Congratulations to Robert Cozzolino (M.A., 2000; Ph.D., 2006), the Patrick and Aimee Butler Curator of Paintings at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, whose most recent exhibition catalogue, Supernatural America: The Paranormal in American Art, was the winner of the 2022 College Art Association’s Alfred H. Barr, Jr. Award for distinguished museum scholarship.
Description: America is haunted. Genocidal policies unleashed on Native Americans; the horror of the transatlantic slave trade; war, racism, and social injustice; dark passages in community and individual histories – these traumas and more have left behind a trail of spirits. Taking as its topic the paranormal in American art, Supernatural America reveals the myriad ways in which citizens and artists have sought to see, understand, or come to terms with the ghosts of the past. Lavishly illustrated, with many images never seen before, Supernatural America breaks new ground in presenting the paranormal as a historical subject of wide-ranging importance. Incisive essays by scholars and artists cover painting and sculpture from the late 18th century to the present, spirit photography, art channeled through mediums, spiritualist paraphernalia, folk and outsider art, UFO-inspired materials, video and installation from a range of perspectives. This revealing, thought-provoking investigation into an emerging scholarly field gives proof to William Faulkner’s well-known line: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”