Dr. Elizabeth M. Molacek, Visiting Scholar, The University of Texas at Dallas
ALTHOUGH COVID PUT A STOP TO international research, Dr. Elizabeth Molacek, Visiting Scholar at the O’Donnell Institute and UT Dallas, made the most of the situation by doubling down on lingering publications.
In May, her article, “Re-Discovering Roman Wall Painting at Harvard: New Research on a Fragment from the Villa at Boscotrecase” was published in the journal Studies in Conservation. The article, co-authored with conservators and materials scientists at the Straus Center for Conservation at Harvard Art Museums, presents a historical and scientific analysis, as well as the conservation treatment of a newly rediscovered Roman wall painting fragment that comes from what is widely considered an Imperial villa in the Bay of Naples.
In January, Molacek was invited to present her ongoing research with a group of international mosaic scholars on the Gold Medal Panel in Honor of Professor Katherine Dunbabin, at the 2021 Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America. Portions of that research on mosaics and cultural identity at Antioch-on-the-Orontes, will be released later this year in the Festschrift, A Quaint & Curious Volume: Essays in Honor of John J. Dobbins (Archaeopress, 2021).
Arts “Exchange: Media, Movement, and Meaning in Ancient and Medieval Surface Decoration”
Molacek is also guest co-editor with Vanessa Rousseau of a special issue of the journal Arts “Exchange: Media, Movement, and Meaning in Ancient and Medieval Surface Decoration.” A list of current papers can be viewed on the publication website.
For those interested in submitting an article, please see the description below and direct inquiries to [email protected].
At a moment when our world is hyper-focused on how people, things, and ideas move between geographies, surfaces, and spaces, we turn to the ancient world to understand instances of visual, technical, and material exchange as manifest in ancient surface decoration. Purposefully diverse in terms of chronology, geography, and cultural purview, the contributions in this Special Issue should address the many mechanisms that propelled the transfer and transmission of artistic concepts, themes, motifs, and decorative schema in ancient painting, mosaic, stucco, textile, and other surface media. Our goal is to foster diverse perspectives, encourage collaboration, and promote critical discourse among those working on the topic of ancient artistic exchange, interchange, and intersections, and we are particularly interested in contributions that spotlight multiple media, time periods, or geographies.
Dr. Elizabeth Molacek is an art historian whose research, teaching, and curatorial work centers on the art and architecture of Greek and Roman worlds as well as the history of excavating and collecting in the U.S. and Europe. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Virginia, a B.A. from Rice University, and completed her postdoctoral training at the Harvard Art Museums.
Elizabeth is a specialist in Roman wall paintings (c. 100 BCE-200 CE) as well as Hellenistic and Roman mosaics, namely from Antioch and the environs. She often collaborates with conservators and conservation-scientists to understand the material aspects of wall paintings and mosaics. Her current project traces wall painting fragments from excavations, through the art market, to museums in the U.S. Her work has been supported by the Getty Research Institute, the AAMD, and the American Academy in Rome, among other institutions.
Prior to Dallas, Elizabeth worked in the Department of Asian and Mediterranean art at the Harvard Art Museums. In this role, Elizabeth contributed to the international loan exhibition and accompanying catalogue, Animal Shaped Vessels and curated the special collection, Roman Domestic Art. She also worked extensively with colleagues in the Straus Center for conservation, including spearheading the conservation and installation of a never-before-exhibited Roman wall painting fragment from the so-called imperial villa at Boscotrecase. She also led the acquisition of several mosaics excavated from the site of Samaria. In addition to her curatorial work, Elizabeth has worked in university administration and taught both traditional (classroom) and on-site (study abroad) courses in which she always prioritizes close encounters with objects.