Annabel J. Wharton | Scholars@Duke

Annabel J. Wharton
William B. Hamilton Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History

ANNABEL WHARTON, William B. Hamilton Professor of Art History, Duke University. She served as the first female Vincent Scully Visiting Professor at the Yale School of Architecture in 2014 and as the Harry Porter Visiting Professor of Architectural History, University of Virginia School of Architecture in 2019. She received her Ph.D. at the Courtauld Institute, London University. Initially her research focused on Late Ancient and Byzantine art and culture (Art of Empire [Penn State] and Refiguring the Post-Classical City [Cambridge]). Then she began to investigate the effects of modernity on ancient landscapes, notably in Building the Cold War: Hilton International Hotels and Modern Architecture (Chicago, 2001). She has combined her interests in the Ancient and the Modern in her last two books: Selling Jerusalem: Relics, Replicas, Theme Parks (Chicago, 2006) and Architectural Agents: The Delusional, Abusive, Addictive Lives of Buildings (Minnesota, 2015). Architectural Agents considers material and digital buildings as agents that both endure pain and inflict it. Her new book, Models and World Making: Buildings, Bodies, Black Boxes (University of Virginia Press) will appear at the end of 2021.

Current Research Interests

Current project: Post-Mortem Architects: How Cadavers Make Space

Current Appointments & Affiliations

William B. Hamilton Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2004
Professor of Art, Art History and Visual Studies, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1995

Contact Information

114 South Buchanan Blvd, Smith Warehouse Bay 9, A288a Box 90766, Durham, NC 27708
Box 90766, Durham, NC 27708
wharton@duke.edu (919) 684-2495
For images and text pdfs
Wharton / Projects

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., University of London (United Kingdom) 1975
- M.A., The University of Chicago 1969
- B.S., University of Wisconsin - Madison 1966
Previous Appointments & Affiliations
- Professor in the Department of Religion, Religious Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2011 - 2014
- Acting Chair, Department of Art and Art History, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2004
- Chair, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1993 - 1996
- Associate Professor with Tenure, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1986 - 1995
- Acting Chairman, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1986 - 1987
- Assistant Professor, Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1979 - 1986
Academic Positions Outside Duke
- Harry Porter Visiting Professor of Architectural History, University of Virginia School of Architecture. 2019
- Vincent Scully Visiting Professor of Architectural History, Yale University School of Architecture. 2014
Recognition
In the News
- OCT 29, 2015 Duke Magazine
  
  Art Historian Annabel Wharton on 'Do Buildings Have Human Qualities?'
- JUN 27, 2013 New York Times
  
