Brigid Boyle is a PhD Candidate specializing in the art and visual culture of nineteenth-century France. Her dissertation, “Visions of Black Masculinity: Jean-Léon Gérôme and the Orientalist Imaginary,” examines Gérôme’s representations of African soldiers, entertainers, laborers, and eunuchs in relation to historical constructions of race and gender. Prior to pursuing her doctoral studies, she held curatorial positions at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Snite Museum of Art, and participated in excavations in Mursi, Albania.
Franchesca Fee is a PhD Candidate specializing in Italian Renaissance art, with a particular focus on painting and patronage. After graduating from Penn State Erie, the Behrend College with a major in Arts Administration in 2014, she earned a Master’s degree in Art History from The Pennsylvania State University in 2016. Her research interests include ecclesiastical patronage, chapel decoration in Rome, and the intersection of art and politics. Franchesca has presented research at a number of international conferences and has held internships at the Erie Art Museum, Chautauqua Institution, the Erie Insurance Heritage Center, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.
Virginia McBride is a PhD student in Art History, with an emphasis on modernist photography. Focusing on Soviet and European photomontage, she researches interactive modes of photographic dissemination and display—particularly the publications, exhibitions, and installations of the interwar period. Before beginning her PhD, Virginia worked as a cataloguer at the Museum of Modern Art, and a curatorial assistant at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.