Fellowships
Fellowships in the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts
Members of CASVA’s resident community of scholars include the Kress-Beinecke Professor, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor, the Edmond J. Safra Visiting Professor, the A. W. Mellon Lecturer in the Fine Arts, and approximately 18 fellows at any one time, including senior fellows, visiting senior fellows, research associates, a postdoctoral fellow, and predoctoral fellows. In addition, CASVA supports approximately 15 predoctoral fellows who are conducting research in the field. Fellows and professors who relocate to Washington are provided with housing in apartments near the National Gallery of Art, subject to availability. They are also provided with studies in the East Building of the Gallery. Lectures, colloquia, shoptalks, and other scholarly gatherings complement the fellowship program.
Fellowships
Senior Fellowships
One Paul Mellon Fellowship and four to six Ailsa Mellon Bruce, Samuel H. Kress, and William C. Seitz Senior Fellowships are awarded each academic year. Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce Senior Fellowships support research in the history, theory, and criticism of the visual arts of any geographic area and of any period. Samuel H. Kress Senior Fellowships support research on European art before the early nineteenth century. The William C. Seitz Senior Fellowship primarily supports research on modern and contemporary art. Senior fellowship applications are also solicited from scholars in other disciplines whose work examines artifacts or has implications for the analysis and criticism of forms.
Senior Fellowship Program, 2021–2022
Visiting Senior Fellowships
Leonard A. Lauder Visiting Senior Fellowships support scholars who are researching diverse areas of art-historical study or those working in underserved constituencies. The first cycle of fellowships will be dedicated to the Center’s ongoing initiative in the arts of African Americans, Africa, and the African diaspora. The Leonard A. Lauder Fellowships complement the Center’s existing visiting senior fellowship program (discussed below).
Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce Visiting Senior Fellowships support research in the history, theory, and criticism of the visual arts of any geographic area and of any period. Visiting senior fellowship applications are also solicited from scholars in other disciplines whose work examines artifacts or has implications for the analysis and criticism of visual forms.
Visiting Senior Fellowship Program, 2021–2022
Ailsa Mellon Bruce National Gallery of Art Sabbatical Curatorial/Conservation Fellowship
The Ailsa Mellon Bruce National Gallery of Art Sabbatical Curatorial/Conservation Fellowship is open to members of the National Gallery of Art curatorial and conservation staff. The fellowship provides for full-time independent research of two to four months in duration. It is intended to relieve members of the staff of their departmental and other Gallery responsibilities in order to pursue independent study, research, or publication not directly related to a Gallery project.
Postdoctoral Fellowship
The postdoctoral fellowship program is supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. One fellowship will be awarded biennially for two consecutive academic years to a postdoctoral fellow studying the history, theory, or criticism of the visual arts of any period or culture. The A. W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow is expected to reside in Washington. During the first year the fellow undertakes independent research and writing. The fellow also designs and directs an intensive weeklong seminar for the seven predoctoral fellows at CASVA, focusing on a topic related to the applicant’s field of interest and with a special emphasis on methodological issues. In the second academic year, while continuing research and writing in residence, the A. W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow teaches one course (advanced undergraduate or graduate) by arrangement at a neighboring university. The fellow will also direct an intensive weeklong seminar for the predoctoral fellows in residence, which may repeat the one designed and directed in the first academic year.
A. W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, 2022–2024
Predoctoral Dissertation Fellowships
The predoctoral dissertation fellowship program supports advanced graduate research in the history, theory, and criticism of art, architecture, urbanism, and photographic media. Each of the nine fellowships has specific requirements and intents, including support for the advancement and completion of a doctoral dissertation and for residency and travel during the period of dissertation research. Application for a predoctoral dissertation fellowship may be made only through nomination by the chair of a graduate department of art history or other appropriate department. The predoctoral fellowships include the David E. Finley Fellowship, the Paul Mellon Fellowship, the Samuel H. Kress Fellowship, the Wyeth Fellowship, the Ittleson Fellowship, the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship, the Robert H. and Clarice Smith Fellowship, the Twenty-Four-Month Chester Dale Fellowship, and the Twelve-Month Chester Dale Fellowship.
Predoctoral Dissertation Fellowship Program, 2021–2022
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Predoctoral Fellowships for Historians of American Art to Travel Abroad
Up to four fellowships are available to doctoral students who are studying art and architecture of the United States, including native and pre-Revolutionary America. They are intended for a period of four to six weeks of continuous travel abroad in areas outside the United States to sites of historical and cultural interest, including museums, exhibitions, collections, and monuments. The travel fellowship is intended to encourage a breadth of art-historical experience beyond the candidate’s major field, not for the advancement of a dissertation. Preference is accorded to those who have had little opportunity for research travel abroad.