Randall
Griffin
Professor
Telephone: 214.942.9247
At SMU since September 1, 1992
Biography
Randall Griffin is a Professor in the Department of Art History at Southern Methodist University. After receiving a Ph.D. in art history from the University of Delaware, he was a Wyeth Pre-doctoral Fellow for two years at the National Gallery of Art’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, and then taught a year at Vanderbilt University before coming to SMU in 1993. He has authored several articles, as well as two books and an exhibition catalogue. His most recent study, Winslow Homer: An American Vision, won the Dallas Museum of Art’s Vasari book award in 2008. He is presently at work on a book that examines 19th and 20th century American representations of the abnormal body.
Education
Ph.D. Art History, University of Delaware, 1994;
M.A. Art History, University of Kansas, 1985;
B.S. History, University of Tulsa, 1979
Research
Portrayals of Civil War battles, art and nature in modernism, and renderings of the “abnormal” body.
Teaching
American Art and Architecture, 1650-1860; American Art and Architecture, 1860-1940; History of Photography to 1940; Modern Architecture; Picturing the American West; Survey of Western Art and Architecture, 1350-present; seminars on Art and Nature; Picturing Warfare; American Modernism; the Gilded Age
Distinctions
John Sloan Memorial Foundation Grant, 5/1/89 – 8/3/89; Luce Fellowship, University of Delaware, 8/15/87 – 5/30/89; Wyeth Fellowship, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, 9/1/89 – 8/31/91; The Golden Mustang Award for excellence in scholarship and teaching, Southern Methodist University, September 1998; Hope Outstanding Teaching Award, Southern Methodist University, Spring 2000; Rotunda Outstanding Teaching Award, Southern Methodist University, Spring 2004; Homer, Eakins, and Anshutz: The Search for American Identity in the Gilded Age was awarded the Dallas Museum of Art’s Vasari Award and SMU’s Godbey Authors’ Award in 2005; The Meadows Foundation Distinguished Teaching Professor, 2007-2008; Winslow Homer: An American Vision was awarded the Dallas Museum of Art’s Vasari Award and SMU’s Godbey Authors’ Award 2007; SMU’s Pan Hellenic Society’s Teacher for September Award, October 2008; Board Member of the College Art Association, Spring 2008
Publications
Thomas Anshutz: Artist and Teacher (University of Washington Press, 1994); Homer, Eakins, and Anshutz: The Search for American Identity in the Gilded Age (Penn State Press, 2001); Winslow Homer: An American Vision (Phaidon Press, 2006); as well as articles in the journals Art Journal, American Art, and Oxford Art Journal.
Professional Experience
I have taught college undergraduate and graduate classes for over 15 years.