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Paul Kaplan

Paul
Kaplan
Fellowship: 
McMillan-Stewart Fellowship
Term in Residence: 
Fall 2008
Title / Appointment: 
Professor of Art History
Location: 
Purchase College, SUNY

Contact Information

E-Mail: 
pkaplan@fas.harvard.edu

Biography Information

Paul Kaplan is Professor of Art History at Purchase College, SUNY, where he has taught since 1988. He is a graduate of Hampshire College (B.A., 1974) and Boston University (Ph.D., 1983), and taught at Wake Forest University from 1980 to 1988. His doctoral dissertation examined the image of black Africans in European art up to 1520, and he has since published a book (The Rise of the Black Magus in Western Art, 1985) and many articles in this field. In 2002-2003 he served as Project Scholar for the artist Fred Wilson’s installation in the American Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, an exploration of the role of black Africans in Venetian art and society entitled “Speak of Me as I Am.” He is also a specialist in the political iconography of Venetian Renaissance art, with particular emphasis on the works of Giorgione and Veronese. His current projects include a study of martial imagery in Giorgione, and a comprehensive treatment of the social position and representation of black Africans in Venetian culture. He held an NEH Fellowship in 1993-1994.

Project Description

European Images of Black Africans, 500-1700.

Working with Prof. David Bindman, the General Editor of vol. 3 of the Du Bois Institute’s "The Image of the Black in Western Art" series, I will provide a comprehensive analysis of the image of black Africans in Italian art from c. 1490 to c. 1700. Relations between Africa and Europe in this period are dominated by the rise of the European West African slave trade, and consequently my principal (but not exclusive) focus will be on images of black Africans in the role of servants, especially to members of the European elite. Though Italian states were generally in decline in this era and played only a small role in the development of the slave trade, Italian artists generally retained their European preeminence, and frequently and influentially depicted black Africans. An exploration of the varied visual constructions of black Africans by Italians is therefore both important and revealing.