"A Brown University professor is the first ever anthropologist to become the A.W. Mellon Lecturer in the Fine Arts, widely considered to be one of the highest honors in the humanities.
Throughout April and May 2023, Stephen Houston, a professor of history of art and architecture, anthropology and social science at Brown, will give a series of talks on the unique writing of the ancient Maya at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. In keeping with lecture series tradition, the content of his talks will eventually be published.
The A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts were established in 1949 “to bring to the people of the United States the results of the best contemporary thought and scholarship bearing upon the subject of the fine arts.” Each spring, a scholar of “exceptional ability, achievement and reputation” delivers a series of talks that shed new light on some aspect of the fine arts. Previous lecturers have included German-American composer Lukas Foss, English painter John Golding, English poet Stephen Spender, and countless prominent art historians and curators from across the globe." - Jill Kimball for News from Brown