Alumni in the Field Andaleeb Badiee Banta, MA 1999, PhD 2007
Senior Curator and Department Head of Prints, Drawings & Photographs at the Baltimore Museum of Art
58 The Institute of Fine Arts Annual 2020 - 2021
A
lot can happen in a decade. When I opened my acceptance letter from the IFA, now 24 years ago, I had little inkling of the opportunities and encounters that would transpire over the following decade as I pursued both master’s and doctoral degrees at NYU. In addition to receiving a remarkable art historical education during that time, I experienced lifedefining milestones: living on my own in a major city, living abroad, losing an advisor to cancer, marriage, losing a parent to cancer, making life-long friends, publishing my first article, securing fellowships, interviewing for my first “real” job, and owning a home. Many of these events would have occurred regardless of my enrollment at the IFA, but because they unfolded within the context of that community of friends and colleagues, they are inextricably linked in my understanding of what it is to be an art historian and museum professional. While the curricular requirements provided the basis for my intellectual growth, the seemingly collateral events that occurred during this period—professional access, personal connections, and real-world challenges—indelibly shaped my identity. Fresh out of college, I was thrilled to have been accepted at the graduate program of my choice. Despite the generous financial aid I received, which
fundamentally made it possible for me to attend, it still was not sufficient to meet the high costs of living in New York City, even as a frugal graduate student. As a result, I had to work throughout my entire graduate career. Though it was exhausting to balance the requirements for coursework and the dissertation with the demands of employment, it turned out to be quite valuable. The IFA provided access to a wide variety of experience in the multifaceted New York art world, a characteristic of the program that had attracted me to it in the first place. First-hand experience at various universities, museums, and galleries contributed to a healthy resume that served me well when it came time to leave the graduate school nest and face the vicissitudes of the job market. The diversity of the coursework required at the IFA offered the latitude to consider alternative paths of study. Ultimately, this broad approach equipped me to be not only a specialist in Italian Baroque art, but also a generalist, a descriptor that I would have dismissed while in graduate school. Nevertheless, it became the skill that has served me best in my post-graduate career. Few newly minted PhDs have the luxury of working at institutions where they focus on their chosen field of specialty. Moreover, training alongside other students who would go on to specialize in other fields meant that I would always have someone to consult years later when faced with the task of assessing objects from cultures and time periods that were outside of my area of expertise. Perhaps the most formative aspect of my tenure at the IFA was taking classes held at New York City museums. Often taught by curators and conservators, these classes demonstrated the singular experience of learning directly from objects and made clear that teaching and museum work did not have to be mutually exclusive. This proved to be a constant thread throughout my career as I have sought opportunities to work closely with students, interns, and fellows in the museum setting and to teach directly from collections. Acting as a mentor to emerging scholars as they determine their own paths, I feel that I am returning the investments made in me by the IFA during that decade of my life.
