Alessandra Comini (born November 24, 1934)Comini, Alessandra
Dictionary of Art Historians, 2012. Retrieved June 21, 2016 is an American art historian and curator. She is University Distinguished Professor of Art History Emerita at

Southern Methodist University Southern Methodist University (SMU) is a Private university, private research university in Dallas, Texas, United States, with a satellite campus in Taos County, New Mexico. SMU was founded on April 17, 1911, by the Methodist Episcopal Church, ...

in University Park,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. Proficient in music and languages as well as art history, Comini brought an interdisciplinary approach to her study of the arts in Austria and Germany at the turn of the 20th century, an approach particularly suited to the integrated art forms of '' fin-de-siècle'' Vienna.

Early and personal life

Alessandra Comini was born the daughter of Megan Laird and Raiberto Comini in

Winona, Minnesota Winona ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, Minnesota, United States. Located in bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf (Winona, Minnesota), Sugar Loaf. The population was 2 ...

. Her earliest years were spent in Barcelona, Milan, and Dallas. Comini received her B.A. from

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

(1956), her M.A, from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

(1964), and her Ph.D. from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

(1969). Her dissertation, written under Theodore Reff, on the topic of Egon Schiele's portraiture. In 1974 she started working with art historian

Eleanor Tufts Eleanor May Tufts (February 1, 1927December 2, 1991) was an American art historian, feminist and professor of art history at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Her work as an author, historian and lecturer was key to the opening o ...

at Southern Methodist University. Tufts became her life partner.

Career

While teaching at Columbia between 1965 and 1974, Comini became one of the founders of the

Women's Caucus for Art The Women's Caucus for Art (WCA), founded in 1972, is a non-profit organization based in New York City, which supports women artists, art historians, students, educators, and museum professionals. The WCA holds exhibitions and conferences to promo ...

in 1972. She taught at Southern Methodist University from 1974 until 2005. And she guest taught at the University of California, Berkeley (1967) and Yale University (1973). Voted outstanding professor sixteen times by her students, Comini served as the Alfred Hodder Resident Humanist at Princeton University (1972–1973) and was named Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at Oxford University's European Humanities Research Centre (1996). Celebrated for her witty, erudite, and compelling public lectures, Comini has been in demand as a guest speaker nationally and internationally. As an interdisciplinary speaker, Comini lectured repeatedly at the Leipzig Gewandhaus symposia, The Santa Fe Opera, and for the Indianapolis and Dallas Symphony Orchestras. In 1990 Comini was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria in recognition of her contributions to Germanic culture. In 2014 Comini turned to fiction writing and has published nine art history murder mystery novels since in the Megan Crespi Series. The Neue Galerie Museum for German and Austrian Art, New York, commissioned Comini to curate its blockbuster exhibition Egon Schiele's Portraits (2014–15).

Honors and awards

Comini's book ''Egon Schiele’s Portraits'' (1974) was nominated for a National Book Award (1975) and received the College Art Association's Charles Rufus Morey Book Award (1976). Comini's book ''The Changing Image of Beethoven: A Study in Mythmaking'' (1987) was a pioneer application of reception history to imagery. * 1995 – Women's Caucus for Art, Lifetime Achievement Award * 1996 –

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant Christian denomination, denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was ...

Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award * 2002 – Texas Hall of Fame nomination * 2005 – Comini Lecture Series established, Southern Methodist University * 2010 – Medal of Honor, Veteran Feminists of America * 2011 – Distinguished Alumna Award, Barnard College * 2012 – International Symposium, Neulengbach, Austria, "Alessandra Comini und Neulengbach" * 2018 – Golden Honor of Merit for Services to the State of Lower Austria * 2019 – Alessandra Comini International Fellowship for Study Abroad, founded by Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University

