These ceremonies will formally open the new home of the University's world-renowned Department of Art History and Archaeology housed in 89-year-old Schermerhorn Hall, which has been newly renovated to reflect the grandeur of its original McKim, Mead and White design. Hundreds of Columbia alumni and friends and members of the New York art community will hear an address by Leo Steinberg, the prominent art historian, at the ceremonies, which will begin at 5 P.M. in the Rotunda of Low Memorial Library on the Morningside campus. Columbia President Michael I. Sovern and the art history and archaeology department chairman, Professor James Beck, will also speak. A tour of the new center will follow.
The speaker for the dedication ceremonies, Leo Steinberg, is Benjamin Franklin Professor and University Professor of Art History at the University of Pennsylvania. Regarded as one of this country’s outstanding art historians, his scholarship has been focus principally on artists of the Renaissance, Baroque, and modern periods. He has written on Leonardo, Michelangelo, Velazquez, Rodin, Picasso, and Jasper Johns.
