visual Culture of Fascist Italy,” co-edited with Claudia Lazzaro (Cornell University Press, 2005), and “Renaissance Florence: A Social History,” co-edited with John T. Paoletti (Cambridge University Press, 2006).

The J. Bernard Schultz Lecture Series in Art History was endowed in the College of Creative Arts in 2004 by donors who wish to remain anonymous. The Lecture Series honors former WVU College of Creative Arts Dean Bernie Schultz, who is also professor of Art History in the School of Art and Design. Each year, the lecture series brings a leading art historian to WVU, to enhance the Art History program, as well as engage the intellectual life of the University.

The Roger Crum lecture is one of two free public lectures scheduled to coincide with the new Art Museum of WVU’s opening week of events, scheduled for August 25-29, in Morgantown.

For more information about the opening of the Art Museum of WVU, and to see the entire schedule of events, visit the website at: http://artmuseum.wvu.edu/.

-WVU-

cl/08/26/15

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

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