Timothy Standring Delivers Art History Lectures

Timothy Standring, Gates Foundation Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Denver Art Museum, was a scholar in residence from October 15th through the 17th at Knox College, where he delivered two art history lectures. "Dr. Standring is an extremely important figure within the American museum field and we have been hoping to have him speak at Knox for several years," noted Gregory Gilbert, associate professor of art history. "He is constantly traveling on significant museum business and is in high demand as a speaker."

Standring's visit was sponsored by the Art and Art History Department.

His lecture on October 16th was titled "Poussin's Erotica: An Interdisciplinary Consideration of His Early Works in Rome" and examined the literary, cultural, archaeological, and artistic sources that formed the iconographic and stylistic basis of Nicolas Poussin's early art during the second decade of the 17th century. This groundbreaking talk, which is the basis for a future article, is believed to be the first research on erotic themes in Poussin's art and had its first public presentation at Knox.

Standring's presentation on October 17th, "The Making of Inspiring Impressionism: What it Takes to Mount a Major ‘Blockbuster' Exhibition for Three American Museums," was an engaging and irreverent behind-the-scenes view of the logistical complexities of organizing a major museum show.  Standring delved into all facets of exhibition planning, including arranging loans, negotiating show dates, applying for grants and producing the catalog. He promised that the audience would view exhibitions differently after hearing what it takes to mount such a project, and he lamented, "with the spiraling cost of insurance and other institutional expenses, few such blockbuster exhibits will be organized in the future."

After his scholarly residency, Standring reported he was returning to Denver to work on his next major museum exhibit, which will focus on "when van Gogh becomes van Gogh" and is scheduled to be held in 2012 to 2013.

Dr. Standring's scholarship is ambitious and his published work covers a broad range of subjects including the art collecting habits of 17th century Roman patrons, monographic studies on European artists, Impressionist portraits and critical reviews of art exhibits for leading art journals, most notably Apollo Magazine.

He has been at the Denver Art Museum since 1989 and has held a variety of positions including Deputy Director, Chief Curator and Curator of the Berger Collection. In addition to his most recent exhibition, Inspiring Impressionism, he has curated nine other extremely successful shows at the museum including Sargent and Italy, The Phillips Collection and European Masterpieces. Standring has also been awarded a number of prestigious academic fellowships such as Guest Scholar at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. and most recently was a Fellow at the Clark Art Institute.

Timothy Standring received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He has taught at Pomona College, Lawrence University, Loyola University of Chicago and has served as Director of the School of Art and Art History at the University of Denver, where he still holds a professorship.