Lorelei Corcoran
Director, Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology
Professor, Art History
315 Art and Communication Building
901.678.2555
lcorcorn@memphis.edu
Bibliography
Dr. Lorelei Corcoran is Professor of Art History in the Department of Art and Design and Director of the Institute of Egyptian Art & Archaeology, a Center of Excellence at the University of Memphis. She is also advisor for the MA and BA concentrations in Egyptian art and archaeology. She earned her BA in Classical Studies at Tufts University and her PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, with a concentration in Egyptology, at the University of Chicago. Dr. Corcoran has an extensive history of fieldwork in Egypt - as epigrapher for the University of Chicago's Epigraphic Survey and for the University of Memphis Great Hypostyle Hall Project and as a staff member on excavations at ancient Memphis, the tomb of Harwa and KV-63 in Luxor (ancient Thebes). As a former assistant curator at the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago and former curator of the Egyptian collection of the IEAA, her longtime commitment to museum curatorial work continues to be reflected in her study of material culture and the interconnection of texts and images. Her research focus on the iconography of Egyptian funerary material has led to invitations to lecture at the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among others, to appearances on television programs from Reading Rainbow to National Geographic specials, and to interviews with the New York Times, the BBC and PBS radio. Her publications include Portrait Mummies from Roman Egypt (1995) and Herakleides: a Portrait Mummy from Roman Egypt (2010) as well as numerous articles on Egyptian art and religion. In 2016, her article, "The Color Blue as an Animator in Ancient Egyptian Art," highlighted her discovery of the earliest evidence for Egyptian blue, the first artificially produced pigment in human history.
Education
LORELEI H. CORCORAN (1990), Professor: B.A., 1975, Tufts University; Ph.D., 1988, University of Chicago