  Annabel Wharton comments: Hilton, a midtown hotel built for the future, turns 50
Awards & Honors
Expertise
Subject Headings
- Art History
- Art and history
Global Scholarship
- Expertise
  - Israel (Country)
  - Italy (Country)
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Books
  - Wharton, A. J. Models and World Making: Bodies, Buildings, Black Boxes, 2021.
  - Wharton, A. J. Models as Manipulators, 2016.
  - Wharton, A. J. Architectural Agents: The Delusional, Abusive, Addictive Lives of Buildings. University of Minnesota Press, 2014.
  - Wharton, A. J. Selling Jerusalem: Relics, Replicas, Themeparks. University of Chicago Press, 2006.
  - Wharton, A. J. Building the Cold War: Hilton International Hotels and Modern Architecture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001.
  - Aers, D. Desire: Its Subjects, Objects, and Histories. Edited by D. Aers and A. Wharton. Vol. 27.3, 1997.
  - Wharton, A. J. Refiguring the Post Classical City: Dura Europos, Jerash, Jerusalem and Ravenna. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
  - Wharton, A. J. Art of Empire: Painting and Architecture of the Byzantine Periphery. A Comparative Study of Four Provinces. University Park, Pa & London: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1988.
  - Wharton, A. J. Tokali Kilise. Tenth Century Metropolitan Art in Byzantine Cappadocia, Dumbarton Oaks Studies XXII. Washinton, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees of Harvard University, 1986.
  - Kazhdan, A. P., and A. P. Wharton AJ. Change in Byzantine Culture in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985.
- Academic Articles
  - Wharton, A. “Doll's house/dollhouse: Models and agency.” Journal of American Studies 53, no. 1 (February 1, 2019): 28–56. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021875817000895.
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  - Weisenfeld, G. S. “Relics, Protestants, Things.” Material Religion 10, no. 4 (2014).
  - Wharton, A. J. “Relics, Protestants, Things.” Material Religion 9, no. 4 (2014).
  - Wharton, A. J. “Jerusalem's Zions.” Material Religion, 2013.
  - Amiri, A., and A. Wharton. “Home in jerusalem: The American colony and palestinian suburban architecture.” Post Medieval Archaeology 45, no. 2 (November 1, 2011): 237–65. https://doi.org/10.1179/174581311X13135030529232.
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  - Wharton, A. J. “John Ruskin: Ethics in Economics.” History of Political Economy 43, no. 2 (2011).
  - Wharton, A. J., and A. Amiri. ““Home in Jerusalem: the American Colony in Jerusalem".” Post Medieval Archaeology 45, no. 1 (2011).
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Shaping the ‘Public Sphere’ in Second Life: Architectures of the 2008 US Presidential Campaign.” Journal of Virtual Worlds Research 2, no. 2 (2009): 1–14.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Jewish art, Jewish Art.” Images 1 (2007).
  - Holloway, R Ross, and R Ross Wharton AJ. “Constantine and Rome.” Church History, 2005.
  - Biddle, Martin, and Martin Wharton AJ. “The Tomb of Christ.” Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2004.
  - Wharton, A. “Rereading late ancient Christianity: Introduction.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 33, no. 3 (September 1, 2003): 383–85. https://doi.org/10.1215/10829636-33-3-383.
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  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Two Waldorf-Astorias: Spatial Economies as Totem and Fetish.” Art Bulletin 85 (2003): 523–43.
  - Cody, J. W., and J. W. Wharton AJ. “Exporting American Architecture,” 2003.
  - Wharton, A. J. “Medieval Cyprus: Studies in Art, Architecture and History in Memory of Doula Mouriki.” Edited by N. Sevcenko and C. Moss. Speculum 77 (2002): 244–47.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Height of Fashion.” New Statesman 14 (2001): 38–41.
  - Wharton, A. J. “Economy, Architecture and Cold War Politics: the Istanbul Hilton.” Edited by C. D. W. Goodwin and N. DeMarchi. Economic Engagements With Art, 1999, 285–300.
  - Wharton, A. “Economy, architecture, and politics: Colonialist and cold war hotels.” History of Political Economy 31, no. SUPPL. 1 (January 1, 1999): 297–99. https://doi.org/10.1215/00182702-31-supplement-285.
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  - Beckwith, S., and S. Wharton AJ. “Body, Matter, Spirit.” Edited by A. Wharton. Jmems, Special Issue 28 (1998).
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Westminster Cathedral: Medieval Architectures and Religious Difference.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 26, no. 3 (1996): 523–55.
  - Heldman, Mariyn E., and Mariyn E. Wharton AJ. “The Marian Icons of the Painter Fre Seyon: A Study in Fifteenth-Century Ethiopian Art, Patronage, and Spiritual.” African Arts, 1996.
  - Matthews, Thomas, and Thomas Wharton AJ. “Clash of the Gods.” American Historical Review 100 (1995): 1518–19.
  - Dodds, Jerrilyn, and Jerrilyn Wharton AJ. “Architecture and Ideology in Early Medieval Spain; Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain,” 1994.
