Stephanie Strother co-curates 'Paul B. Moses: Trailblazing Art Historian'
October 20, 2022
Congratulations to Stephanie Strother, PhD student in the Department of Art History, on co-curating an exhibition on Paul B. Moses, lecturer in Art History at the University of Chicago from 1962 until his death in 1966.
Moses was the first African-American student to attend Haverford College, where he completed a BA in French and Latin in 1951. While there he became a protégé of the collector Albert Barnes (Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia), who nurtured the young man’s interest in nineteenth-century French art. Moses went on to earn an MA from Harvard University in 1960 and began working toward a doctorate with a dissertation on the etchings and monotypes of French Impressionist Edgar Degas. He accepted a position as Instructor in the Department of Art in 1962, joining a small cohort of past and current Black faculty members at the University of Chicago. In November 1964, the faculty unanimously voted to promote him to the rank of Assistant Professor of Art and of Humanities. In 1966, at the age of 36, Moses’ life was tragically cut short when he was murdered by two young white men who intended to steal his car.
Working with Michael Moses, LAB’81, teacher, The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, and son of Paul Moses, Stephanie has created an exhibition that seeks to honor his greatest legacies: his groundbreaking scholarship, exemplary teaching, and essential humanity, all of which were celebrated by his family, friends, colleagues, and students, many of whom wrote letters and tributes upon his death that underscored the lasting impact he had on their lives.
This exhibition tells the story of, as one of his many admirers described him, “Paul Moses: the instructor, the critic, and the man.”
Stephanie is a PhD student focusing on art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Her research interests include the relationship between art and craft at the turn of the century, popular reception and consumption, and global circuits of visual and material culture.
Paul B. Moses: Trailblazing Art Historian is at the Joseph Regenstein Library from September 12 to December 16, 2022.
