Thadeus Dowad

Thadeus Dowad holds the Crown Junior Chair in Middle East Studies and serves as Assistant Professor of Art History at Northwestern University. His research focuses on 18th-19th century Franco-Ottoman artistic exchanges, French imperialism in the Middle East/North Africa, and transregional art histories. He examines intersections of capitalism, slavery, and revolutionary politics through visual/material culture.

Education:

• PhD in History of Art, UC Berkeley (2022)
• MA in History of Art, Williams College
• BA in History of Art, University of Pennsylvania
• Visiting Graduate Student, Boğaziçi University (Istanbul)

Research Interests:

Explores entangled histories of art/architecture across empires, with emphasis on:
- French occupation of Egypt (1798–1801)
- Ottoman responses to imperialism
- Queer theory in Islamic art
- Global portraiture traditions
- Postcolonial methodologies
- Typography/print in colonial contexts

Funding & Support:

• Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD)
• American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT)
• Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA)
• Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA)

Literary Work: Current book project Empire of Line & Pigment analyzes French Revolutionary artists' collaborations with Ottoman-Egyptian communities during the 1798–1801 Egyptian occupation, using multilingual archives to challenge colonial narratives.