Dr. Leesa Rittelmann

Dr. Rittelmann received Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Art History from The University of Pittsburgh and a B.S. in Museum Education from The Pennsylvania State University. Prior to joining Fredonia’s faculty, Rittelmann worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Hartwick College, Whitman College, and as a curatorial research assistant at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Art.

Office Hours

• By email appointment

Teaching Interests

ART 100 Visual Concepts (VANM First Year Seminar)

ARTH 102 Art in Culture 1400-Present

ARTH 205 Women in Art

ARTH 220 Survey of 19th Century Art

ARTH 239 Black Art & Visual Culture

ARTH 225 Modern Art 1900-1950

ARTH 329 Art Since 1945

ARTH 350 Art History Theory and Methods

ARTH 440 Visual Culture (Global Contemporary Art, Street & Graffiti Art, Contemporary Photography, Animation History, Modern Photo & Film, Art and Resistance)

Research Interests

Global Contemporary Art, American and European Modern Art, Art and Resistance, Gender and Ethnic Studies, History of Photography, Textile/Craft History

Awards and Honors

• Andrew W. Mellon Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (1998).
• D.A.A.D. (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) Dissertation Scholarship (1997).
• F.L.A.S. (Foreign Language Area Studies) Dissertation Fellowship (1995).

Contracts, Grants and Sponsored Programs

• The Carnahan Jackson Foundation Grant (2012).
• SUNY Conversations in the Disciplines Grant (2011).
• Scholarly Incentive Award, Faculty Research Grant (2009).
• The Carnahan Jackson Foundation Grant (2007).
• United University Professionals Individual Awards Grant (2006).

Intellectual Contributions

• "Tim Gidal," Gidal: The Unusual Friendship of Yosef Wosk & Tim Gidal, Letters and Photographs, Douglas and McIntyre Ltd. (2022).
• "Time Travel," in Andrea Dezsö: Enchanted Fictions, SUNY Fredonia, Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery (2017).
• "In the Lines of the Face: Social Darwinism and the Photographic Documentation and Categorization of Human Types," Streitfall Evolution. Eine Kulturgeschichte, Boehlau Verlag (2017).
• "Gone Viral," Gone Viral: Medical Science and Contemporary Textile Art, SUNY Fredonia, Cathy and Jesse Marion Art Gallery (2017).
• "Superior to Any Drawing," Charles Darwin and the Evolution of Photography,” 150 Years of Evolution: Darwin’s Impact on Contemporary Thought and Culture, San Diego State University Press (2011).
• "Winold Reiss to Kara Walker: The Silhouette in Black American Art," From Black to Schwarz: Cultural Crossovers between African America and Germany, LIT Verlag/University of Michigan Press (2010).
• "Facing Off: Photography, Physiognomy and National Identity in the Modern German Photobook," Radical History Review, Duke University Press (2010).

Presentations

• "Subvertising: Keith Haring and the Origins of Street Art," Keith Haring Symposium, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY. Keynote Lecture (2021).
• "'Wir Weben! Wir Weben!': German Women’s Weaving Rebellions 1845-1945," Work & Weft: German Area Studies Symposium, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva NY. Keynote Lecture (2019).
• "Clive Bell and the Significant Form(s) of Modern Art," Bloomsbury Modernism, SUNY Fredonia (2018).
• "Make + Risk = Craftivism," Babel 17: Make/Risk/Work, The University of Nevada, Reno (2017).
• "Queer Identities in Contemporary Photography," Women’s and Gender Studies Capstone Seminar, SUNY Fredonia (2016).
• "Cozies to Craftivism: A Short History of Activist Yarn Bombing," Foreman Visiting Artist Series, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY (2014).
• "Soft Subversions and ‘Tiny Revolutions," Yarn Bombing and the Politics of Craft.” Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association 23rd Annual Conference, Pittsburgh, PA (2012).
• "Fashioning the New Woman in Photography, Film and Media Cultures," The International New Woman in Photography and Film, SUNY Buffalo (2011).