Rate My Professor Max Grossman

Dr. Max Grossman serves as Associate Professor of Art History in the Department of Art at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he has been a faculty member since 2009, advancing from Assistant Professor to his current role in 2017. He earned a B.A. in Art History and English with highest honors from the University of California, Berkeley in 1990, an M.A. in Art History in 1995, an M.Phil. in 1996, and a Ph.D. with distinction in 2006 from Columbia University. His doctoral dissertation, titled “Pro Honore Comunis Senensis et Pulchritudine Civitatis: Civic Architecture and Political Ideology in the Republic of Siena, 1270-1420,” underscores his expertise in medieval and Renaissance Italian architecture and urbanism. Prior to UTEP, Grossman held positions as Lecturer in the Art History and Visual Culture Program at San Jose State University from 2006 to 2009, Lecturer at Stanford University in 2007-2009, and various teaching roles in Italy, including at John Cabot University in Rome and CET Academic Programs in Siena.

Grossman’s research centers on the political iconography of the Sienese commune as expressed in painting, sculpture, architecture, coinage, seals, and manuscripts, as well as the evolution of the Italian civic palace from the twelfth through fifteenth centuries. Notable publications include his editing and translation of The Castle of Bracciano: Eight Hundred Years of History by Paolo Alei, Anna Cavallaro, and Elisabetta Mori (Palombi Editore, 2024); co-edited volume Building Family Identity: The Orsini of Bracciano from Fiefdom to Duchy (1470-1698) (Peter Lang, 2019), featuring his contributions on Francesco di Giorgio Martini and military architecture; El Paso Architecture with photographs by Brian Kanof (Arcadia Publishing, 2020); “A Case of Double Identity: The Public and Private Faces of the Palazzo Tolomei in Siena” (Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, March 2013); and “Sienese Fortifications in the Age of the Guelph Commune” (Politecnico di Torino, 2014). He has received awards such as the Citation of Merit from the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (2017), Humanities West Best Lecture Awards (2013-2016), Chester Dale Fellowship from the National Gallery of Art (1997-1998), and Mellon Foundation Fellowship (1996-1997). Grossman has presented papers at conferences including the Renaissance Society of America and European Architectural History Network, chaired sessions, and delivered public lectures such as “Italian Civic Palaces in the Age of the City Republics” (Humanities West, 2015). His service includes roles as Vice-Chair of the El Paso County Historical Commission, Board of Directors for Preservation Texas, Executive Board of The Trost Society, and founder and Director of Operations for the El Paso History Alliance. He directs the Roma Aeterna study abroad program and produced the series Borderland Treasures: Exploring El Paso’s Architecture (2021).