Stephen Polcari
Professor of Art, Art History
 
Stephen Polcari is an art historian.  Formerly Director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art in New York, Polcari is the author of Abstract Expressionism and the Modern Experience (Cambridge University Press, 1991). He is also author of Richard Pousette-Dart: The Portal (Abrams, 1997) as well as numerous articles in magazines such as Art International, Arts Magazine, The Burlington Magazine, Art Journal, Art News and Smithsonian Studies in American Art. Professor Polcari teaches classes on American and European modern and contemporary art, specializing in art of the mid-twentieth century. He has curated exhibitions and written catalogues on these subjects for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Jewish Museum, and other institutions.  He is presently preparing a manuscript on the art of Jackson Pollock and curating an exhibition, “Jackson Pollock and Shamanism,” for the Pinacothèque in Paris. His teaching philosophy emphasizes the interaction of artistic form, cultural idea, and historical experience.

Education
BA Columbia College, 1967
MA Columbia University, 1971
PhD University of California at Santa Barbara, 1980