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Albertson

Fred Albertson

Professor of Art History

Phone
901.678.2941
Email
falbrtsn@memphis.edu
Fax
901.678.2735
Office
200 Art & Communication
Office Hours
Email for an appointment

artifact 1 artifact 2 artifact 3 artifact 4 sculpture artifact 5 artifact 6 sculpture2

BIOGRAPHY

Fred Albertson received his B.A. in History and Classical Civilization at the University of California, Irvine and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology at Bryn Mawr College. He has been a member of the faculty at the University of Memphis since 1987, currently serving as Professor in the Department of Art and the resident specialist in the art of ancient Greece and Rome. Professor Albertson teaches a variety of courses, from the initial surveys of world art covering Prehistory to Post-Modernism, to upper-division classes and graduate seminars in Greek and Roman art. He is a previous recipient of Thomas W. Briggs Foundation Excellence in Teaching Award, The University of Memphis Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Faculty Advisor Award from the College of Communication and Fine Arts. In 2002 Professor Albertson was honored by the National Association for General and Liberal Studies with their Distinguished Faculty Award, citing his commitment to curriculum development and the General Education program at The University of Memphis.

Professor Albertson's scholarly interests focus on the art and archaeology of the Classical world, with particular emphasis on Roman sculpture and Early Christian iconography. His books and articles have appeared in journals and monograph series published in the United States and throughout Europe. Among his professional honors include residencies as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Classical Studies and Archaeology at the American Academy in Rome (1995-1996), as the Margo Tytus Visiting Scholar in the Department of Classics at the University of Cincinnati (2004), and as a Getty Scholar at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles (2013).

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION

  • Roman Art and Archaeology, with emphasis on historical relief, portraiture, and the funerary sculpture of the Eastern provinces
  • Hellenistic sculpture
  • Early Christian Art, with emphasis on iconography

COURSES TAUGHT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS

  • ART 1030: Introduction to Art
  • ARTH 2010: World Art I (Survey Prehistoric to Gothic)
  • ARTH 2020: World Art II (Survey Renaissance to Contemporary)
  • ARTH 4123/6123: Greek Art
  • ARTH 4124/6124: Roman Art
  • ARTH 4125/1625: Art and Archaeology of Pompeii
  • ARTH 4129/6129: Ancient and Medieval Architecture
  • ARTH 4129: Proseminar in Art History
  • ARTH 7120: Graduate Problems in Medieval Art (topics vary)
  • ARTH 7121: Graduate Problems in Ancient Art (topics vary)
  • ARTH 7130 - Art History Methods & Practices

EDUCATION

  • Bryn Mawr College, Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, Ph.D. 1980, M.A. 1977
    Dissertation: The Sculptured Portraits of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (A.D. 161-180)
  • University of California, Irvine, History and Classical Civilization, B.A. 1974 magna cum laude

 

PROFESSIONAL CAREER

  • University of Memphis, 8/87 - present
    Department of Art, Professor, (tenured since 93)
    Department of Art, Interim Chair, (2006-2007)
    Benjamin W. Rawlins, Jr. Meritorious Professor, College of Communication and Fine Arts, (2014-2016)
  • University of California, Irvine, 9/85 - 6/87
    Department of Art History, Visiting Lecturer
  • University of Michigan, 9/83 - 5/85, 1/81-4/81
    Department of Classical Studies, Visiting Assistant Professor
  • Oberlin College, 9/82 - 5/83
    Department of Art, Visiting Assistant Professor
  • Bryn Mawr College, 1/82 - 4/82
    Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, Lecturer
  • Stanford University, Overseas Studies, 7/79 - 6/80
    Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies, Rome, Assistant Professor

PUBLICATIONS:

BOOKS

  • Mars and Rhea Silvia in Roman Art. "Collection Latomus," vol. 336. Brussels: Éditions Latomus 2012
  • Catalogue of the Cypriote Sculpture and Terracottas in the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology. Studies in
  • Mediterranean Archaeology 20. Corpus of Cypriote Antiquities 14. Jonsered, Sweden: Paul Åström, 1991.

