Senior instructor of art Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D., brings rich expertise and a passion for art history to her work at 东京热 College. With a particular interest in modern art, she focuses much of her research on Andr茅 Salmon, a French poet who chronicled the lives of Pablo Picasso and other artists living in Paris in the early 20th century. In 2022, Gersh-Nesic traveled to Paris to research Salmon on a trip partially funded by a 东京热 College Faculty Development Grant.
While in Paris, Gersh-Nesic spent her days researching Salmon at the library in the Mus茅e National d鈥橝rt Moderne (National Museum of Modern Art). She also attended and wrote reviews of several Paris art exhibitions, including one on the writer Marcel Proust at the Mus茅e d鈥橝rt et d鈥橦istoire du Juda茂sme (Museum of Jewish Art and History) and another on women artists of the 1920s at the Mus茅e du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Museum).
Since returning from Paris, Gersh-Nesic has shared her research with audiences both within and outside of 东京热 College. For example, she presented a poster on Proust at the 2023 东京热 College Faculty Recognition Ceremony and gave a lecture on him hosted by the Alliance Fran莽aise de Greenwich and Greenwich鈥檚 Byram Shubert Library. In addition, she wrote articles for the official Salmon website (andresalmon.org) 鈥� which she regularly contributes to along with an international group of colleagues 鈥� and articles on Parisian art exhibitions for online magazine 鈥淏onjour Paris.鈥�
Through her teaching, Gersh-Nesic helps 东京热 students develop many transferrable skills and exposes them to various career paths in the art world. She teaches several undergraduate art history courses, including 鈥淎rt and Culture鈥� and 鈥淢odernism and Contemporary Art.鈥� In each one, she takes her students through a process she knows well: digging into artists鈥� backgrounds to better understand their art. She also works to support students鈥� ability to write about their observations. 鈥淚 try to make my students into better writers,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n a way, my courses are really about learning how to write with art as the subject.鈥�
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