SMU Art History RASC/a

SMU Art History RASC/a Rhetorics of Art, Space and Culture: Ph.D. Program in Art History at Southern Methodist University

RASC/a (derived from the Spanish vernacular for “scratch”) stands for “Rhetorics of Art, Space, and Culture” and marks a new curricular initiative in graduate studies launched in 2011. The department chose the unusual name to underline the commitment to shaping a small and dynamic graduate program that emphasizes close mentorship, innovative methodologies, and scholarship that challenges tradition

al disciplinary boundaries. The program builds upon the strengths of the faculty and area resources, with particular emphasis on historical and new media, visual technologies, architecture and the city, race and gender, and transnational scholarship.

We are SO back. Welcome to our new and returning students! We had a wonderful time at our welcome back event and heard a...
08/31/2026

We are SO back. Welcome to our new and returning students! We had a wonderful time at our welcome back event and heard about our returning graduate students’ summer travels! And of course there were snacks.

After my two months at the JCB, I will travel to New Haven, Connecticut, for my final fellowship of 2026 at the Beinecke...
08/28/2026

After my two months at the JCB, I will travel to New Haven, Connecticut, for my final fellowship of 2026 at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. As a substantial part of my dissertation examines the concept of “mystic marriage” between nuns and their heavenly bridegroom, I will spend much of my time at the Beinecke examining materials that explore marriage and its conventions in the early modern Hispanic world. The Beinecke’s collections also offer valuable insights into early modern conceptions of morality and the ways in which they intersected with ideas about sexuality. I am looking forward to finishing up my research tour at the ! Thanks for spending the week with me!

After my time in Indiana, I road-tripped to Providence, Rhode Island, where I am currently a fellow at the John Carter B...
08/27/2026

After my time in Indiana, I road-tripped to Providence, Rhode Island, where I am currently a fellow at the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. The beautiful and serene reading room at the JCB has been a wonderful place to consult texts on monastic life in early modern Spain and Mexico, as well as prints depicting nuns and their relationships with devotional images. I am so grateful to the providing such a welcoming space to continue my research!

After returning to the U.S. from Madrid, I traveled to Bloomington, Indiana, for a fellowship at the Lilly Library at In...
08/26/2026

After returning to the U.S. from Madrid, I traveled to Bloomington, Indiana, for a fellowship at the Lilly Library at Indiana University. During my month-long fellowship, I was able to delve into their rich collection of early modern Hispanic materials, with a particular focus on Inquisitorial documents and devotional literature intended to guide nuns in religious life, including sermons and instructional manuals outlining proper conduct. I am incredibly grateful to Lilly Library for their generous support and assistance throughout my fellowship!

While in Madrid, I had the opportunity to present my research to colleagues at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. I am ...
08/25/2026

While in Madrid, I had the opportunity to present my research to colleagues at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. I am incredibly grateful to the community of scholars at the Autónoma for their thoughtful feedback, suggestions, and encouragement regarding my dissertation, Divine Intimacy: Sexuality and Spirituality in Early Modern Hispanic Art. I was able to share new insights that emerged from my archival research and receive valuable comments and perspectives that will continue to shape my work.

My name is Laura Martin, and I am a 4th year PhD candidate in the Art History department. I am writing my dissertation o...
08/24/2026

My name is Laura Martin, and I am a 4th year PhD candidate in the Art History department. I am writing my dissertation on religious images and their relationship to sexuality in the early modern Hispanic world. This week I will flashback to some of my research trips I have taken in 2026, beginning with my time in Madrid. I went to Madrid mostly to work in the Inquisitorial archives at the Archivo Historico Nacional. But I also got to visit museums and see many of the works which will be included in my dissertation.

Image Credit: Jose de Ribera, The Assumption of the Magdalene, 1636, Royal Academy of San Fernando

Join us this week as we follow PhD candidate Laura Martin on her summer art history adventures!
08/24/2026

Join us this week as we follow PhD candidate Laura Martin on her summer art history adventures!

For my last day I want to show some highlights from my summer job digitizing the papers of German Egyptologist Georg Ste...
08/15/2026

For my last day I want to show some highlights from my summer job digitizing the papers of German Egyptologist Georg Steindorff (1961-1951) at the Bridwell Library (Bridwell Library). Steindorff was a professor for Egyptology in Leipzig, but had to leave Germany after the N***s came to power and he was not able to work anymore due to his Jewish lineage. He spent the rest of his life in California, still continuing to work and publish. This is the third summer I have worked on scanning all of Steindorff’s papers, and what I love most about them are the small drawings of objects and the hieroglyphs. So here are some of my favorites! You can find all of the scans that are published so far in the Digital Collections on the SMU Library website. Thank you for following me along this week!

One important trip this summer was to New York to see the large Marcel Duchamp retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art...
08/13/2026

One important trip this summer was to New York to see the large Marcel Duchamp retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. Duchamp was one of the first artists who worked with boxes, and the exhibition dedicated an entire gallery to the various editions for his “Boîte en Valise,” including lots of preparatory materials. Duchamp’s boxes, together with his penchant for the erotic in his art make him an important reference for my dissertation on Dorothy Iannone. On that trip I was also able to see one of her works in person – a deck of tarot cards Iannone designed in the late 1960s. The exhibition “Tarot! Renaissance Symbols, Modern Visions” at the Morgan Library and Museum traced the development of tarot cards from 15th century Italy to modern and contemporary artists designing their own decks. Finally, I took a little trip to Frenchtown, an artists’ town in New Jersey at the Delaware river.

1) Marcel Duchamp, “The Box of 1914,” 1913-1914
2 through 3) Preparatory materials relating to “from or by Marcel Duchamp or Rrose Sélavy
(Box in a Valise),” 1915-1968
5) one example of a “Boîte en valise”
6) Marcel Duchamp, early study for “Etant donnés…,” 1946-48
7) George Maciunas, “One Year,” 1973-74
8) Collection of modern and contemporary tarot decks
9) Italian Renaissance tarot cards by Andrea Bembo, dating from 1441-42
10) “The Niki de Saint Phalle Tarot Cards,” 2015
11) Dorothy Iannone, “(Ta)Rot Pack,” 1968-69/2016, installation view

To visit the exhibition “New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations” I travelled to San Antonio to...
08/12/2026

To visit the exhibition “New African Masquerades: Artistic Innovations and Collaborations” I travelled to San Antonio together with two fellow PhD students. The exhibition highlighted four different regions of West Africa through four different makers: Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa (Nigeria), Sheku “Goldenfinger” Fofanah (Sierra Leone), David Sanou (Burkina Faso), and Hervé Youmbi (Cameroon). Through these examples, the curators were able to show the large variety in African masquerades that is on one hand based on local traditions, but also part of larger cultural and trade networks.

While the masks were presented on mannequins in the exhibition, there were many videos showing not only how they were made and the thoughts of their makers, but also how they are meant to be danced and activated.
1) Curiosity doll
2) André Sanou, “Kimi” masquerade ensemble
3) Hervé Youmbi, “Tso Scream Mask. Visages de masques (IX) Series,” 2015-2023
4) Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa, “Idem Ikwo” and “Idem Ebonko” Masquerade Ensembles for the Ekpe/Mgbe Society
5) Sheku “Goldenfinger” Fofanah, left: “’Fairy’ Masquerade Ensemble,” right: “’Oli Papa’ Masquerade Ensemble,” 2022
6) Chief Ekpenyong Bassey Nsa, “Idem Nkanda” Masquerade Ensemble from the Ekpo Society
7) Mission Espada
8) Cacti growing on a roof at Mission San José

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