Gregory Gilbert

Associate Professor and Director of the Art History Program, Senior Curator, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa

General Interests
"My specialized area of research is focused on modern and contemporary American art, specifically contextual and theoretical issues associated with the Abstract Expressionist, Neo-Dada and Pop Art movements. I am particularly interested in studying the intersection of these artistic tendencies with forms of mass visual culture, as well as their relation to trends in American philosophical thought. Some current major projects of mine include:

• A co-authored handbook of the permanent collection of the Figge Art Museum, which will be partly researched and written by Knox College students.
• A study dealing with the socio-cultural and ideological relationship between the art of the New York School and the mass visual culture of World War II and the post-war period. As part of this project, I am currently researching how Surrealist art in the United States and early Abstract Expressionist imagery of the 1940s can be analyzed as a critical response to conservative forms of governmental censorship of wartime media.
• A critical monograph examining connections between Pragmatist philosophy and the American avant-garde, specifically the Pragmatist background for the early Abstract Expressionist art of Robert Motherwell. This is part of a second, larger project to edit an anthology of essays dealing with the influence of American philosophy on modern art of the 19th and 20th centuries.
• An exhibition and catalog project studying the history and aesthetic issues of American collage from the late 1930s through the 1950s."

Years at Knox: 1995 to present

Education
Ph.D., 1998, Rutgers University.
M.A., 1984, Rutgers University.
B.F.A., 1981, University of Kansas.

Teaching Interests
Contemporary American and European art, twentieth century art and architecture, American art, architecture and culture, native arts of the Americas, interpreting works of art, visual culture theory, Andy Warhol and the visual culture of the 1960s, collage: critical perspectives

Recent Recognition
Awards
Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for Distinguished Teaching, 2002.

Grants
Application consultant, Frederick E. & Ida H. Hummel Foundation Grant, for institutional funds to acquire ARTstor, 2008.

Knox College Faculty Grant Recipient - U.S. Department of Education, Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Languages Program, research travel to Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic, Summer 2002; research travel to Paris France, Summer 2001.

Faculty Development Award, to attend Summer Institute of American Philosophy, University of Vermont, 2000; 1999; 1998.

Faculty Development Award, research travel to Mexico City to develop course "Native Arts of the Americas: Their History and Cultural Legacy," Summer 1999.

Fellowships
McNair Faculty Fellow, 2000-2001.

Recent Accomplishments
Publications
Beyond Fifteen Minutes of Fame: Andy Warhol's Photographic Legacy. Augustana College Art Museum, 2009.

Touched by the Hands of God: Michelangelo's Models. Figge Art Museum, 2009.

Knox College Art Faculty: Past and Present. Galesburg Civic Art Center, 2008.

Editor, "Death and Mourning in American Art - Open Session." Constructions of Death, Mourning, and Memory Conference Proceedings, The WAPACC Organization, 2006.

"Robert Motherwell's World War II Collages: Signifying War as Topical Spectacle in Abstract Expressionist Art," The Oxford Art Journal 27.3 (2004.)

"George Overbury 'Pop' Hart." The Encyclopedia of New Jersey, The Rutgers University Press, 2003.

"Robert Motherwell: In His Own Words - Again," review of The Collected Writings of Robert Motherwell, ed., Stephanie Terenzio, University of California Press, 1999, in Art Journal 60.3 (2001.)

Outside the Shadow of Rembrandt: Selected 17th Century Prints from the Famulener and Wilson Print Collections, Knox College, 2001.

Review of Vlademir Kandelaki: Between Two Worlds, Matthew Baigell, et al, Cross-Cultural Communication Press, 1998, in Aurora: The Journal of Art History, 2001.

"Artists and Entertainers." Encyclopedia of AIDS, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998.
("Editors Choice" Award for Reference Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin; "Outstanding Reference Book" Award by the New York Public Library Annual Reference Awards)

Presentations
"The New York Avant-Garde and the Dis-ordering of the Mass Visual Culture of World War II." Midwest Art History Society Conference, Kansas City, 2009.