ARTICLES

  • "The Influence of Bronze Working on Roman Provincial Stone Sculpture: The Case of Palmyra," Artistry in Bronze: The Greeks and Their Legacy, eds. K. Lapatin and J. Daehner (Proceedings on the XIXth International Congress on Ancient Bronzes) (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Publications, 2017), 243-252.
  • "Typology, Attribution, and Identity in Palmyran Funerary Portraiture," The World of Palmyra, ed. Rubina Raja (Scientia Danica, Serie H. Humanistica. 4) (Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 2015), 152-168.
  • "A Distribution Scene on a Palmyran Funerary Relief," Antike Kunst 57 (2014) 25-37.
  • "The 'Date' on Two Dated Palmyran Reliefs," Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie 5 (2012) 13-32.
  • "Two Unpublished Palmyrene Funerary Reliefs in North American Museums," Syria. Archéologie, Art ET Histoire 89 (2012) 7-18.
  • "The Creation and Dissemination of Roman Imperial Portrait Types: The Case for Marcus Aurelius Type IV," Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 119 (2004) 259-306.
  • "Two Limestone Statues from Roman Egypt," Cantor Arts Center Journal 3 (2002-2003) 1-23.
  • "Zenodorus's Colossus of Nero," Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 46 (2001) 95-118.
  • "Three Palmyrene Reliefs in the Colet Collection, University of Wyoming," Mélanges Ernst Will vol. 3: Syria. Revue d'art oriental et d'archéologie 77 (2000) 159-168.
  • "A Palmyrene Relief of a Roman Cavalryman," Damaszener Mitteilungen 15 (2000) 141-153.
  • "A Portrait of Hadrian as Diomedes," MUSE 27-28 (1993-94) [1996] 12-28.
  • "An Isiac Model for the Raising of Lazarus in Early Christian Art," Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum 38 (1995) 123-132.
  • "Pliny and the Vatican Laocoon," Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts. Römische
  • Abteilung 100 (1993) 133-140.
  • "The Basilica Aemilia Frieze: Religion and Politics in Late Republican Rome," Latomus. Revue des études latines 49 (1990) 801-815.
  • "A Portrait of Marcus Aurelius from Syro-Palestine," Damaszener Mitteilungen 3 (1988) 1-9
  • "An Augustan Temple Represented on an Historical Relief Dating to the Time of Claudius," American Journal of Archaeology 91 (1987) 441-458.
  • "Maxentian Hoards and the Mint at Ostia," American Numismatic Society. Museum Notes 30 (1985) 124-147.
  • "A Bust of Lucius Verus in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and its Artist," American Journal of Archaeology 87 (1983) 153-163.
  • With Rubina Raja and Kenneth Lapatin, "Rejoining a Palmyrene Funerary Relief: Postscriptum," Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie 12 (2019) [forthcoming]
  • "The "Fringed" Mantle and its Relation to Gender in Palmyrene Funerary Sculpture," Attributes in Palmyrene Art and Sculpture, eds. Rubina Raja and Maura Heyn (Palmyrene Studies, 2) (Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, 2019) [forthcoming].

ONLINE PUBLICATIONS

"The Changing Concept of Urbs Roma in Late Antiquity: Rome's Foundation Legends as Represented in
the Arts of the 4th and 5th Centuries," Language and the Scientific Imagination. Proceedings of the
11th International Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas, University
of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 2008 (2010).

RECENT ACTIVITIES

Conference Paper, Archaeological Institute of America, Toronto, January 8, 2017
https://store.archaeological.org/sites/default/files/files/2017AM-ProgramSunday.pdf
Accompanying video for exhibit at Getty Villa, "Faces of Palmyra," February 24, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-FPXtLH0ws
http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/funerary-portraiture-helps-scholars-reconstruct-the-social-history-of-ancient-palmyra/
Symposium, University of Aarhus, Palmyra Portrait Project: "Attributes in Palmyrene Art and Sculpture," June 19, 2018
http://projects.au.dk/palmyraportrait/events/attributes/
https://www.academia.edu/36444345/Attributes_in_Palmyrene_Art_and_Sculpture
Exhibit at Getty Villa: "Palmyra: Loss and Remembrance," April 18, 2018–May 27, 2019
http://news.getty.edu/content/1208/files/Palmyra%20Press%20Release%20FINAL%2011-14-17.pdf
Conference at Getty Villa: "Palmyra and the East," April 18-19, 2019
https://www.getty.edu/museum/programs/lectures/media/palmyra_and_the_east_schedule.pdf
Interviewed for documentary film, "The 1001 Faces of Palmyra," by UN FILM À LA PATTE & ARTE, France, April 18, 2019.
http://www.terranoa.com/product/product.php?code=2491
http://www.unfilmalapatte.fr/en/movies.asp?id=65&t=the-1001-faces-of-palmyra

CONTRIBUTIONS

  • "Laocoon" and "Apollo Belvedere," in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, ed. Michael Gagarin (London-New York: Oxford University Press, 2010) vol. 1, 137-138; vol. 4, 203-205.
  • "Constantine," in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Love, Courtship & Sexuality, vol. 1. The Ancient World, ed. James W. Howell (Greenwood Publishing, 2008), 95-101.
  • "A Head of Antoninus Pius," Bowdoin College Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections (Brunswick, ME 1981) 17-19.

CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS

  • Palmyrene Sculpture in North American Museums
  • Studies in Antonine Portraiture

CONFERENCE PAPERS

  • "A Roman Hairstyle at Palmyra," 2017 Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Toronto, Canada, January 8, 2017.
  • "Influence of Bronze Working on Roman Provincial Stone Sculpture: The Case of Palmyra," 19th International Congress on Ancient Bronzes, the Getty Museum, Los Angeles, October 16, 2015.
  • "The Funerary Portraits of the Family of Wahbâ," 2015 Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, New Orleans, LA, January 9, 2015.
  • "Typology and Workshop Attribution in Palmyran Funerary Sculpture," The World of Palmyra. Palmyra Portrait Project-Royal Danish Academy of Arts and Sciences, Copenhagen, 16 December 2013.
  • "A Distribution Scene on a Palmyran Funerary Relief," 2012 Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Philadelphia, PA, January 8, 2012.
  • "The Changing Concept of Urbs Roma in Late Antiquity: Rome's Foundation Legends as Represented in the Arts of the 4th and 5th Centuries," Language and the Scientific Imagination. The 11th International Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, 30 July 2008.
  • "Recumbent Bull and Chained Cheetah: Divine Symbols and Cosmic Analogies in Palmyrene Funerary Art," 2006 Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Montreal, Quebec, January 6, 2006.
  • "Marcus Aurelius in Asia Minor: Portrait Types and the Roman Art Trade," for Symposium "Marcus Aurelius and Portraits of Power," Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, March 5, 2005.
  • "'Sacred Spaces' in the Late Roman Domus: Private Chapels, Worship, and Assemblies," 2005 Annual Meeting of the College Art Association, Atlanta, GA, February 17, 2005.
  • "Rejoining a Palmyrene Funerary Relief," 2005 Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Boston, MA, January 7, 2005.
  • "Nero's Colossus," Re-Imagining Nero [A Symposium]. Emory University, Atlanta, GA, November 2, 2002.
  • "The Shield of Roma Aeterna," 1994 Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Atlanta, GA, December 30, 1994 (abstract appears in American Journal of Archaeology 99, 1995, 346).
  • "Nero, Zenodorus, and the Colossus," 1993 Annual Meeting of the College Art Association, Seattle, WA, February 6, 1993.
  • "Style and Iconography in Roman Art: The Myth of Hadrianic Classicism," Southeastern College Art Conference, Memphis, November 2, 1991.
  • "A Redating of the Ara Casali," 1989 Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Boston, December 29, 1989 (abstract in AJA 94, 1990, 313).
  • "Theseus Liberating the Children of Athens: Style and Composition in Pompeian Wall Painting," Southeastern College Art Conference, Little Rock, AR, October 26, 1989.
  • "An Isiac Model for the Miracle of the Raising of Lazarus in Early Christian Art," 1989 Annual Meeting of the College Art Association, San Francisco, February 16, 1989.
  • "Portrait Types of Septimius Severus and the Arch at Leptis Magna," 1985 Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Washington, D.C., December 29, 1985 (abstract in AJA 90, 1986, 210-211).
  • "An Augustan Temple on a Julio-Claudian Relief," 1983 Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Cincinnati, December 10, 1983 (abstract in AJA 88, 1984, 236).
  • "Geographical Patterns in the Dissemination of Roman Imperial Portraits," Midwest Art History Society, University of Iowa, Iowa City, April 1, 1983.
  • "So-called 'Servants' or 'Pages' in Palmyrene Funerary Sculpture," Palmyra and the East. J.
    Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa, Los Angeles, 19 April 2019.
  • "The "Fringed" Mantle and its Relation to Gender in Palmyrene Funerary Sculpture,"
    Attributes in Palmyrene Art and Sculpture, Palmyra Portrait Project, Aarhus University, Aarhus (Denmark), June 19, 2018.

SERVICE AWARDS

  • The University of Memphis, Thomas W. Briggs Foundation, Excellence in Teaching Award (2009)
  • Art Department, Chair's Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching (2000, 2004)
  • Association for General and Liberal Studies, Jerry G. Gaff Faculty Award, Faculty Excellence in General and Liberal Education (2002);
  • The University of Memphis, Distinguished Teaching Award (1995)
  • College of Communication and Fine Arts, Faculty Advisor Award (1991)

GRANTS

  • Getty Scholar, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2013)
  • Margo Tytus Visiting Scholar, Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati (2004
  • Samuel H. Kress Study Grant (1996)
  • National Endowment for the Humanities-American Academy in Rome Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Classical Studies and Archaeology (1995-1996)
  • University of Memphis Faculty Research Grant (1995, 1992)
  • American Philosophical Society Grant-in-Aid (1993)
  • College Art Association Conference Travel Grant (1989)
  • NEH Travel to Collections Grant (1988)
  • American Numismatic Society Summer Seminar (1982).