Message from the Chair

It is hard to believe that another year has passed and that the disruption of Covid-19 continues to play a part in our everyday lives. Though we have faced many challenges along the way, all members of our community have contributed to our notable success in navigating this environment. The adaptability of our faculty, students, and staff never ceases to amaze me as they explore new ways to stay connected and discover alternative modes of learning. While the approach to our operations has been modified to keep everyone safe, the dedication and support of our close friends and alumni remain strong, creating a vibrant academic setting where students can flourish and build relationships that will last a lifetime.

In my role as the Chair of the Institute’s Board of Trustees, I am delighted to announce the appointment of three new board members. Harriet Stratis, an alumna of the IFA’s Conservation Center and a paper conservator and technical art historian, has joined our board. In 2017, she established Stratis Fine Art Conservation LLC, a private firm that advises museums and collectors on technical research and conservation treatments. Harriet has generously endowed a fellowship fund for conservation students in the name of her former professor Antoinette King. We also had the pleasure of welcoming Paula Volent, another alumna of the IFA’s Conservation Center who has a specialization in the conservation of works of art on paper. Currently, Ms. Volent is the Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at Rockefeller University. Paula brings a longtime commitment to the Center and its students to her work on the board. In addition, Graeme Whitelaw, a retired architect who also had his own practice consulting on architectural projects for corporations, institutions, and developers, has become a member of the board. Graeme recently endowed two MA fellowships in honor of his wife Harriet Griffin. These fellowships support students who demonstrate financial need and academic merit and who are members of groups historically underserved in the IFA community. We are grateful for the dedication and leadership that each of these new members of the board has already demonstrated.

One of the greatest opportunities for growth over the past few years has been the Institute’s dynamic public programming. The pandemic forced us to reimagine how we provide access to a wide range of scholarly presentations. Virtual formats have allowed us to be in conversation with talented speakers from around the world. In this celebration of our expanding network, I am thrilled to announce the naming of the Institute’s Ehrenkranz Public Programs. Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz have been visionary philanthropists in supporting the Institute’s robust and engaging forum for dialogue with scholars, artists, conservators, curators, and students. We are honored to recognize their commitment to serving the community with the naming of these programs.

This past year we also had the great fortune to receive two transformational gifts, one from Valeria and Gregorio Napoleone and the other from Rachel and Jonathan Wilf. The Napoleones have thoughtfully established the Linda Nochlin Visiting Assistant Professorship in Modern and Contemporary Art. This professorship recognizes the Institute’s former faculty member and brilliant feminist scholar, who left an indelible mark on the field of art history. The first incumbent will join us for a period of three years. Responding to the retirement of several faculty members, the Wilfs have also funded a Visiting Assistant Professorship in 19th-century European Art. This position will ensure the Institute’s ability to re-establish its reputation in this important field that is of great interest to many of our students. This new member of the faculty will also teach in the 2022-2023 academic year. The attentiveness of our trustees to the needs of the Institute and, in particular, to the scholarly training of our talented students, sustains the longstanding tradition of excellence at the Institute. We are deeply grateful for their outstanding generosity.

The steadfast commitment of the Leon Levy Foundation and of our dear friend, Shelby White, has also been remarkable. Not only did the Foundation support the travel of another cohort of students this summer, but the Foundation also announced that it will endow the Shelby White and Leon Levy Travel Grant program. The Institute’s Art History MA students will now have the opportunity to enhance their studies by visiting art works in situ all around the globe in perpetuity. This is a pivotal moment in the history of the Institute, and we are

tremendously grateful that an endowment fund will be established for this program that began in 1985 and that has become a cornerstone of our MA program.

Each semester we look forward to welcoming the Institute’s Connoisseurs Circle members who audit courses into the day-to-day life of the Duke House. While we returned to the classroom in the fall last year, the spring semester’s dance with the Omicron variant put a pause on a full return to the Institute. Thankfully, we saw a reprieve at the end of February and welcomed everyone back to the classroom. In the interim, our faculty were extremely accommodating in providing remote access and sharing recordings of their classes. In highlighting the scholarship of our alumni, we arranged several events for our members, including a tour of the Sophie Taeuber-Arp: Living Abstraction exhibition at MoMA with IFA alumna Anne Umland. This summer we paid a visit to The Metropolitan Museum of Art to see Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents with IFA alumna Stephanie Herdrich. The opportunity to engage with these curators in the galleries in front of works of art brought vitality back to the Connoisseurs Circle program.

The Conservation Center organized a wonderful retirement celebration for Hannelore Roemich, who was a member of the Conservation Center faculty for fifteen years. One of Hanne’s most significant accomplishments in her illustrious career at the Institute was the founding of the Time-Based Media Art Conservation Program in 2018. This past May the first TBM student graduated the four-year program. With the renewal of the Mellon Foundation’s third seven-figure grant in support of this program, there will be many students to follow in these footsteps. The astounding success of this program, and the excellence of its students, has put the Institute on the map in this fast-evolving field. We are indebted to Hanne for her vision and endless hours of dedication to seeing this program take flight.

It is an honor to serve in my role as chair of an organization that is as vibrant as the Institute of Fine Arts. I am heartened to observe the commitment of the faculty and staff and the involvement of the alumni and the larger community. Each party contributes to realizing the Institute’s mission to train the next generation of talented scholars, curators, and conservators. Thank you for the role you play in supporting the Institute. I hope you will build upon your relationship with the Institute and that we will see you often in the coming academic year, either in person or online!

Marica Vilcek Chair The Institute of Fine Arts