Alexander Nemerov

Alexander Nemerov is the Carl and Marilynn Thoma Provostial Professor in the Arts and Humanities and Professor, by courtesy, of English in the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University, where he also served as department chair from 2015 to 2021. He earned his B.A. in Art History and English cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Vermont in 1985, M.Phil. in History of Art from Yale University in 1987, and Ph.D. in History of Art from Yale University in 1992. Nemerov began his academic career at Stanford as a visiting professor from 1992 to 1995, advanced to assistant professor from 1995 to 2000, and became professor in 2000. From 2001 to 2012, he held positions at Yale University as professor in the Department of the History of Art, director of graduate studies in 2005-2006 and 2008-2009, chair from 2009 to 2012, and Vincent Scully Professor from 2010 to 2012. He returned to Stanford in 2012 in his current role. Earlier fellowships include the Material Culture Predoctoral Fellowship at the National Museum of American Art from 1989 to 1991 and an Internal Faculty Fellowship at Stanford Humanities Center in 1998-1999.

A distinguished scholar of American culture, Nemerov examines art's emotional truths and ethical demands through close readings of history, philosophy, poetry, and visual culture. His publications include The Forest: A Fable of America in the 1830s (Princeton University Press, 2023); Fierce Poise: Helen Frankenthaler and 1950s New York (Penguin, 2021, short-listed for the National Book Critics Circle Prize in Biography); Soulmaker: The Times of Lewis Hine (Princeton University Press, 2016, short-listed for the Marfield Prize); Wartime Kiss: Visions of the Moment in the 1940s (Princeton University Press, 2012, Choice Outstanding Academic Title); Acting in the Night: Macbeth and the Places of the Civil War (University of California Press, 2010, Choice Outstanding Academic Book); Icons of Grief: Val Lewton’s Home Front Pictures (University of California Press, 2005); The Body of Raphaelle Peale: Still Life and Selfhood, 1812-1824 (University of California Press, 2001); and Frederic Remington and Turn-of-the-Century America (Yale University Press, 1995, Choice Outstanding Academic Book). He delivered the 66th Andrew W. Mellon Lectures at the National Gallery of Art in 2017—the first focused on American art—and the Andrew Wyeth Lecture there in 2007. Awards include the Lawrence A. Fleischman Award for Scholarly Excellence in the Field of American Art History (2019), Dean’s Award (Stanford, 1998-1999), and an honorary degree from the University of Vermont (2017). Nemerov has curated exhibitions including Soulmaker: The Times of Lewis Hine at Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center (2016) and To Make a World: George Ault and 1940s America at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (2011). The Stanford Daily named him one of the university’s top ten professors, and he delivered Stanford’s 2025 Baccalaureate address.

Professional Email: anemerov@stanford.edu