In Memoriam: Constance Cain Hungerford, 1948-2021

Constance Cain Hungerford, the Mari S. Michener Professor Emerita of Art History and Provost Emerita at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, died on May 12 at Crozer Chester Medical Center in Upland, Pennsylvania, after recently suffering a stroke. She was 73 years old.

A native of Evanston, Illinois, Professor Hungerford held a bachelor’s degree in art history from Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in art history at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Hungerford joined Swarthmore’s art department faculty in 1975 as an instructor to teach classes in 19th- and 20th-century art, American art, Picasso, modernism, and the history of photography, which was well-timed to coincide with the college’s first studio arts photography course in 1977. Within two years, and in her first as an assistant professor, she also served as acting department chair while still teaching a five-course load that included survey classes and honors seminars. She would chair the department again, for six years in the 1980s and from 2017 to 2019.

In 2001. Dr. Hungerford became the college’s sixth provost. She served in that role for a decade, the longest of any to hold the position. She was the author of Ernest Meissonier: Master in His Genre (Cambridge University Press, 1999),

Professor Hungerford retired in 2020 but continued to live within walking distance of campus.