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New Realities: Heightened Realism and Urban American Art in the 1930s

This talk by Carmenita Higginbotham will examine the critical role of realism in American art production. Importantly, it will consider how the representation of race and gender were redetermined as discourses about “the city” evolved during the Great Depression in the United States.   

Carmenita Higginbotham is an art historian whose research examines 20th-century American art, and how notions of “the city” have had an impact on representation. She has lectured extensively on the history of American art, popular visual culture, and public art, and has served as a featured scholar and consultant on the topic of Walt Disney and the Disney corporation’s cultural impact. At present, Higginbotham is Dean of Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts. 

Prior to her current role, Higginbotham served as department chair of the University of Virginia Department of Art, and as assistant and associate professor in the departments of Art and American Studies. She received her PhD in the History of Art from the University of Michigan.