THE WOLFSONIAN-FIU ANNOUNCES AFFILIATION WITH AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME

MIAMI BEACH, FL–[December 5, 2005] The Wolfsonian–Florida International University and the American Academy in Rome announce the establishment of The Wolfsonian–FIU Affiliated Fellowship in Modern Italian Studies. 

 

On the occasion of its 10^th anniversary, The Wolfsonian–FIU has joined the American Academy in Rome as a Member Institution.  This alliance between the Academy and The Wolfsonian provides unique opportunities for international advanced research and independent study.  The Affiliated Fellowship in Modern Italian Studies offers scholars who have conducted or plan to conduct substantial research at The Wolfsonian–FIU the opportunity to spend a period of four to six weeks residency in Rome, as part of the vibrant intellectual and creative community of artists, composers, architects, and scholars at the American Academy. The time spent in Italy allows access not only to the rich resources of the Academy and all of Rome, but also to the Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection at the Fondazione Regionale Cristoforo Colombo in Genoa.

 

From its inception, The Wolfsonian has sponsored annual fellowships in order to promote scholarly research in design, propaganda and decorative arts from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through independent study of The Wolfsonian's holdings.  In addition to conducting research, fellows often present lectures to the public and work with students and faculty in other departments of Florida International University. The new affiliated fellowships in Modern Italian Studies renew an earlier alliance between The Wolfsonian and the American Academy in 1996 and 1997, during which time The Wolfsonian offered two fellowships at the Academy.

 

“As both a public museum and a university-affiliated institution, fostering new research and insight into the role of design and material culture in Modern history is central to The Wolfsonian’s mission.  Since the fellowship program began in1993, the museum’s extensive holdings from Italy have provided a great resource for visiting scholars; supplemented with an extended residency in Rome, and access to the Wolfson collection in Genoa, the affiliated fellowships will be an even greater opportunity for deepened cultural understanding and profound intellectual discovery,” said Wolfsonian Director Cathy Leff.

 

The Affiliated Fellowship in Modern Italian Studies will be awarded for initiatives that further The Wolfsonian’s on-going programs, including exhibition development, curriculum development, and publications, and would benefit from the access to primary Italian sources available through a residency in Rome. Interested scholars should contact The Wolfsonian’s fellowship coordinator about their proposed project before submitting an application.

  

The program is open to prior Wolfsonian fellows and scholars who are selected for a Wolfsonian fellowship for the same academic year as their proposed period of residence in Rome.  Other eligibility requirements will be the same as for other Wolfsonian fellowships. Holders of advanced degrees, Ph.D. candidates, and others with a record of significant professional accomplishment are eligible. Candidates will apply directly to The Wolfsonian, and awards will be determined by the external review panel constituted each year by The Wolfsonian to consider all applications, including those for affiliated fellowships.

 

Earlier this year, The Wolfsonian announced its 2005-2006 Fellows.  From renowned Columbia University professor Gwendolyn Wright, who will conduct research for a broad book on modern American architecture, to Danielle Schwartz, a doctoral candidate at McGill University studying the morphing designs of radio’s and televisions fro 1920 to 1939, the fellows exemplify the range and diversity of possible research topics and themes that benefit from access to The Wolfsonian’s unique collection.  Other awards went to Nancy Green, Senior Curator at Cornell University, for a book on the Arts and Crafts movement; Kimberly Hyde, Director of Old Stone Archives in Cleveland for research on the business strategies of Louis C. Tiffany, and Michelangelo Sabatino, Assistant Architecture Professor at the University of Houston for insight into Primitivism and folk art as influencing factors in Italian Modernism.

 

About The Wolfsonian–Florida International University

The Wolfsonian–Florida International University promotes the examination of modern material culture to enhance the understanding and appreciation of objects as agents and reflections of social, political, and technological change. The core of The Wolfsonian collection is North American and European decorative, propaganda, and fine arts of the period 1885-1945. The collection includes furniture, paintings, sculpture, glass, ceramics, and works on paper. The United States, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands are the countries most comprehensively represented. There are also smaller but significant collections of materials from a number of other countries, including Austria, France, Japan, Czechoslovakia, the former Soviet Union and Hungary. The Wolfsonian library has approximately 50,000 rare books, periodicals, and ephemeral items, as well as standard reference materials. More information about The Wolfsonian and its collections is available at our website: www.wolfsonian.fiu.edu.

 

About the American Academy in Rome

Established in 1894 by architect Charles Follen McKim and chartered by an act of Congress in 1905, the American Academy in Rome, a post-graduate community of artists and scholars, is situated atop Rome’s highest hill within the city’s ancient walls. Each year, through a national juried competition, the Academy offers U.S. citizens up to 30 Rome Prize fellowships in the following disciplines: Architecture, Design, Historic Preservation and Conservation, Landscape Architecture, Literature, Musical Composition, Visual Arts, and in humanistic approaches to Ancient Studies, Medieval Studies, Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, and Modern Italian Studies. The annual application deadline is 1 November. Rome Prize winners are joined by a select group of residents invited by the Academy and international affiliate program members, forming a fellowship of over 100 individuals. For more information, please visit our website: www.aarome.org