Graduate Students
Kathy Johnston-Keane
Europe before 1750
Kathy’s dissertation, "Caravaggio’s Drama: Art, Theater and Religion during Italy’s 'Spanish Age,'" discusses Renaissance and Baroque art during the period when much of the Italian peninsula was under Spanish control. Her research focuses on Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi, 1571-1610), born in Spanish Lombardy, and his appropriation of dramatic elements (theatrical lighting effects, shallow pictorial space, personages based on everyday life, and depictions of violent action) found in many popular entertainments to which the artist was exposed such as street theater, vernacular literature, and public religious devotion—what today might be called "early modern popular culture."
As a painter who looked to his surroundings for inspiration, Caravaggio captured the essence of the diverse local cultures that he encountered while on his travels. While in Spanish Lombardy, the artist saw spectacles sponsored by Spanish Italian officials, participated in religious processions, and knew of the famous Sacro Monte sculpture complex. In Rome, he heard sermons on the Spanish mystics, watched religious street dramas sponsored by Rome’s national churches, and associated with the cultural and religious elite. In southern Italy, another Spanish-controlled region, Caravaggio was again exposed to Italian/Spanish cultural hybridization through local drama, literature and religious devotions.
By tracing Caravaggio’s footsteps during Italy’s "Spanish Age," Johnston-Keane’s work takes a novel approach to Caravaggio studies by exploring the Lombard artist’s life and work within the context of a culturally diverse Italian peninsula. She reminds the reader that the unified nation we now call "Italy" did not yet exist. Italy was merely collection of independent republics, city-states, and territories governed by foreign sovereigns that was only beginning to imagine a unified nation. She also calls into question the common misconception that artistic advances made during the Renaissance and Baroque periods were due solely to Italian genius, a biased view that ignores Spain’s considerable contributions to the culture that the general public now sees as inherently "Italian."
Education
2003- present PhD Program (ABD status). History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh. Working dissertation title: "Caravaggio’s Drama: Art, Theater and Religion during Italy’s 'Spanish Age.'" Dissertation committee: Dr. Ann Sutherland Harris (chair), Dr. David Wilkins, Dr. H. Anne Weis, Dr. Attilio Favorini, Dr. Francesca Savoia. Comprehensive examinations passed October 2005. Prospectus defended December 2005. Dissertation defense expected December 2009.
2005 - PhD Certificate. Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.University of Pittsburgh.
2003 - MA. History of Art and Architecture,University of Pittsburgh. MA paper title: "Caravaggio’s Drama: Traces of Early Drama in the Works of Caravaggio"
1988 - Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, B.S. in Art Education, Magna cum Laude
Academic Publications
Book Reviews
Kathy Johnston- Keane, review of Caravaggio, by Keith Sciberras and David M. Stone, Annali d’Italianistica (2009) in press
Kathy Johnston- Keane, review of Caravaggio in Context, by John F. Moffitt, CAA Books Online (2009).
Kathy Johnston-Keane, review of Caravaggio: Art, Knighthood, and Malta, by Keith Sciberras and David M. Stone for the Italian studies journal, "Annali d’Italianistica," volume 26, November, 2008, pp. 501-2.
Professional Newsletters
January 1998 - "How the Other Half Lives" (art educators newsletter), News You Can Use, Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
Select Presentations
March 14, 2008 – "Was Caravaggio an Italian or a Spanish Painter? Cultural Exchange in ‘Spanish Italy’ Evident in Baroque Painting and Drama," at the Brown-Harvard Graduate Student Conference in Italian Studies at Brown University.
(forthcoming) February 2009 – "Caravaggio, Spanish Citizen and 'Italian' Painter: Evidence of Iberian-Italian Cultural Hybridization in Baroque Art," College Art Association 97th Annual Conference, Los Angeles
March 2008 - "Was Caravaggio an Italian or a Spanish Painter? Cultural Exchange in 'Spanish Italy' Evident in Baroque Painting and Drama," Cultural Margins/Marginal Cultures, CHIASMI, Brown-Harvard Graduate Student Conference in Italian Studies at Brown University
March 2007 - "Caravaggio and the Art of Persuasion" European Colloquium, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh
April 2006 - "Caravaggio’s Theaters of Memory: The Counter-Reformation, Early Italian Drama, and the Visual Arts," Mid-Atlantic Symposium, Center for the Advanced Study of the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
September 2003 - "Private Spaces and Public Faces: Portraying the Power and Personality of the Medici in Renaissance Florence." Center for West European Studies, University of Pittsburgh
March 2002 - "Women Artists from the Renaissance to the 20th Century." Guest lecturer, Pittsburgh Diocese Schools Art Teachers Conference
Other Art-Related Experience
Freelance fact-checking and wall labels for plaster cast collection,Heinz Center for Architecture, Carnegie Museum of Art, Summer 2007.
Exhibition Juror, Blair County Arts Festival, April 2007
Exhibition Juror, Susquehanna Regional Art Center, September 2006
Lesson plan writer, outreach and in-house studio programs, Andy Warhol Museum, 1998
Teaching Experience
Teaching Fellow. History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh, 2006-2007. Courses taught: Introduction to Art (stand-alone course) Spring 2007 and Fall 2006, Introduction to Art (recitation instructor) Spring 2006
Teaching Assistant. History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh, 2001–2005. Courses assisted: American Art (grader) Fall 2005, Introduction to Asian Art Writing Section (stand-alone course) Fall 2003, American Art (grader) Spring 2003, Introduction to Art, (recitation instructor) Fall 2002, Introduction to Van Gogh (grader) Spring 2002, European Visual Traditions (grader) Fall 2001
Fellowships and Grants
2004 – 2005 academic year - Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (FLASF), University of Pittsburgh
Summer 2004 - Summer Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (FLASF), University of Pittsburgh
Summer 2003 - Friends of Frick Travel Grant, University of Pittsburgh
Summer 2003 - Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (FLASF), University of Pittsburgh
Summer 2003 - Frances and Sully Nesta Award, Nationality Rooms, University of Pittsburgh