Mary Sheriff is an American art historian renowned for her extensive scholarship on 18th-century French art, with a particular focus on the Rococo and Neoclassical periods. She is the W. R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Art History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she has been a distinguished faculty member for many years.
Career and Research: Sheriff's research interests are broad, encompassing aesthetics, gender studies in art history, the history of collecting, print culture, and the theoretical underpinnings of art historical inquiry. She is widely recognized for her meticulous archival research, innovative methodologies, and ability to recontextualize familiar artworks and artists, challenging long-held assumptions within the field.
Her early work significantly re-evaluated the Rococo style, often dismissed by later critics as frivolous, arguing for its intellectual and aesthetic complexity. She has been instrumental in bringing new critical perspectives to artists like Jean-Honoré Fragonard and François Boucher, exploring themes of eroticism, patronage, and the social construction of artistic value. Sheriff's scholarship frequently integrates close visual analysis with cultural history, literary theory, and philosophical aesthetics, providing nuanced interpretations of art's role in society.
Key Publications: Sheriff has authored several influential books and numerous articles that have shaped contemporary art historical discourse. Her major works include:
- Fragonard: Art and Eroticism (University of Chicago Press, 1990): This seminal work revolutionized the understanding of Fragonard's art, exploring the sophisticated interplay of art, desire, and cultural context in his oeuvre. It received the College Art Association's Charles Rufus Morey Book Award.
- The Exceptional Woman: Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun and the Cultural Politics of Art (University of Chicago Press, 1996): This book examines the life and work of the prominent female portraitist Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, analyzing her career within the complex social and political landscape of pre-revolutionary and revolutionary France, and contributing significantly to the study of women artists.
- Moving with Figures: Rococo Painting and the Art of History (Duke University Press, 2006): In this work, Sheriff offers a fresh perspective on Rococo painting, arguing for its dynamic engagement with historical consciousness and challenging simplistic categorizations of the style.
- An Aesthetic for Art History (co-edited with Stephen Melville, Blackwell Publishing, 2009): This collection explores the evolving relationship between art history and aesthetic theory.
- The Sculptural Imagination: Figurative, Aesthetic, Modern (University of Chicago Press, 2019): This book delves into the history of sculpture and its theoretical dimensions from the eighteenth century to the present.
Impact and Recognition: Mary Sheriff's work has had a profound impact on 18th-century studies and the broader discipline of art history. She is celebrated for her rigorous scholarship, theoretical sophistication, and her ability to open new avenues of inquiry. Her contributions have been recognized through various awards, fellowships, and her sustained influence on generations of scholars and students.