Ralph Ubl: "Format as Form in 19th Century Painting and Criticism"

We invite you to join the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago for this upcoming lecture as part of the 2025-26 Smart Lecture series. The lecture is Wednesday, April 1st in CWAC 157 at 5:00pm CT with a Q&A session and reception to follow. 

Lu Yang Short-term Artist Residency

In conjunction with Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart, CAEA will co-sponsor two public programs featuring acclaimed contemporary artist Lu Yang. These programs are part of the artist’s short-term residency period at UChicago, sponsored by the Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression.

Beyond Boundaries: A Symposium in Honor of Wu Hung

Bringing together students, colleagues, and collaborators, Beyond Boundaries: a symposium in honor of Wu Hung reflects on Wu Hung’s interdisciplinary methodologies that have bridged ancient and contemporary art, regional traditions, and global frameworks over the past four decades.

Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart Opening Reception

Open reception for Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart on March 28, 2:00pm-5:00pm.

Opening on March 29, 2026, Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart foregrounds the University of Chicago’s pivotal role in studying and exhibiting contemporary Chinese art since the mid-1990s.

Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart

The Smart Museum of Art will present a retrospective of contemporary Chinese art in collaboration with CAEA. 

Opening on March 29, 2026, Beyond Boundaries: Three Decades of Contemporary Chinese Art at the Smart foregrounds the University of Chicago’s pivotal role in studying and exhibiting contemporary Chinese art since the mid-1990s.

Careers in Museums with Alumna Amanda Block

Alumna Amanda Block, Director of Curatorial Documentation and Research in the Office of the President and Director of the Art Institute of Chicago, will return to the University of Chicago to talk about her career trajectory since earning her BA and MA in art history from our department in 2015.

Shane McCausland: "Perspectives from Daidu and Siena, circa 1300: Painting at the Ends of the Mongol World"

We invite you to join the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago for this upcoming lecture as part of the 2025-26 Smart Lecture series. The lecture is Thursday, April 16th in CWAC 157 at 5:00pm CT with a Q&A session and reception to follow. 

Faculty Awarded CCA Research Fellowship

Assistant Professor Jacobé Huet has been awarded a Research Fellowship from the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) for her research project Elias Suraqui’s Le Mellah: Architecture, Philanthropy, and Photography in Casablanca”.

CWAC Voices—Issue Two

We are pleased to announce the publication of the second issue of CWAC Voices, featuring exhibition reviews selected by Prof. Mehring and visiting critics from her "Writing Art Criticism" seminar in fall 2025. Texts include discussions of Yoko Ono's retrospective at the MCA, solo shows of DoVA faculty members Bethany Collins and Phil Qian, and the Chicago Architecture Biennial co-curated by our very own Chana Haouzi.

Alumna Announced as 75th Mellon Lecturer

Aden Kumler, Art History AB ‘96, where she studied with Michael Camille, and Professor of Medieval Art History at the University of Chicago from 2007 to 2020, has been named the 75th A.W. Mellon Lecturer in the Fine Arts.