About the Department of Art History

SUNY Geneseo's Department of Art History is housed in Brodie Hall. The hall was designed by architect Edgar Tafel, a noted designer of the second wave of American modernist architects who followed the innovative designs of Frank Lloyd Wright. Brodie Hall houses the Departments of Art History, Theater and Dance, and Music into an integrated Arts area that combines creative expression with scholarship.

The Department of Art History provides students with the opportunity to explore the history of art as undergraduate scholars interested in careers in the Arts. The Department offers linked programs in Art History (Major/Minor), Museum Studies (Minor) and an Education Concentration (School of Education), while encouraging students to develop their knowledge of Business practices (School of Business), through connected coursework.  

Course offerings include a diverse range of courses from ancient to contemporary, with an emphasis in identity studies, global outreach, art and politics, architectural history, urban planning, resource management, gender studies and new media, with special interest areas in Latin American, Modern  and Contemporary Asian, African American, with inclusion of areas of special interest in Medieval and Renaissance Islamic, Judaic, and diverse Christian traditions. 

Critical theory and a focus on research writing and visual analysis is part of the curriculum.  Offerings are linked to related programs at Geneseo, such as GENseng (Asian American Theater), Women's Studies, Latin American Studies, and Medieval Studies.

Student involvement includes participation in the Art History Association and in the Annual Art History Symposium, where students present their work.  The Award of the Pam Eder Memorial Prize in Art History is given to the best Symposium paper. 

The Student Association funds the Kinetic Gallery in the Student Union, which is managed by students. Art history students may also become involved in programming, exhibition design and enact all of the functions and responsibilities that are part of the Kinetic Gallery programming.  

The Program's faculty includes scholars with international, national and regional reputations and networks of contacts, who can assist students interested in pursuing Study Abroad experiences and in conducting research or pursuing internships in a variety of venues.

Brief Faculty Profiles

Assistant Professor Alla Myzelev: Ph.D., Queen's University; M.A., York University, Canada; B.A., Hebrew University; B.Ed., Hebrew University, Prior teaching positions: Ontario College or Art and Design University (OCAD U), University of Toronto, Western University, University of Guelph, Queen's University

Fellowships and Awards: Paul Mellon Foundation; University of Guelph Fellowship; SSHRC Internal Research Fellowship, University of Guelph; Bader Doctoral Fellowship for Studies in British Art

Books: Alla Myzelev, Architecture, Design and Craft in Toronto 1900-1940: Creating Modern Living, 2016; Alla Myzelev, ed., Exhibiting Craft and Design: Transgressing the White Cube Paradigm 1930-present, 2016; Alla Myzelev, Group of Seven and its role in Canadian Culture, 2014; John Potvin and Alla Myzelev, eds., Fashion, Interior Design and the Contours of Modern Identity, 2010; Alla Myzelev, Baraka: Collecting of Voyage, Discovery, and Home. Exhibition Catalogue,  2008; and approximately 26 articles and about 13 exhibition catalog essays and book reviews.

Professor Lynette M.F. Bosch, Ph.D., Princeton University; M.A., Princeton University; M.A., Hunter College, CUNY;  B.A., Queens College, CUNY.  Prior teaching positions: Brandeis University, Tufts, University, Cornell University, Hunter College.

Books Published: Author, Co-Author, Co-Editor of seven books on Italian and Spanish Renaissance topics, as well as contemporary Latin American art; about 20 peer-reviewed articles in Renaissance and contemporary Latin American art journals; and about 25 exhibition essays.

Curatorial activities include exhibitions at Museo de Bellas Artes, Santiago de Chile; Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Dretizer Gallery, Braneis University; Case Western Reserve Art Gallery; Fairfield University Art Gallery; Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art.

Recent Books Published: 2014 -Agnolo Bronzino: The Muse of Florence, Editor, Liana De Girolami Cheney New Academia Press, Washington, D.C., contributed: “Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy in Agnolo Bronzino’s Paintings for Bartolomeo and Lucrezia Panciatichi,” by Lynette M.F. Bosch, pp. 35-130 and “A Room with Many Views:” Eleonora de Toledo’s Chapel by Agnolo Bronzinoin the Palazzo Vecchio,” by Lynette M.F. Bosch, pp. 175-300;

2014 - Life Streams: The Cuban and American Art of Alberto Rey, co-edited with Mark  Denaci, Contributed chapters:Introduction - “Life Streams: The Cuban and American Art of Alberto Rey,” 1-12 Chapter 1 - “Alberto Rey: Intersections,” 13-46; Chapter 5; “Trout as Form and Symbol,” 105-142 Conclusion; “Bioregionalism and Animal Studies,”with Mark Denaci, 201-206; Biographical Timeline – “Artist Interview” 207-228.

Fellowships and Awards: Harvard University: Bunting Fellowship; Mellon Fellowship, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC; American Philosophical Society, American Learned Societies; National Endowment for the Humanities; Fulbright Fellowship.

International Book Prize Award - Eleanor Tufts Book Award, American Society of Hispanic Art Scholars for Art, Liturgy and Legend in Renaissance Toledo: The Mendoza and the Iglesia Primada, Penn State Press (2000)

Visiting Professor Charles Burroughs: Ph.D., Warburg Institute, University of London; M. Phil, Warburg Institute, University of London; B.A., Balliol College, Oxford University

Previous Teaching: Case Western Reserve University, Chair, Department of Classics; Binghamton University; Northwestern University, UC Berkley.

Books: "From Signs to Design: Environmental Process and Reform in Early Renaissance Rome," MIT Press, 1990. "The Italian Renaissance Palace Facade: Structures of Authority, Surfaces of Sense," Cambridge University Press, 2002; and approximately 30 articles in scholarly journals and books.

Hilary Toothe,  Adjunct,  M.A. in Art History, from SUNY Buffalo, B.A. in Art History from Nazareth College and an A.S. in Fine Arts from Monroe Community College. Currently a part-time lecturer at Geneseo, she is also an adjunct professor at several institutions, including Nazareth College and Monroe Community College, both located in Rochester, NY, online faculty at Southern New Hampshire University, and Daemen College in Amherst, NY.  Brighton.

In 10 years of teaching experience in a variety of formats, she has developed and taught a variety of upper-level courses in Art History, from Contemporary, American, Ancient Near East, Greece and Rome, and Indigenous Art to Methods courses. She has taught many entry-level classes from Ancient to Contemporary Western Art, Introductory to Art Theory, and Looking at Art. Along with several students working in independent studies, she has also developed courses for the Art Education graduate program at Nazareth College, as well as graphic design history and Art Seminar and Portfolio classes for both fine and applied arts along with several Writing Seminar and Academic and College Success class for Freshmen. (see Faculty Page for full Curriculum Vitae)