Is Art History? by Svetlana Alpers

Join Rizzoli Bookstore and Hunters Point Press to celebrate the launch of this definitive volume of writings by one of the most renowned art historians of the past century. Svetlana Alpers will be in conversation with Mariët Westermann, CEO and Director of the Guggenheim, followed by a signing.

PLEASE NOTE: RSVPs are encouraged but not required. Seating is limited and will be first come, first served. Doors open at 5:30 pm.

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Spanning six decades, this critical compilation gathers Svetlana Alpers’ award-winning writings on art history

A definitive volume of writings by one of the most renowned art historians of the past century, Is Art History? brings together Svetlana Alpers’ contributions to the art historical discipline. Her writing spans over six decades: beginning with seminal essays written in examination of the constraints of the art historical discipline, including a foundational essay on Vasari (1960), “Is Art History?” (1970), “Style Is What You Make It” (1979) and “Art History and Its Exclusions” (1982); two never before published lectures and other unpublished public presentations; notable critical essays on art and recent texts on contemporary artists including Alex Katz, Catherine Murphy and Shirley Jaffe.

Is Art History? also includes new prefatory notes written by the author for this occasion, an unexpected introduction by her former student, the esteemed scholar-critic Richard Meyer, and an interview with the German author and critic Ulf Erdmann Ziegler. This extensive view of Alpers’ prolific and varied career appeals both to new readers in need of an introduction and to audiences familiar with her essential writing on the great European tradition of painting.

Svetlana Alpers (born 1936) is the author of The Art of Describing and Rembrandt’s Enterprise, among other titles. Alpers taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1962 to 1994 and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including being named a Fellow of the American Academy of Art and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Alpers cofounded the interdisciplinary journal Representations in 1983.

Dr. Mariët Westermann was recently appointed the Director and CEO of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, directing its flagship institution in New York, overseeing the Foundation and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, while providing collaborative leadership working with the directors of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. Previously Dr. Westermann, served as Vice Chancellor of NYU Abu Dhabi, Executive Vice President at the Mellon Foundation and as a faculty member and Director at NYU/Institute of Fine Arts, as Associate Director of Research and Academic Programs at the Clark Art Institute and as a faculty member at Rutgers University. She is a graduate, magna cum laude, of Williams College and holds masters and PhD degrees in the History of Art from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts. Westermann has received fellowships, honors, and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Philosophical Society, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Clark Art Institute, College Art Association, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. A historian of art of the Netherlands, Dr. Westermann has authored numerous books, articles, and exhibition essays on Dutch art and artists, museums, and the state and future of higher education. On behalf of the Mellon Foundation, Dr. Westermann commissioned and published (with Roger Schonfeld and Liam Sweeney) two critical research studies on staff diversity in the museum sector.

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