Bring Art History to Life

ALUMNI NEWS

Dr. C.D. Dickerson ’94 (pictured above), Curator and Head of Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. (and parent of Amelia ’26 and Simon ’24 and husband of FWCD Board Vice President Elyse Stoltz Dickerson ’93), spoke to eighth-graders in November, giving them an interesting art history lesson on the various paintings they were studying at the Kimbell Art Museum for their Renaissance Art History Research Project. Dr. Dickerson is exceptionally familiar with the five choices as he served as the Curator of European Art at the Kimbell from 2009 to July 2015.

The lengthy multidisciplinary project, which kicked off in October with visits to the Kimbell Art Museum, engages students in the arts, fosters communication skills, and builds upon their literary criticism skills. Students traveled to the Kimbell and took notes from their English teachers on five paintings from the Renaissance period. Each student selected one painting to research and produced an in-depth traditional research paper. Extra credit was offered to those who chose to return to the Kimbell with their families and serve as a docent for the painting they researched and wrote about.

Dr. C.D. Dickerson ’94, Curator and Head of Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Those paintings were The Cardsharps (Caravaggio), The Butcher’s Shop (Carracci), The Apostle Saint James the Greater Freeing the Magician Hermogenes (Fra Angelico), The Madonna and Child with a Female Saint and the Infant Saint John the Baptist (Titian), and The Torment of Saint Anthony (Michelangelo).

Dr. Dickerson, who has written a book titled Raw Painting: The Butcher’s Shop by Annibale Carracci, shared with the students that Carracci painted what he knew: The artist was born into a family of butchers and had a great understanding of the profession, which could be seen in the detailed brushwork of the meat in the painting. In his job at the National Gallery, Dr. Dickerson writes books, curates exhibitions, and acquires art. When asked by Adam Rafati ’26 during the Q&A what he would love to bring to the National Gallery, Dr. Dickerson said he would like to bring in pieces by Caravaggio and Michelangelo since those two artists are currently not represented.