People

Ajay Sinha teaches the history of Asian art at various levels, and seminars on Indian photography and Indian film. In his classes, students explore how the visual arts in India, China, Japan and other Asian countries reflect political and social formations and embody cultural values, and make visible the historical connections between local cultures and global networks both past and present, and between religious beliefs and secular life. He has published books and scholarly journal articles on the art and architecture of ancient India, and modern and contemporary art of South Asia including photography and film. Sinha is also a member of the Asian studies and film studies programs.

Bettina Bergmann teaches courses in Greek and Roman art and modern collecting and museum practices. Her research focuses on the relations among ancient Roman architecture, gardens, painting and literature. Bergmann uses three-dimensional models to suggest how fragments in museums appeared in their original contexts. A current project explores representations of the world in Roman art.

Michael Davis teaches courses on the art of the Middle Ages, the arts of Islam, and modern architecture. His research centers on French Gothic architecture including Notre-Dame, Paris and the cathedrals of Clermont-Ferrand and Limoges. Recently, he has been reconstructing lost buildings in medieval Paris (early video). Used in his seminars on Paris, these projects actively engage students in the evaluation of evidence, medieval design techniques, and the use of digital media.

Anthony Lee teaches courses on modernist art and the history of photography. His many books probe the relationship between art and the social lives of immigrants, migrants, and the working classes, and span Civil War photography, pictures of industrializing New England, depictions of Chinatowns, Depression-era murals, tabloid photography, and the contemporary documentary. His current book projects are concerned with pictorialism in Boston and the visual cultures of nationalism and separatism in Victorian Scotland.

Jessica Maier’s research focuses on early modern maps and prints. Her book, “Rome Measured and Imagined: Early Modern Maps of the Eternal City,” was published in 2015, and her articles have appeared in The Art Bulletin, Renaissance Quarterly and other journals. Maier is a fellow of the American Academy in Rome. At Mount Holyoke, she teaches Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture with an eye to global interactions.

Paul Staiti teaches courses in American art and cinema. He has authored books and essays on John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Winslow Homer and other American artists. His most recent book, “Of Arms and Artists: The American Revolution Through Painters’ Eyes,” is concerned with the diverse ways in which painters responded to the crisis of the American Revolution. He co-curated the 1995 John Singleton Copley show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Currently, in anticipation of an exhibition scheduled for Versailles and the Metropolitan, Staiti is researching the Americans who visited the court of Louis XVI.