Art History Scholar Caitlin Beach From Fordham University Wins Book Prize

Caitlin Beach, an assistant professor in the department of art history at Fordham University in New York is the ninth recipient of the University of Maryland-Phillips Collection Book Prize. The prize, which comes with a $5,000 cash award, supports publication of the first book by an emerging scholar presenting new research in modern or contemporary art from 1780 to the present. The winning books are published by the University of California Press.

Dr. Beach was honored for her manuscript Sculpture at the Ends of Slavery, which explores sculpture’s relationship to slavery and abolition in transatlantic contexts. Focusing on the production, circulation, and exhibition of a range of busts and statues, the manuscript shows how the medium stood as a highly visible but deeply unstable site from which to interrogate the politics of slavery across geographies including New Orleans, London, Freetown, Boston, Florence, and Philadelphia.

After being announced as the winner, Dr. Beach stated that “I feel honored that the selection committee has recognized my work for this award. It’s inspiring to have the chance to be a part of conversations about race and modern culture already ongoing with the University of Maryland and The Phillips Collection book series and I look forward to the new directions in which this will push my thinking and writing.”

Dr. Beach is a graduate of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. She earned two master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in art history and archaeology from Columbia University.