Danford to deliver lecture on women and art history

Rachel Danford, assistant professor of art history and assistant director of women's, gender, and sexuality studies at Marshall University, will give a guest lecture about the impact of women on art history Wednesday, March 23, 4-6 p.m. in Rader Hall, room 111.  The lecture is titled "Treasures of Empresses and Abbesses: Precious Metalwork in Ottonian Germany." Danford will speak about objects made by and for women in the Ottonian imperial family from the 10th-11th centuries in Germany. Melissa Yungbluth, director of MSU’s Golding-Yang Gallery and a member of MSU's gender studies leadership team, said the artwork Danford will be discussing was vital to the rise of the Ottoman Empire.  

"It's a big family with lots of interesting members, and the art associated with the women, in particular, is unusual. The women played a key role in building up the dynasty," she said.


Danford specializes in the art and architecture of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages, with research interests in materials and media theory, monumental decoration systems, the reception of classical antiquity in the Middle Ages, and medieval theories of creativity and innovation. She earned a Ph.D. in the History of Art from Johns Hopkins University (2016) and holds a B.A. in art history, with a minor in archaeology, from Stanford University (2008). She joined Marshall's faculty in 2017.  

"Dr. Danford will add depth to what our art history program is most known for, but I also want the students that attend the lecture to walk away feeling more empowered. Hearing tales of strong, leading women from centuries ago," Yungbluth said.  

The lecture is sponsored by MSU's Gender Studies program and the Caudill College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.   

To learn more about gender studies at MSU, visit www.moreheadstate.edu/genderstudies, email Program Director and Professor of Sociology, Dr. Bernadette Barton, at b.barton@moreheadstate.edu or call 606-783-2710.