About
the Artist
Dr. Katherine Schwab received her B.A. from Scripps College, her M.A. from Southern Methodist University, and her Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She is Professor Emerita of Art History & Visual Culture at Fairfield University, former Curator of the Plaster Cast Collection at the Fairfield University Art Museum (1991-2024) and Founding Director of the Arts Institute established in 2023. While specializing in ancient Greek art and archaeology, her research focuses on the Parthenon sculptural program. Her research extends to the Caryatid Hairstyling Project (film 2009, exhibition Hairstyles of the Classical World 2015), and historic plaster casts of ancient sculpture.
Her drawings and photographs formed three separate exhibitions at the Greek Consulate General in New York City. Scans of her Parthenon east and north metope drawings are permanently displayed in the Acropolis Museum. Her original graphite drawings formed a traveling exhibition in the U.S. from 2014 to 2018.
Her research on the Parthenon metopes led to the need to develop a new approach in drawing the metopes. Her technique largely benefitted from studying Tibetan thangka painting and its visual vocabulary while traveling in the western Himalayas in 2000 and 2004. Incorporating drawings as part of her research became essential as a means of looking carefully for evidence of the carved image now largely destroyed and to hone her skills in observation. The resulting graphite marks with a fine mechanical pencil have become an effective means to show the depth of carving and to communicate the appearance of a three-dimensional image on the flat surface of paper. Drawing has always been a passion of Dr. Schwab, who enjoyed studio art classes through high school, but did not formally study art since then. She has continually benefited from the advice of colleagues at Fairfield University and in Athens.
Dr. Schwab returns annually to Athens for her research. Recently retired, she resides in San Diego and continues to conduct research in her focus areas and make graphite drawings of Greek antiquities.
Exhibitions & publications
Exhibited Drawings and Photographs:
The Island of Nisyros: A Photographic Essay, Greek Consulate General, NYC, 2019
An Archaeologist’s Eye: Parthenon Drawings of Katherine A. Schwab, traveling exhibition 2014-2018, organized by the Bellarmine Museum of Art at Fairfield University, Creighton University, and the Timken Museum of Art. Consulate General of Greece in New York City, Greek Embassy in Washington, D.C., Georgia Museum of Art, Lied Art Gallery of Creighton University, Hallie Ford Art Museum of Willamette University, Timken Museum of Art, Phillips Museum of Franklin & Marshall College, the Forsyth Gallery of Texas A & M University, the Parthenon in Nashville.
Photographs of the Caryatid Hairstyling Project, Greek Consulate General in New York City, Feb 25-Mar 27, 2015 and the Greek Embassy in Washington, DC, Apr 30-June 26, 2015
Acropolis Museum, Athens: Parthenon East and North Metope scanned drawings (26 drawings), permanent installation, Parthenon Gallery, since June 2009. See www.theacropolismuseum.gr.
Selected Parthenon Drawings in, Gifts from Athens: New Plaster Casts from the Acropolis Museum and Photographs by Socratis Mavrommatis, (six drawings, curated by J. Deupi), Bellarmine Museum of Art, November 2-December 17, 2010
The Selfie Show, a photograph of a naturally forming corkscrew curl, Museum of New Art, Armada, MI, May 8 – June 5, 2015
An Archaeologist’s Eye: Photographs and Parthenon Drawings of Katherine Schwab, Lukacs Gallery, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT, October 20-November 6, 2009.
Publications with Schwab Drawings and Photographs:
Neils, J. “Pots and Pediments,” in conference proceedings. Line drawings of central figures in Parthenon East and West pediments (forthcoming).
Hurwit, J.M. “Sun, Moon, and Sea in the Sculptures of the Parthenon,” AJA 121(2017), fig. 17 (E14).
Neils, J. and K. Schwab, “Fishing for Clues: Marine Creatures in the Parthenon’s East Metopes,” in Ancient Sculpture, Essays in Honour of Olga Palagia, eds. P. Themelis, H.R. Goette, I. Leventi (German Archaeological Institute, 2019). (E7: pg 65, fig. 4; E14: pg 66, fig. 5).
Vlassopoulou, C. The Acropolis of Athens: The Monuments. Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports Archaeological Receipts Fund (Athens, 2017), pages 62, 65, 66, 67, 69, 74, 75, 84, 85, 104, 105 (2), 108.
Neils, J. “Color and Carving: Architectural Decoration in Mainland Greece,” in A Companion to Greek Architecture, ed. M.M. Miles, Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World, (Wiley Blackwell, 2016) 175, Fig. 12.7 (E 14).
Neils, J., R. Sternberg, D. Reinbold, “More Than the Time of Day: Helios to the Rescue,” in Autopsy in Athens. Recent Archaeological Research on Athens and Attica, ed. M.M. Miles. Oxbow Books (2015) 19-Fig. 3.2, 21—Figs. 3.5, 3.6
Acropolis Museum Guide. Athens: Acropolis Museum Editions (2015), 203 (E 14).
Vlassopoulou, C. The Athenian Acropolis. The Monuments and the Museum (Athens, 2006) 24, Fig. 15.