Cécile Fromont

 

Department of Art History
University of Chicago
270 Cochrane Woods Art Center
5540 South Greenwood Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60637 - USA

+1 773 702 4759

fromont@uchicago.edu  

 

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

 

University of Chicago, July 2010 - Present                                                                                                                                                                                   

               Assistant Professor of Art History and the College

 

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, September 2008 – July 2010                                                                                                                            

Postdoctoral Scholar at the Michigan Society of Fellows

      Assistant Professor in the Department of the History of Art

 

EDUCATION

 

Harvard University                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Ph.D. History of Art and Architecture, 2008          

                  Fields of Study: African and Latin American Art and Architecture

                  Advisors: Suzanne P. Blier and Thomas B. F. Cummins

Dissertation: “Under the Sign of the Cross in the Kingdom of Kongo: 

Molding Images and Shaping Faith in Early Modern Central Africa

 

M.A. History of Art and Architecture, 2004

Fields of Study: African and Latin American Art and Architecture

 

Sciences-po Paris                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Diplôme of the Paris Institute of Political Studies, 2002                                  

Majors: Culture Management and International Relations

 

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

 

Articles

 

"Dance, Image, Myth, and Conversion in the Kingdom of Kongo: 1500-1800." African Arts 44, 4 (2011): 54-65. http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar.2011.44.4.52

 

"Under the Sign of the Cross in the Kingdom of Kongo: Religious Conversion and Visual Correlation in Early Modern Central Africa." RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics, 59-60, (2011): 109-123. http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?recid=31383

 

« Icônes chrétiennes ou symboles Kongo? L’art et la religion en Afrique Centrale au temps de la Traite,  XVIIème – XVIIIème siècles. » Les cahiers des anneaux de la Mémoire, 12 (2009): 47-60. http://anneauxdelamemoire.org/fr/ressources/publications-et-conferences/les-cahiers-des-anneaux-de-la-memoire/item/201-cam12-2009.html

 

"A Walk through the City: Stories and Histories of Luanda 1575-1975." Ellipsis: The Journal of the American Portuguese Studies Association, 4 (2006): 49-78. http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar.2011.44.4.52

 

Book Chapter

 

"Collecting and Translating Knowledge Across Cultures: Capuchin Missionary Images of Early modern Central Africa." In Collecting Across Cultures: Material Exchanges in the Early Modern Atlantic World, edited by Daniela Bleichmar and Peter Mancall, 134-154. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.

 

Catalogue Contributions

 

"Figure of a Standing Cleric." and "Three Kongo Crucifixes." In African Art from the Menil Collection, edited by Kristina Van Dyke, Houston: The Menil Collection, 2008.

 

 

Other contributions

 

Review of A Carved Loango Tusk Local Images and Global Connections ed. By J. Janzen in African Arts, 45, 4 (2012):88. http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/afar.2012.45.1.88

 

"Under the Sign of the Cross in the Kingdom of Kongo: Shaping Images and Molding Faith in Early Modern Central Africa." In Center 28: Record of Activities and Research Reports June 2007 – May 2008. Washington DC: National Gallery of Art, 2008. http://www.nga.gov/pdf/center-28.pdf

 

 

SELECTED AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

 

Dirrecção-Geral de Arquivos / Luso-American Development Foundation Fellowship Award, Portugal, 2011

 

Michigan Society of Fellows Post-Doctoral Fellowship, USA, 2008 – 2011 (declined 2010-2011)

 

Harvard Graduate Society Dissertation Completion Fellowship, USA, 2008-2009 (declined)

 

Center for Advanced Study in the Visual ArtsNational Gallery of Art Andrew W. Mellon Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, USA, 2006 – 2008

 

Les Talents de l’Outre-Mer Prize awarded by the Comité d’Action Sociale en faveur des Originaires des Départements d’Outre Mer en Métropole (CASODOM), France, November 2007

 

Harvard Graduate Society Term Time Merit Award for Dissertation Research: Arthur Lehman Fund, USA, 2007 (declined)

 

Bourse régionale de formation doctorale de la région Martinique Fellowship, France, 2004-2007

 

Instituto dos Arquivos Nacionais – Torre do Tombo / Luso-American Development Foundation Fellowship Award, Portugal, 2006

 

Charles Eliot Norton Dissertation Travel and Research Grant, USA, 2005-2006

 

 

CLASSES OFFERED

 

                  “Introduction to Art” – Core Curriculum – Autumn 2010

                  “The Origin of the Fetish” – Graduate Seminar – Winter 2011

                  “Exhibiting African Art” – Undergraduate/Graduate Seminar – Spring 2011

                  “Envisioning the Colonial Metropolis” – Core Curriculum – Spring 2011, Spring 2012

                  “Introduction to African Art” – Core Curriculum – Winter 2012

                  “The Art of Conversion” – Graduate Seminar – Winter 2012

                  “Circa 1650” – Undergraduate/Graduate Seminar – Spring 2012

                  “African Civilization” – Core Curriculum – Autumn 2012 (at the University of Chicago Paris Center)           

                  Kongo/Congo in Theory” – Graduate Seminar – Winter 2013

                  “Africa, America” – Undergraduate/Graduate Seminar – Winter 2013

                  “Art and Colonialism” – Core Curriculum – Spring 2013 (at the University of Chicago Paris Center)

 

GRADUATE ADVISING

 

      Preliminary Examinations Committee Member

      Ingrid Greenfield (Spring 2010) - Leslie Wilson (Autumn 2011)

 

      Dissertation Committee Member

      Ingrid Greenfield – Leslie Wilson

 

      Faculty Mentor for Graduate Student Instructors

      Michael Timkiw (2010-2011) – Ingrid Greenfield (2011-2012)

 

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

 

African Studies Association

Arts Council of the African Studies Association

Association for Latin American Art

Brazilian Studies Association

College Art Association

Renaissance Studies Association

Forum for European Expansion and Global Interactions

 

REASEARCH AND FIELD EXPERIENCE

 

Conducted archival and museum research in:

Africa: Angola, Republic of the Congo

Asia: Dubai

North and South America: Brazil, Colombia, United States

Europe: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

 

LANGUAGES

 

Caribbean Creole and FrenchNative speaker

EnglishFluent

Portuguese, and Spanish – Reading: Fluent, Writing and Speaking: Proficient

Italian – Reading: Fluent, Writing and Speaking: Basic

Arabic, German, Hindi, Kikongo, Urdu – Basic

Latin