Selected publications

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Alessandra Comini
OCLC/WorldCat
OCLC/WorldCat (retrieved June 21, 2016) encompasses about 200 works. * ''Schiele in Prison'', Greenwich, New York Graphic Society, 1973. * ''Egon Schiele's Portraits'', Berkeley, University of California Press, 1974, 1990. (new edition, 2014, Santa Fe, Sunstone Press ) * ''Gustav Klimt'', New York, George Braziller, 1975 (French, German, and Dutch editions; reissued 1986, 1990, 1994, 2001) * ''Egon Schiele'', New York, George Braziller, 1976 (Italian, French, German, and Dutch editions; reissued 1986, 1994, 2001) * ''The Fantastic Art of Vienna'', New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1978. (new edition 2016, Santa Fe, Sunstone Press ) * "The Visual Brahms: Idols and Images," ''Arts Magazine'', 1979 * "The Age of Goethe Today: Of Plum Trees, Painters, Pianists, and Pamphleteers," ''Arts Magazine'', 1988 * ''The Changing Image of Beethoven: A Study in Mythmaking'', New York, Rizzoli, 1987, new edition 2008, Santa Fe, Sunstone Press * "Gender or Genius? The Women Artists of German Expressionism," ''Feminism and Art History: Questioning the Litany'',

Norma Broude Norma Broude (born 1 May 1941) is an American art historian and scholar of feminism and 19th-century French and Italian painting. She is also a Professor Emerita of art history from American University. Broude, with Mary Garrard, is an early lead ...

and Mary D. Garrard, eds., New York, Harper & Row, 1982. * "Nordic Luminism and the Scandinavian Response to Impressionism," ''World Impressionism'', Norma Broude, ed., New York, H. N. Abrams, 1990. * "Siegesallee und Salome," ''Kunst und Politik in den entscheidenden Jahren von Richard Strauss'', Leipzig, Gewandhaus, 1991 * "Kollwitz in Context: The Formative Years," ''Käthe Kollwitz,'' Elizabeth Prelinger, ed., New Haven, Yale University Press, 1992. * "Violetta And Her Sisters," ''Violetta And Her Sisters: The Lady of the Camellias, Responses to the Myth'', Nicholas John, ed., London, Faber and Faber, 1994. * "Toys in Freud’s Attic," ''Picturing Children: Construction of Childhood between Rousseau and Freud'', Marilyn Brown, ed., Burlington, VT, Ashgate, 2002. * ''In Passionate Pursuit — A Memoir'', New York, George Braziller, Inc., 2004. (new edition 2016, Santa Fe, Sunstone Press ) * ''Egon Schiele: Portraits'', Alessandra Comini ed., "Egon Schiele: Redefining Portraiture in the Age of Angst," Munich, Prestel, 2014. * "The Two Gustavs: Klimt, Mahler, and Vienna’s Golden Decade, 1887–1907," ''Naturlauf: Scholarly Journals toward Gustav Mahler, Essays in Honour of Henry-Louis de La Grange for His 90th Birthday'', Paul-André, ed., New York, Peter Lang Publishing Inc., 2015.

Megan Crespi series

* ''Killing for Klimt,'' Santa Fe, Sunstone Press, 2014. * ''The Schiele Slaughters,'' Santa Fe, Sunstone Press, 2015. * ''The Kokoschka Capers'', Santa Fe, Sunstone Press, 2015. * ''The Munch Murders'', Santa Fe, Sunstone Press, 2016. * ''The Kollwitz Calamities'', Santa Fe, Sunstone Press, 2016. * ''The Kandinsky Conundrum'', Santa Fe, Sunstone Press, 2018. * ''The Mahler Mayhem'', Santa Fe, Sunstone Press, 2019. The Beethoven Boomerang, Santa Fe, Sunstone Press, 2020. * ''The Beethoven Boomerang'', Santa Fe, Sunstone Press, 2020.

References

External links

* *
Megan Crespi Series
murder mysteries by Alessandra Comini {{DEFAULTSORT:Comini, Alessandra 1934 births American art historians American women art historians People from Winona, Minnesota University of California, Berkeley alumni Barnard College alumni Living people Columbia University alumni Feminist historians 21st-century American women American women curators American curators