"Random Order: The Life and Art of Robert Rauschenberg." Topics in Art History Lecture Series, Figge Art Museum, 2008.

Presenter, ACM FaCE Teaching Art History Workshop, Carleton and St. Olaf Colleges, Northfield, Minnesota, 2008.

"Andy Warhol in Context: Pop Art and American Culture." Topics in Art History Lecture Series, Figge Art Museum, 2008.

"Televisual Experience and Montage in the Early Art of Robert Rauschenberg." Midwest Art History Society Conference, Chicago, 2008.

"Death and Mourning in American Art." Session chair, Constructions of Death, Mourning, and Memory Conference, Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, 2006.

"Robert Motherwell's Early Abstract Expressionist Collages and the Refusal of System." Collage as Cultural Practice Conference, University of Iowa, 2005.

"Rethinking De Kooning's Women: Gender Identity, Mass Culture, and the Social Construct of the 'Patriotute'." College Art Association Conference, Atlanta, 2005.

"Caricature as Commodity in Andy Warhol's Pop Art." Midwest Art History Society Conference, Pittsburgh, 2003.

"Robert Motherwell's Collage and Cutout Aesthetic," Symposium for the exhibition "The American Cutout," New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, New York City, 2003.

"Caricature as Commodity in Andy Warhol's Pop Art." Excellence in Research - 30 Years of Art History at Rutgers, symposium held in conjunction with 50th Anniversary of the Graduate School, Rutgers University, 2003.

"The Refusal of System: Collage and the New York Avant-Garde of the Early Forties," Midwest Art History Society Conference, Minneapolis, 2001.

"Pragmatist Subjectivity and the New York School: The Case of Robert Motherwell," College Art Association Conference, Chicago, 2001.

"John Dewey and the American Avant-Garde: Re-defining Post-Modern Aesthetics in Relation to Pragmatism," Philosophy of Art Conference - "Re-visioning the Aesthetic: Philosophy of Art after the 20th Century," Beloit College, 2000.

"Multivalence and the Beholder in Abstract Expressionist Art: John Dewey's Reception Aesthetics and the Democratic Ideal." John Dewey, Democracy, and Art Symposium, State University of New York, Cortland, 1999.

Exhibitions
"Beyond Fifteen Minutes of Fame: Andy Warhol's Photographic Legacy." Augustana College Art Museum, 2009.

"Touched by the Hands of God: Michelangelo's Models." Figge Art Museum, 2009.

"Knox College Art Faculty: Past and Present." Galesburg Civic Art Center, 2008.

"A Tribute to Robert Rauschenberg," Figge Art Museum, 2008.

Campus & Community Involvement
Chair, Department of Art and Art History.
Advisor, Pre-Professional and Cooperative Architecture Program.
Campus Advisor, ACM Chicago Arts Program.
Program Committee Member, American Studies.
Program Committee Member, Film Studies.
Instructional Support Committee.
Digital Technology Planning Committee.
Chair, Campus Environment Committee.
Campus Working Group - Interdisciplinary Learning.
Curriculum Committee.

Guest Curator, Andy Warhol Exhibit, Augustana College.
Editorial/Advisory Board, Aurora: The Journal of the History of Art.
External Reviewer, Department of the History of Art and Architecture, DePaul University.
Member, College Art Association.
Member, Midwest Art History Society.
Member, Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy.
Board of Directors, Galesburg Civic Art Center.
Committee Member, Studios Midwest Artist Residency Program.
Judge, Illinois High School Art Competition, Sponsored by the Office of Congressman Lane Evans, Carl Sandburg College.

What Students Say
"Professor Gilbert is so enthusiastic that he draws you in, and you can understand and appreciate the details of Art History. He also relates to students as friends, and he's a mentor with whom you can talk about anything at anytime. He has great experience in his field, so he can give you good advice about the directions you can take in your career. He has tremendous energy, and that makes your college experience worthwhile."
-Lora Sariaslan, Art History Major

Contact
309-341-7155
ggilbert@knox.edu