Professor Emeritus
European painting and sculpture, 1840–1940
Ph.D., Harvard University, 1958
Professor Reff's principal interest is European painting and sculpture
from about 1840 to 1940. He has lectured and written extensively on the
principal movements of that period: Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism,
Fauvism, Cubism, and Surrealism; and above all on the artists Manet,
Degas, Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, and Duchamp. His work is aimed
at understanding the relations between an artist's work and 1) the earlier
or exotic art on which he drew, 2) the social and cultural milieu in
which he worked, and 3) the aspects of his personality that helped shape
his art.
Reff has specialized in identifying artistic traditions and sources,
in studying the interactions of art and literature, and in applying psychoanalytical
models to the study of art. Recent and continuing work includes a book
of essays on Cézanne and a critical edition of the letters of
Degas based on archival research on his artistic and social circles.
926 Schermerhorn Hall
E-mail: tfr2@columbia.edu |
