Magic Realism, Identity, and Belonging in Mid-Century America
Supervised by Professor David Peters Corbett and Dr Indie A. Choudhury
My research addresses questions at the nexus of visual culture and identity in the United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In my dissertation, I examine the group of American magic realists working in New York City during the 1930s and 1940s, most of whom were queer white men. I investigate the intersecting identities, constraints, and privileges that shaped their artistic production and reception. I ask: To what extent did the magic realists conform to, or resist, dominant social norms? And how did this shape their sense of belonging (or lack thereof) in the United States at mid-century?
Education
- MA, History of Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art
- BA, History and Literature, Harvard College
Experience
- Postgraduate Research Associate, Yale Center for British Art
- Associate Cataloguer, Sotheby’s
- Humanities Fellow, Dumbarton Oaks & National Gallery of Art
- Curatorial Intern, Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Student Guide, Harvard Art Museums
Grants & Awards
- Short-Term Fellowship, The Huntington
Papers & Talks
- “America, a Prophecy,” Beyond Britain Talk, Yale Center for British Art (November 2025)
- “Apparatus of Empire: 19th-Century British Photography in India,” Postgraduate Symposium, Yale University (August 2025)
- “Between the Lines: Fidelma Cadmus Kirstein’s Quiet Defiance,” Deviant Women Symposium, Bristol University (July 2025)
Research Interests
- American art, 1850-1950
- Global modernism
- Gender and sexuality
- Women artists
- Museum studies