Dr. Leesa Rittelmann

Ph.D. Art History, The University of Pittsburgh
M.A. Art History, The University of Pittsburgh
B.S. Museum Education, The Pennsylvania State University

Dr. Rittelmann received Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Art History from The University of Pittsburgh and a B.S. in Museum Education from The Pennsylvania State University. Prior to joining Fredonia’s faculty, Rittelmann worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Hartwick College, Whitman College, and as a curatorial research assistant at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Art.

Office Hours

  • By email appointment

Teaching Interests

ART 100 Visual Concepts (VANM First Year Seminar)

ARTH 102 Art in Culture 1400-Present

ARTH 205 Women in Art

ARTH 220 Survey of 19th Century Art

ARTH 239 Black Art & Visual Culture

ARTH 225 Modern Art 1900-1950

ARTH 329 Art Since 1945

ARTH 350 Art History Theory and Methods

ARTH 440 Visual Culture (Global Contemporary Art, Street & Graffiti Art, Contemporary Photography, Animation History, Modern Photo & Film, Art and Resistance)

Research Interests

Global Contemporary Art, American and European Modern Art, Art and Resistance, Gender and Ethnic Studies, History of Photography, Textile/Craft History

Awards and Honors

  • Andrew W. Mellon Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (1998).
  • D.A.A.D. (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) Dissertation Scholarship (1997).
  • F.L.A.S. (Foreign Language Area Studies) Dissertation Fellowship (1995).

Contracts, Grants and Sponsored Programs

  • The Carnahan Jackson Foundation Grant (2012).
  • SUNY Conversations in the Disciplines Grant (2011).
  • Scholarly Incentive Award, Faculty Research Grant (2009).
  • The Carnahan Jackson Foundation Grant (2007).
  • United University Professionals Individual Awards Grant (2006).

Intellectual Contributions

  • "Tim Gidal," Gidal: The Unusual Friendship of Yosef Wosk & Tim Gidal, Letters and Photographs, Douglas and McIntyre Ltd. (2022).
  • "Time Travel," in Andrea Dezsö: Enchanted Fictions, SUNY Fredonia, Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery (2017).
  • "In the Lines of the Face: Social Darwinism and the Photographic Documentation and Categorization of Human Types," Streitfall Evolution. Eine Kulturgeschichte, Boehlau Verlag (2017).
  • "Gone Viral," Gone Viral: Medical Science and Contemporary Textile Art, SUNY Fredonia, Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery (2017).
  • "Superior to Any Drawing," Charles Darwin and the Evolution of Photography,” 150 Years of Evolution: Darwin’s Impact on Contemporary Thought and Culture, San Diego State University Press (2011).
  • "Winold Reiss to Kara Walker: The Silhouette in Black American Art," From Black to Schwarz: Cultural Crossovers between African America and Germany, LIT Verlag/University of Michigan Press (2010).
  • "Facing Off: Photography, Physiognomy and National Identity in the Modern German Photobook," Radical History Review, Duke University Press (2010).

Presentations

  • "Subvertising: Keith Haring and the Origins of Street Art," Keith Haring Symposium, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY. Keynote Lecture (2021).
  • "'Wir Weben! Wir Weben!': German Women’s Weaving Rebellions 1845-1945," Work & Weft: German Area Studies Symposium, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva NY. Keynote Lecture (2019).
  • "Clive Bell and the Significant Form(s) of Modern Art," Bloomsbury Modernism, SUNY Fredonia (2018).
  • "Make + Risk = Craftivism," Babel 17: Make/Risk/Work, The University of Nevada, Reno (2017).
  • "Queer Identities in Contemporary Photography," Women’s and Gender Studies Capstone Seminar, SUNY Fredonia (2016).
  • "Cozies to Craftivism: A Short History of Activist Yarn Bombing," Foreman Visiting Artist Series, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY (2014).
  • "Soft Subversions and ‘Tiny Revolutions," Yarn Bombing and the Politics of Craft.” Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association 23rd Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA (2012).
  • "Fashioning the New Woman in Photography, Film and Media Cultures," The International New Woman in Photography and Film, SUNY Buffalo (2011).