Katherine Manthorne, a specialist in modern art of the Americas, earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University. She previously headed the Research Center at the Smithsonian's American Art Museum, where she also served as executive editor of American Art. Prior to that she was professor and chairperson of art history at the University of Illinois at Champaign- Urbana. Recipient of various awards and fellowships, she was a Senior Fulbright Research Fellow and the first professor of American art at the University of Venice, Italy. She has collaborated on museum exhibitions and publications including The Landscapes of Louis Rémy Mignot: A Southern Painter Abroad; El Barón de Courcy: Ilustraciones de un viaje, 1831-1833; Creation and Renewal: Views of Cotopaxi by Frederic Edwin Church; and currently Sand and Fog: The Luminist Paintings and Collection of James Suydam. Her interest in cross-currents across the Americas is reflected in her book Tropical Renaissance: North American Artists Exploring Latin America, 1839-1879, as well as the new Multiple Dimensions of American Art, scheduled for publication in 2007.

Photo: Annemarie Poyo