Katherine Manthorne

Katherine Manthorne, a specialist in modern art of the Americas, earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University. Prior to joining the faculty at the Graduate Center of City University of New York she was Director of the Research Center at Smithsonian's American Art Museum. Her fellowships include Tyson Scholarship at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Terra Foundation Professor, Free University of Berlin; and Senior Fulbright Research Fellow, University of Venice. Her scholarship had long focused on landscape and hemispheric dimensions of American art, beginning with Tropical Renaissance. North American Artists Exploring Latin America, 1839-1879 (1989) and continuing in California Mexicana: Missions to Murals, 1820 to 1930 (2017). Eager to better highlight the role of women within the visual culture of the Americas, her book Film and Modern American Art: The Dialogue between Cinema and Painting (Routledge, available in paperback, 2020) included a chapter on women of the silent era. Two new books continue that focus: Women in the Dark: American Female Photographers 1850-1900 (Schiffer Publishing, 2020) and Restless Enterprise: The Art and Life of Eliza Pratt Greatorex (U. of California Press, 2020). She lives in NYC with her husband visual artist and author James Lancel McElhinney and their cat Maeve.