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The latest news and updates from Arts & Sciences

Painting new pictures

2.26.18 |

The Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol is its physical and symbolic center, connecting the House of Representatives and Senate chambers and providing a setting for ceremonies such as presidential inaugurations and the lying in state of eminent persons. Scholar of early American literature Abram Van Engen tells the story of four historic paintings on display there and asks who and what they omit.

2.21.18

Music and the spoken word

2.21.18 |

Poet Eileen G’Sell and guitarist William Lenihan will join pianist Jay Oliver and drummer Steve Davis for an evening of music and spoken word as part of the Jazz at Holmes Series.

2.19.18

‘And All Our Past Decades Have Seen Revolutions’: The Long Decolonization of Black Panther

2.19.18 |

After its creation 50 years ago at the hands of white writers and artists, the Black Panther has been guided by a short list of influential figures, most recently writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and film director Ryan Coogler. Comics scholar Rebecca Wanzo scrutinizes the intervening years and finds an evolution in the character’s representation of blackness.

2.15.18

‘Call things like they are’

2.15.18 |

When fading patriarch Beverly Weston goes missing, his family gathers for a reunion bordering on the apocalyptic. So begins “August: Osage County,” the Pulitzer- and Tony-winning drama by Tracy Letts. Washington University’s Performing Arts Department will present the show in Edison Theatre Feb. 23 to March 4.

2.12.18

On Topic: The history of black studies with Gerald Early

2.12.18 |

Professor Gerald Early recently oversaw African and African-American Studies’ transition from program to full-fledged department at WashU. Here, he talks about the student activism that kick-started black studies programs around the country.

2.9.18

Katherine Dunham: The Artist as Activist

2.9.18 |

Eartha Kitt, foreground, and James Dean in a Katherine Dunham dance class in the early 1950s. There's hardly a more recognizable figure in dance, especially African-American modern dance, than Katherine Dunham. In her new book, dance scholar Joanna Dee Das explores Dunham's engagement in the black freedom struggle both onstage and off.

2.7.18

McCune to be scholar-in-residence at 26th American Men’s Studies conference

1.29.18

Talking About Voice and Performance

1.29.18 |

Paige McGinley previews the upcoming interdisciplinary symposium, “Embodying Intimacy: New Work in Voice and Performance."

1.26.18

Center for the Humanities faculty fellows named

1.26.18 |

The Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis has named its 2018-19 cohort of six faculty fellows.

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