Release Date: October 30, 2002
NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART'S CENTER FOR ADVANCED STUDY IN THE VISUAL ARTS ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF FIRST EDMOND J. SAFRA VISITING PROFESSOR
Washington, DC --The National Gallery of Art's Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA) has announced the appointment of Manfred Leithe-Jasper as its first Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professor. The position was established through a grant from the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation.
The position of Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professor has been established through a grant from the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation. For each of the next four years, a Safra Professor will serve for up to six months, forging connections between the research of the curatorial staff and that of visiting scholars at the center. At the same time, the Safra Professor will advance his or her own research on subjects associated with the Gallery's permanent collection. The Safra Professor may also present seminars or curatorial lectures for graduate students and emerging scholars and curators from other institutions. The area of expertise of the Safra Professor will vary from year to year, ranging through the collection from sculpture to painting to works on paper of all periods. Leithe-Jasper will be in residence from January to June 2003.
As Visiting Senior Curator of Sculpture in 2001-2002, Leithe-Jasper was engaged in the reinstallation of the National Gallery's new sculpture galleries, which opened to the public on September 29. He was formerly director of the Kunstkammer at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, and is the author of a series of internationally acclaimed exhibition catalogues and monographs, including Renaissance Master Bronzes from the Kunsthistorisches Museum (National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1986/1987); Giambologna, 1529--1608: Sculptor to the Medici (Edinburgh, 1978); and many other articles and catalogues on sculpture, including the work of Alessandro Vittoria, L'Antico, and other artists represented in Kunstkammer. CASVA was founded twenty-three years ago to promote the study of the history, theory and criticism of art, architecture and urbanism through the formation of a community of scholars. A variety of private sources supports the program of fellowships.
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