Jerrilynn Dodds

Jerrilynn Denise Dodds OMC^[1] is an American art historian and curator. She currently holds the Harlequin Adair Dammann Chair in Islamic Studies at Sarah Lawrence College, where she previously served as Dean of the College.^[2] From 1992 - 2007 she worked as a consultant, curator, and lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dodds is a former Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford.^[3]

Dodds received her B.A. in Art History from Barnard College, Columbia University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in the History of Art and Architecture from Harvard University.^[4]

From 1980 - 1989 she was as an assistant professor in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University. From 1989 - 2009 she was a Distinguished Professor of Architecture and Theory at The Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture, where she also served as Senior Faculty Advisor to the Provost for Undergraduate Education.^[5][6] From 2009 - 2015 she served as the Dean of Sarah Lawrence College, where he currently holds the Harlequin Adair Dammann Chair in Islamic Studies. ^[7] Throughout much of her career, Dodds research has focused on transculturation and artistic interchange between Christians, Muslims, and Jews in Medieval Spain.^[4]

Her publications include Architecture and Ideology in Early Medieval Spain (1990); NY Masjid: The Mosques of New York (2002); and, as co-author, The Arts of Intimacy: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Making of Castilian Culture (2008), which was named a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year.^[8]

In addition to her academic work, Dodds served as a consultant, curator, and lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Select exhibitions include Al Andalus: The Arts of Islamic Spain, The Arts of Medieval Spain, and Convivencia: The Arts of Jews, Christians and Muslims in Medieval Iberia. Also a prolific filmmaker, Dodds directed four documentaries for the Met, including Journey to St. James: A Pilgrim’s Guide (1993), An Imaginary East (1995), NY Masjid (1996), and Hearts and Stones: The Bridge at Mostar (2004). Her films have been awarded two MUSE Awards from New York Women in Film & Television, as well as the 1995 Cine Golden Eagle Award for Best Documentary Film.^[9]

In 2016 Dodds was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Arts Research.^[10][11] In 2017, she was awarded the Slade Professorship of Fine Art at the University of Oxford for the 2020–2021 academic year.^[12] In 2018, she was knighted by the Felipe VI of Spain, and inducted into the Orden del Mérito Civil. [1][2]