Curriculum Vitae

Barbara Maria Stafford

William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor Emerita, University of Chicago

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Education
PhD

University of Chicago

Art History

Supported by an AAUW fellowship enabling study at the Warburg Institute, London, under Ernst Gombrich.

MA

Northwestern University

Art History
BA

Northwestern University

Continental Philosophy & Comparative Literature

Includes a year of study at the Sorbonne in Paris under Jean Wahl and Philippe Souriau.

Academic Positions
2009

University of Melbourne

Miegunyah Distinguished Visiting Fellowship
2010 – 2012

Georgia Institute of Technology

Distinguished University Visiting Professor
1981 – 2010

University of Chicago

Professor; William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor (1995–2010); Emerita (2007–2010)
1973 – 1981

University of Delaware

Assistant and Associate Professor
1972 – 1973

Loyola University, Chicago

Assistant Professor
1969 – 1972

National College of Education

Assistant Professor
Books
  • Ribbon of Darkness (University of Chicago Press, 2019) — Explores inference through shadowy arts and sciences.
  • A Field Guide to a New Meta-Field (University of Chicago Press, 2011) — Bridges humanities and neuroscience inquiry.
  • Echo Objects: The Cognitive Work of Images (University of Chicago Press, 2007) — Investigates the cognitive function of images in understanding and knowledge.
  • Devices of Wonder (Getty Research Institute, 2001) — Co-authored exhibition catalog examining wonder-inducing objects from boxes to screens.
  • Visual Analogy: Consciousness as the Art of Connecting (MIT Press, 1999) — Addresses consciousness as an art form connecting visual representation and thought.
  • Good Looking: Essays on the Virtue of Images (MIT Press, 1996) — Essays examining the ethical and aesthetic value of images.
  • Artful Science: Enlightenment, Entertainment, and the Eclipse of Visual Education (MIT Press, 1994)
  • Body Criticism: Imaging the Unseen in Enlightenment Art and Medicine (MIT Press, 1991)
  • Voyage into Substance: Art, Science, Nature, and the Illustrated Travel Account, 1760–1840 (MIT Press, 1984)
  • Symbol and Myth: Humbert de Superville's Essay on Absolute Signs in Art (Associated University Presses, 1979)
Honors & Fellowships
2024

Jury, National Museum of Women in the Arts

2015

MediaArtHistories Award

For contributions to imaging arts and optical sciences
2008

Michelle Kendrick Memorial Book Prize

Also: Thomas N. Bonner Award (2008); Templeton Research Fellowship, USC (2008)

2005 – 2006

Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin

Fellow
1995 – 1996

Getty Research Institute

Fellow
1998

Honorary Doctorate

Grand Valley State University
1996

Honorary Doctorate

Maryland Institute College of Art
2010

Honorary Doctorate

University of Warwick
Professional Service
1995 – 1996

President

American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
1985 – 2000

Advisory Committee Member

Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities
Ongoing

Editorial Boards & Advisory Positions

Numerous editorial boards; International Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies (elected member-at-large); College Art Association discussant (2018).