Anthony Lee

  • Idella Plimpton Kendall Professor of Art History
  • Chair of Art History & Architectural Studies
Anthony Lee

Anthony W. Lee is an art historian, critic, curator and photographer. As a critic and scholar, he writes about American photography and modernist painting in the period between 1860 and 1960. As a photographer, he documents ethnic and immigrant communities. Lee teaches a series of lecture courses on art since the French Revolution and seminars on photography before and after World War II. Many of his seminars have resulted in exhibitions curated by students.

Lee is the recipient of the Charles C. Eldredge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art, given by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Art, and of the Cultural Studies Book Prize, given by the Association for Asian American Studies. He is founder and editor of the acclaimed book series Defining Moments in American Photography. And, despite years of practice, he still has only an average jump shot.

Areas of Expertise

modern and contemporary European and American art; history of photography

Education

  • Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
  • B.A., Holy Cross College

Happening at Mount Holyoke

Recent Campus News

To gain perspective on the rise of AI-generated art, Mount Holyoke College Art History Professor Anthony Lee looked back on the impact photography had on painting in the nineteenth century in a recent Wired Magazine essay.

As Mount Holyoke marks the one hundred fiftieth year of the teaching of art history, its Department of Art History and Architectural Studies is celebrating its long history and is working to ensure it evolves to meet the changing nature of the field.

Mount Holyoke College junior Sarah Hwang’s endless energy and enthusiasm made her the perfect person to join a presidential campaign in Iowa.