Marilyn! Noted KU art historian to be honored for giving women artists their due

Marilyn Stokstad, who challenged the art world by showcasing women artists in her now widely used textbook, Art History, is among five women who will be honored in 2002 for her lifetime contributions to art in America.

The National Women's Caucus for Art will give its annual Honor Award to Stokstad, the Judith Harris Murphy distinguished professor of art history at KU, at its national conference Feb. 20 at the Moore College of Art in Philadelphia.

The Honor Awards were first presented in 1976 in a White House ceremony. President Jimmy Carter gave the awards to Isabel Bishop, Selma Burke, Alice Neel, Louise Nevelson and Georgia O'Keeffe.

In choosing Stokstad, the caucus noted that her 1995 survey textbook was a direct challenge to the publisher's previous major survey textbook, by H.W. Janson. The Janson book did not include any women among its 3,000 artists.

Abrams/Prentice Hall publishers soon will issue the second edition of Stokstad's Art History, which was the first new text in the field in more than 20 years. The book has been adopted as the introductory art history textbook in hundreds of colleges and universities throughout the United States.

The book was featured in a profile of Stokstad on the CBS Sunday Morning program following its publication and more recently was featured on NBC's Today show.

"I am dedicated to education and to the appreciation of the role of the arts in society," Stokstad said. "The reason I began writing for students and for the general public was a missionary zeal to introduce the largest possible number of people to the visual arts."

Stokstad, an expert in medieval art and Spanish art, joined the KU faculty in 1958. She has taught more than 20 courses, ranging from introductory art history courses to graduate seminars.

She also wrote Art: a Brief History and Medieval Art. A strong supporter of women in leadership roles, Stokstad was the second woman president of the College Art Association, a national organization of artists and art historians, and was president of the International Center of Medieval Art.

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