Esther Pasztory (1943-June 25, 2024) was a professor of Pre-Columbian art history at Columbia University.[1] From 1997 to her retirement in 2013, she held the Lisa and Bernard Selz Chair in Art History and Archaeology.[2][3] Among her many publications are the first art historical manuscripts on Teotihuacan and the Aztecs.[4][5][6] She has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (1987–88) and a senior fellow of the board of Dumbarton Oaks.[2]
Biography and education
Pasztory was born in Hungary and immigrated to the United States in 1956 after the anti-Communist revolutions. She was initially educated at Vassar College but later transferred to Barnard College where she received her B.A. in art history in 1965. She remained at Columbia University and received her Ph.D. from the institution in 1971 for a dissertation entitled "The Murals of Tepantitla, Teotihuacan".[7][2] Her research into the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan has been influential and provided the basis for many later art historical studies.[8]
Publications
1974, The iconography of the Teotihuacan Tlaloc
1978, Middle Classic Mesoamerica, A.D. 400-700
1983, Aztec art
1997, Teotihuacan : an experiment in living
1998, Pre-Columbian art
2005, Thinking with things : toward a new vision of art
2010, Jean-Frédéric Waldeck : artist of exotic Mexico
2017, Visual Culture of the Ancient Americas : Contemporary Perspectives
References
^"Esther Pasztory". Department of Art History & Archaeology, Columbia University.
^ abc"Pasztory CV"(PDF). columbia.edu. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
^Prior texts addressing the arts of these cultures assumed either an archeological or anthropological stance, as in the works of Rene Millon and other pioneers of Pre-Columbian studies.
^Townsend, Richard F. (1998). Aztec Art (9780806125367): Esther Pasztory: Books. ISBN0806125365.