Biography

Ingrid Greenfield’s work broadly pertains to material encounters between Europeans and West Africans, 1450 to 1650, with a particular focus on the presence of and responses to sub-Saharan African artefacts in early modern Italian collections. She received a doctorate in Art History from University of Chicago. From 2017 to 2021, she held the postdoctoral position of Assistant to the Director for Academic Programs at I Tatti. She is a guest lecturer at the University of Basel, where she teaches courses on the arts of Africa and the history of collecting pre-1700.

Project Summary

The project Black Mediterranean / Mediterraneo Nero – Artistic Encounters and Counter-narratives / Incontri artistici e contronarrazioni seeks to call the field’s attention to the role played by the African continent in shaping Mediterranean aesthetics during the early modern period. It offers a unique opportunity to revisit concepts of the relationship between the African continent and the Mediterranean and broaden the perspective. As the project advances, it will build a network among regions and scholars and foster cooperation and exchange among art historians and cultural historians. A joint initiative with Avinoam Shalem (Columbia University) and generously sponsored by the Getty Foundation as part of their Connecting Art Histories initiative, this multi-year project consists of Fellowships, Visiting Professorships, Exploratory Seminars, Workshops, and Masterclasses. Mediterraneo Nero aims to establish cooperation with young and promising scholars from Africa and encourage productive relationships with existing African institutions of art and material history.