Erin Pauwels, PhD, Associate Professor of American Art and Undergraduate Advisor, has been appointed the 2024-25 Terra Foundation Visiting Professor in American Art in the Department of History of Art at the University of Oxford.  

During her professorship, Pauwels will teach an undergraduate course about American art from the 17th century to the present day. She will also teach a graduate course on how land, animals, and material resources have inspired the art and visual and material culture of the United States of America, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. 

Pauwels will also be a Visiting Fellow at Worcestor College during her time in Oxford, where she will deliver the annual Terra Lecture in American Art in spring 2025. 

In the University of Oxford’s press release, Professor Pauwels said: “I am thrilled for the opportunity to contribute to the study of American art and visual culture at Oxford. I look forward to working with students to consider art’s historical role in constructing an image of the North American environment, as well as how ecological conditions impact the social, political, and economic contexts for making art. I am grateful to the Terra Foundation for supporting this position and for their ongoing commitment to advancing research that broadens the narratives of American art in a global context.” Read the full release here. 

Pauwels released a book in 2023 titled Napoleon Sarony's Living Pictures: The Celebrity Photograph in Gilded Age New York, which was published by the Pennsylvania State University Press. On Thursday, February 1 at 6:00pm, she will be joined by fellow Art History faculty members Mariola Alvarez and Leah Modigliani, who also published books in the last year, for a book launch and reception at Temple Contemporary. Learn more about the event.