Carol Duncan is Professor Emerita of
Art History at Ramapo College of New
Jersey. With an interdisciplinary Master
from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D.
in Art History from Columbia University,
her interests as an art historian are wide
ranging, from 18th century French art to art
institutions of the present in both Europe
and America. She has written about the
representation of the family and patriarchal
authority in 18th century French art, the
appearance of state politics in 19th century
French art, the representation of nudes in
early 20th century art, and sexual politics
in 20th century American art. A collection
of her essays on these subjects, The
Aesthetics of Power, was published by
Cambridge University Press. For the
past three decades, art museums have
been her main area of research. Civilizing
Rituals: Inside Public Art Museums
(Routledge) and A Matter of Class: John
Cotton Dana, Progressive Reform and the
Newark Museum. (Periscope Publishing,
2010) are her major efforts in that field.
