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Warnock Gift

About the Gift

The Liz Warnock Gift to Art History provides generous funds to support an array of programming in the department and builds upon an earlier gift that founded the Warnock Lecture Series which is highlighted below along with other initiatives. One of the primary goals of the Warnock Gift has been to enhance undergraduate study of Art History, both in the classroom with monies for guest visitors and student writing awards and beyond via course-related travel and financial assistance for students undertaking unpaid internships. Both generous and flexible, the Gift to Art History allows the department to assess programming needs on a year-to-year basis. Thus, in recent years, the fund has provided dissertation completion fellowships for advanced graduate students who had exhausted other sources of funding. Moreover, the fund has allowed the department to offer co-sponsorship for lectures, symposia, exhibitions, and performances organized by colleagues in programs and departments across campus.

Warnock Lecture Series

The department’s premier lecture series began in 2008 and brings to campus renowned art historians, visual artists, and critical thinkers who write about the visual experience. One evening lecture is scheduled per quarter and takes place in the Pick-Laudati Auditorium at the Block Museum of Art. The next day, students are invited to participate in a lunch-time seminar led by the speaker providing them with the opportunity to engage directly with prominent thinkers in art history and the visual arts. Recent speakers have included Jennifer Roberts, Marsha Haufler, Alessandra Russo in 2016-17; and Jean-Louis Cohen, Jeanette Kohl, and Jill Caskey in 2017-18.

Seminar Travel Grants

The Warnock Gift also provides funding for seminars to travel in order to view collections and exhibitions directly related to the topic of study in any given quarter. For example, in 2014-15, students traveled to New York with Professor Clayson to see an exhibition on Toulouse-Lautrec in advance of mounting an exhibition of their own on the artist at the Block. In 2015-16, Professor Hu led a group on a whirlwind day-trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with undergraduate students studying Chinese painting and Professor Swan traveled to Boston with graduate students exploring early modern Dutch art and trade. Additionally, students in Professor Escobar’s undergraduate seminar on Diego Velázquez visited two Boston museums to see works by the artist that served as the topics of their quarter-long research assignments.

Warnock Publication Fund

Art History publishing is an expensive affair and this new fund generously supports the scholarly work of faculty and their professional activity as art historians. Faculty have used monies to acquire image rights and permissions and for subventions to presses. The fund also seeks to support the professional development of department graduate alumni by providing subventions for book publication up to fifteen years after graduation.