  - WHARTON, A. J. “GOOD AND BAD IMAGES FROM THE SYNAGOGUE OF DURA-EUROPAS + SYRIAN HEBREW ICONOGRAPHY - CONTEXTS, SUBTEXTS, INTERTEXTS.” Art History 17, no. 1 (1994): 1–25.
    Link to Item
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Good and Bad Images from the Synagogue of Dura Europos: Contexts, Subtexts, Intertexts.” Art History 17, no. 1 (1994): 1–25.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “The Baptistery of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Poltics of Sacred Landscape.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 46 (1992): 313–25.
  - Cameron, Averil, and Averil Wharton AJ. “Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire.” Art Bulletin 74 (1992): 511–12.
  - Connor, Carolyn, and Carolyn Wharton AJ. “Art and Miracles in Byzantium.” The American Historical Review 97 (1992): 1195–1195.
  - Pelikan, Jaroslav, and Jaroslav Wharton AJ. “Imago Dei. the Byzantine Apologia for Icons.” Envoi: A Review Journal of Medieval Literature 4 (1992): 131–34.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Gender, Architecture and Institutional Self-Presentation: The Case of Duke University.” South Atlantic Quarterly 90.1 (1991): 175–217.
  - WHARTON, A. J. “THE URBAN CHARACTER OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP, THE ORIGINS, DEVELOPMENT, AND MEANING OF STATIONAL LITURGY - BALDOVIN,JF.” Speculum a Journal of Medieval Studies 65, no. 3 (July 1990): 605–7. https://doi.org/10.2307/2864041.
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  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Rereading Grabar's Martyrium: The Modernist and Postmodernist Texts.” Gesta 29, no. 1 (1990): 3–7.
  - Demus, O., and O. Wharton AJ. “The Mosaic Decoration of San Marco.” Speculum 65 (1990): 971–72.
  - Herrin, J., J. M. Hussey, and J. M. Wharton AJ. “Formation of Christendom; History of the Orthodox Church.” Religious Studies Review 16 (1990): 347–347.
  - Wharton, A. J. “Tenderness and Hegemony: Exporting the Virgin Eleousa.” Edited by Irving Lavin. World of Art: Themes of Unity in Diversity. Acts of the Xxvth International Congress of Art History, Washington, Dc I (1990): 71–80.
  - Wharton, Annabel Jane. “Ritual and Reconstructed Meaning: The Neonian Baptistery in Ravenna.” The Art Bulletin 69, no. 3 (September 1987): 358–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043079.1987.10788438.
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  - Demus, O., and O. Wharton AJ. “The Mosaics of San Marco in Venice.” Speculum 61 (1986): 915–18.
  - Morganstern, J., and J. Wharton AJ. “The Byzantine Church at Dereagzi and Its Decoration.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 45 (1986): 167–69.
  - Skawran, K., and K. Wharton AJ. “Middle Byzantine Fresco Painting in Greece.” Byzantine Studies 12 (1985).
  - Head, C., and C. Wharton AJ. “Byzantine Imperial Portraits.” Speculum 59 (1984): 235–36.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “The Date and Significance of the Cathedral of Canosa in Apulia, South Italy.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 37 (1983): 79–90.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “The Chronology of the Construction and Decoration of St. Neophytos in Cyprus.” Byzantine Studies 10 (1983): 71–80.
  - Labreque-Pervouchine, N., and N. Wharton AJ. “L’iconostase. Evolution historique en Russie.” Speculum 58 (1983): 767–69.
  - Malquist, T., and T. Wharton AJ. “Byzantine 12th Century Frescoes in Kastoria.” Byzantine Studies 10 (1983): 422–24.
  - Rotili, M., and M. Wharton AJ. “Arte bizantina in Calabria e in Basilicata, and P. Belli d’Elia et al., La Puglia fra Bysanzio e l’Occidente.” Art Bulletin 65 (1983): 503–5.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “The Rebuilding and Redecoration of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople: a Reconsideration.” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 23 (1982): 79–92.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Frescoes of the Mavriotissa Monastery near Kastoria: Evidence of Millenarianism and Anti-Semitism in the Wake of the First Crusade.” Gesta 21 (1982): 21–29.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Eglises a Colonnes de Goreme.” Archeologia 142 (1982): 83–86.
  - Thierry, N., C. Walter, and C. Wharton AJ. “Peintures de Asie Mineure; Studies in Byzantine Iconography.” Byzantine Studies 9 (1982): 374–76.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “The Fresco Decoration of the Column Churches, Goreme Valley, Cappadocia: A Consideration of Their Chronology and Their Models.” Cahiers Archeologiques 21 (1981): 27–45.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “The Middle Byzantine Sanctuary Barrier: templon Screen or Iconostasis?” Journal of the British Archaeological Association 134 (1981): 1–27.
