Temple University

Joseph R. Kopta, PhD (he/they) is an art historian of the medieval world, with particular expertise in the visual and material culture of the Eastern Roman Empire. His intellectual interests are informed by issues of materiality, phenomenology of vision, pre-modern gender, and networks between Byzantium, Africa, Venice, and caliphal courts. As a manuscript specialist, their research engages with the intersections of traditional art history and new technologies of scientific investigation and conservation that permit the identification of precise materials in works of art and processes of manufacture. 

In building a new decolonial curriculum for medieval art at Tyler, Kopta actively adopts a transcultural approach to the study and application of the premodern world, offering new courses and mentorship opportunities that cross geographic, thematic, and temporal boundaries. Through direct mentorship, Kopta is invested in building critical art historical and professional skills at all levels (General Education; undergraduate; and MA/PhD). In 2024, he was the project director of the major collaborative exhibition The Art of the Book: Treasures at the Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, co-curated by graduate students at Tyler, and accompanied by an academic symposium, public programming, web resource, and publication. They also direct the public program, A Look at a Book, featuring scholars virtually presenting rare books, manuscripts, and artist books in podcast-like 25-minute episodes.

In their teaching, they regularly center digital humanities projects as part of student learning; facilitates direct access to art objects at local collections; and has brought students abroad to study art and architecture in Venice for over a decade. 

Kopta’s research has been supported by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich, Germany, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, as well as Tyler School of Art and Architecture and Temple University grants and fellowships. They are currently working on a book monograph considering the materiality of the Byzantine codex.

Kopta regularly presents work at conferences and symposia, including the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, UK; the Middle Atlantic Symposium on the History of Art at the National Gallery of Art; the International Byzantine Studies Congress; and the Byzantine Studies Conference of North America. Most recently, he has co-organized panels on “Breaking points: Reaction to Change in Byzantine art and Literature, 10th–13th c. CE” in 2024, and “Global Material Religion and Mobility in the Premodern World” at SECAC in 2023. He will participate in the Dumbarton Oaks Spring Symposium in 2026. 

Prior to their academic career, they were a museum professional, notably at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum and the Museum of Biblical Art (MOBIA). 

•    PhD, Art History, Tyler School of Art & Architecture, Temple University, 2022 
•    Post-Baccalaureate Program, Classics, Columbia University, 2012 
•    MS, Theory, History, and Criticism of Art, Design, and Architecture, Pratt Institute, 2010 
•    BFA, Theory, History, and Criticism of Art, Design, and Architecture, Pratt Institute, 2008 

Selected Awards: 
•    Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture—Panel Sponsorship, International Medieval Congress, Leeds— 2024
Dissertation Completion Grant, Temple University— 2022 
•    Center for the Humanities at Temple (CHAT) Advanced Graduate Research Fellowship, Temple University— 2021–2022 
•    2020-2021 Art History Graduate Teaching Award, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University—2021 
•    Samuel H. Kress Institutional Fellowship, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte— 2019–2021 
•    Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Travel Grant for Part-time Faculty, Pratt Institute—2018–2019 

Books:
•    Kopta, J. R. The Materiality of the Byzantine Manuscript (forthcoming; in preparation) 
•    Kopta, J. R., ed. The Art of the Book: Treasures at the Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, (Philadelphia: Tyler School of Art and Architecture, 2024). ISBN 979-8-218-38322-0

Peer-Reviewed Articles & Reference Entries:
•    Kopta, J. R. “Hair, Touch, and the Ivory Comb of Leo VI as an Agent of Imperial Order.” (forthcoming; article in peer review) 
•    Kopta, J. R. “The Affective Byzantine Book: Reflections on Aesthetics of Gospel Lectionaries,” Arts 13, no. 3: 92 (Special Issue: Affective Art) (https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13030092); ISSN 2076-0752
•    Kopta, J. R. “Canosa di Puglia” and “K[enneth] J[ohn] Conant.” In The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture, ed. Colum P. Hourihane. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012, I:501-502; II:185-186. (Also in Grove Art Online)