Mississippi University for Women will host the Diane Legan Howard Art History Lecture Series, featuring Dr. Carol Crown, professor emerita at the University of Memphis, Wednesday, April 19 at 5:30 p.m.
Crown will discuss JJ Cromer: “The Environmental Drawings of a Self-Taught Artist” in the Mary Evelyn Stringer Auditorium of Summer Hall (Art & Design) followed by a wine and cheese reception. The event is free and open to the public.
During her 40 years of distinguished service, Crown served as chair of the Department of Art at the University of Memphis from 1982 to 1992. She established the Dorothy Kayser Hohenberg Chair of Excellence in Art History and founded the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology.
In the field of art history, she achieved the reputation as a leading scholar of contemporary folk art for her publications on Southern self-taught artists and her vision for the exhibition “Coming Home! Self-Taught Artists, the Bible, and the American South,” which opened in 2004 at the Art Museum of the University of Memphis. The show traveled to Florida State University and then to New York City, as the opening exhibition for the new Museum of Biblical Art.
The W’s lecture series was established in 2012 to honor Diane Legan Howard’s passion for the arts.
Howard studied art history at The W and graduated summa cum laude from the university in 1959. Her husband, Malcolm B. Howard, and their four children chose to honor her love for the arts through a scholarship and this lecture series.
Dr. Beverly Joyce, gallery director, said, “We are grateful to the Howard family. Their generosity has allowed us to bring in specialists in a wide array of art historical topics.”
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