  - Curcic, S., and S. Wharton AJ. “Gracanica.” Speculum 56 (1981): 374–76.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Formulas for Salvation: A Comparison of Two Byzantine Monasteries and Their Founders.” Church History 50 (1981): 385–400.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Middle Byzantine Churches of Kastoria in Greek Macedonia: Their Dates and Implications.” Art Bulletin 62 (1980): 190–207.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “The Political Content of the Bema Frescoes of Saint Sophia in Ohrid.” Jahrbuch Der Oesterreichischen Byzantinistik 29 (1980): 315–29.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Problems of Provincialism: Byzantine Monasteries in Cappadocia and Monks in South Italy.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 42 (1979): 28–46.
  - Wharton, Annabel J. “Rock-cut Chapels in Cappadocia: the Column Churches and The yilanli Group.” Cahiers Archeologiques 15 (1975): 115–35.
- Book Sections
  - Wharton, A. J. “Acquiring Jerusalem.” In Routledge Handbook on Jerusalem, 335–50, 2018. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315676517.
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  - Wharton, A. J. “The Tribune Tower: Spolia as Despoliation1.” In Reuse Value: Spolia and Appropriation in Art and Architecture from Constantine to Sherrie Levine, 179–97, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315606187-10.
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  - Wharton, A. J. “The Istanbul Hilton, 1951-2014: Modernity and Its Demise (Accepted).” In Mid-Twentieth Century Architecture in Turkey, edited by M. Gürel. Routledge, 2015.
  - Weisenfeld, G. S. “The Istanbul Hilton, 1951-2014: Modernity and Its Demise (Accepted).” In Mid-Twentieth Century Architecture in Turkey, edited by M. Gürel. Routledge, 2015.
  - Wharton, A. J. “The tribune tower: Spolia as despoliation.” In Reuse Value: Spolia and Appropriation in Art and Architecture from Constantine to Sherrie Levine, 179–98, 2012.
  - Wharton, A. J. “History and Fiction.” In Archaeology, Politics and the Media, 85–90. Eisenbrauns, 2012.
  - Wharton, A. J. “The tribune tower: Spolia as despoliation.” In Reuse Value: Spolia and Appropriation in Art and Architecture from Constantine to Sherrie Levine, 179–97, 2011.
  - Wharton, A. J. “History and Fiction.” In Archaeology, Politics and the Media. Eisenbraun, 2010.
  - Wharton, A. J. “Jerusalem in Varallo: From Truth to Fiction.” In Imaginary Cities: Fictions of Space in the Early Modern World, edited by Charlotte Houghton and Daniel Purdy. Penn State Press, 2009.
  - Wharton, A. “Jerusalem remade.” In Modernism and the Middle East, 39–60, 2008.
  - Wharton, A. J. “Remaking Jerusalem.” In Modernism and the Middle East, edited by Sandy Isenstadt and Kishwar Rizvi, 29–35. University of Washington Press, 2007.
  - Wharton, A. “Commodifying space: Hotels and pork bellies.” In Hospitality: A Social Lens, 101–16, 2006. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780080465692.
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  - Wharton, A. J. “Icon, Idol, Fetish, and Totem.” In Icon and Word: The Power of Images in Byzantium, edited by A. Eastmond and L. Hunt, 12–23. London: Ashgate, 2003.
  - Wharton, A. J. “Erasure: Eliminating the Space of Late Ancient Judaism.” In From Dura to Sepphoris: Studies in Jewish Art and Society in Late Antiquity, edited by Lee L. Levine, 195–214. Ann Arbor, MI, 2000.
  - Wharton, A. J. “Byzantine Art; Hagia Sophia.” In World Book Encyclopedia. Chicago, 1998.
  - Wharton AJ, David. “Various.” In Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press, 1991.
  - Wharton, A. J. “Cappadocia.” In Dictionary of the Middle Ages. New York, 1981.
  - Wharton, A. J. “’Iconoclast’ Chapels in Cappadocia.” In Iconoclasm, edited by A. Bryer and J. Herrin, 103–12. University of Birmingham, 1975.
- Other Articles
  - Wharton, A. J. “Jerusalem Architecture: Old Is bitter, New Is Ugly.” Architecture and Urbanism in the Middle East, Special Issue Mei, 2008.
  - Wharton, A. J. “Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University: Rafael Vinoly, Architect.” Durham: Duke University Press, 2005.
  - Wharton, A. J. “Empire Building.” New Statesman, January 2005.
  - Wharton, A. J. “Height of Fashion.” New Statesman, September 2001.
  - Bland, Kalman, and Kalman Wharton AJ. “Edges: Social and Cultural Encounters in the Middle Ages and Early Modernity.” Special Issue of the Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 1999.
  - Baptisteries, A. J., Baptistery Decoration, and Baptistery Wharton AJ. “The Dictionary of Art.” Macmillan Publishers, 1996.
  - Wharton, A. J. “Maps of Authority: Conflict in the Medieval and Early Modern Urban Landscape.” Special Issue of the Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 1996.
Teaching & Mentoring
Recent Courses
Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
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Service to Duke

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Education, Training, & Certifications

Previous Appointments & Affiliations

Academic Positions Outside Duke

In the News

Awards & Honors

Subject Headings

Global Scholarship

Expertise

Selected Publications

Books

Academic Articles

Book Sections

Other Articles

Recent Courses

Presentations & Appearances

Service to Duke