Beirut: Clare Davies, the associate curator for modern and contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, recently visited the American University of Beirut (AUB). She was invited by the Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan Chair for Arabic and Islamic Studies at the university.
According to National News Agency - Lebanon, Davies conducted a luncheon workshop with AUB's Department of Fine Arts and Art History graduate students. During this session, she shared insights into her curatorial role at an encyclopedic museum, elaborating on the challenges of creating dialogues between the museum's modern and ancient collections. She also outlined the acquisition process, highlighting several pieces acquired from regional artists.
In addition to the workshop, Davies delivered a lecture at the Department of Fine Arts and Art History. Her talk, based on a recently completed book manuscript, critiqued the "additive" approach in art history that includes non-Western modernisms. She advocated for a complete rewriting of art history to address its inherent exclusions and the tendency to decontextualize objects from their colonial historical backgrounds. Davies illustrated an alternative historiography using examples from her research on modern art in Egypt.
The event attracted a full audience, including AUB community members and Beirut's art enthusiasts, who gathered in "The Skeleton," a notable room on Nicely Hall's top floor, to hear Davies' insights.