About the Center

The Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, located in the East Building at the National Gallery of Art, is a research institute that fosters study of the production, use, and cultural meaning of art, artifacts, architecture, and urbanism, from prehistoric times to the present. Founded in 1979, the Center encourages a variety of approaches by historians, critics, and theorists of art, as well as by scholars in related disciplines of the humanities and social sciences.

The resident community of scholars consists of the Samuel H. Kress Professor, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor, the Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professor, the A.W. Mellon Lecturer in the Fine Arts, and approximately twenty fellows at any one time, including senior fellows, visiting senior fellows, research associates, postdoctoral curatorial fellows, and predoctoral fellows. In addition, the Center supports approximately twelve predoctoral and visiting senior fellows who are conducting research both in the United States and abroad. The programs of the Center include fellowships, meetings, research, and publications.

The Center's Board of Advisors, comprising seven historians of art or related disciplines appointed to rotating terms, meets annually to consider policies and programs. Members of the board also make up selection committees that review applications for fellowships at the Center. In addition, an ad hoc selection committee, composed of scholars in the field, is appointed for each special-initiative fellowship program. Recommendations for fellowship appointments are forwarded to the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Art.

For more information on the Center and its programs, see the current annual report, Center 32: Record of Activities and Research Reports, June 2011–May 2012 (PDF 9.3MB).

For information contact:

Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts
National Gallery of Art
2000B South Club Drive
Landover, Maryland 20785
Telephone: (202) 842-6480
Fax: (202) 842-6733
Contact us via a Web form

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