Warnock Gift
About the Gift
The Liz Warnock Gift to Art History provides generous funds to support an array of programming in the department and builds upon an earlier gift that founded the Warnock Lecture Series which is highlighted below along with other initiatives. One of the primary goals of the Warnock Gift has been to enhance undergraduate study of Art History, both in the classroom with monies for guest visitors and student writing awards and beyond via course-related travel and financial assistance for students undertaking unpaid internships. Both generous and flexible, the Gift to Art History allows the department to assess programming needs on a year-to-year basis. Thus, in recent years, the fund has provided dissertation completion fellowships for advanced graduate students who had exhausted other sources of funding. Moreover, the fund has allowed the department to offer co-sponsorship for lectures, symposia, exhibitions, and performances organized by colleagues in programs and departments across campus.
Warnock Lecture Series
The department’s premier lecture series began in 2008 and brings to campus renowned art historians, visual artists, and critical thinkers who write about the visual experience. One evening lecture is scheduled per quarter and takes place in the Pick-Laudati Auditorium at the Block Museum of Art. The next day, students are invited to participate in a lunch-time seminar led by the speaker providing them with the opportunity to engage directly with prominent thinkers in art history and the visual arts. Recent speakers have included Drew Thompson, Emine Fetvacı, and Michael Yonan in 2022-23; and Swati Chattopadhyay, Christiane Gruber, and Rita Lucarelli in 2023-24.
Seminar Travel Grants
The Warnock Gift also provides funding for seminars to travel in order to view collections and exhibitions directly related to the topic of study in any given quarter. In the past, undergraduate students have traveled to New York to see an exhibition on Toulouse-Lautrec in advance of mounting an exhibition of their own on the artist at the Block, and graduate students have traveled to Boston to explore early modern Dutch art and trade.
Warnock Publication Fund
Art History publishing is an expensive affair and this new fund generously supports the scholarly work of faculty and their professional activity as art historians. Faculty have used monies to acquire image rights and permissions and for subventions to presses. The fund also seeks to support the professional development of department graduate alumni by providing subventions for book publication up to fifteen years after graduation. In 2024-25, this fund will be additionally supported by the Myers Foundations.
Header Image: Spring 2023 Warnock Lecture, delivered by Michael Yonan (University of California, Davis), May 17, 2023.