Kathleen Pierce

Kathleen Pierce is an Assistant Professor of Art History at Smith College. She holds a Ph.D. from Rutgers University and a B.A. from Villanova University. Her research explores intersections between art, visual culture, science, and medicine within the 19th- and 20th-century French empire, emphasizing how images constructed historical understandings of race, gender, health, and power. She is currently completing her first book titled Dissecting Vision: Surface, Skin, and Pathology in and around Cubism.

• Education: Ph.D. in Art History from Rutgers University, B.A. in Art History from Villanova University
• Research Focus: Visual culture of medicine, intersections of art and pathology, colonial visual practices, and modernist surface theories
• Teaching: Courses on 19th-century art, race and gender in photography, art and medicine, and art history pedagogy

Her articles examine topics like dermatological illustrations, medical experiments on primates, and public health posters. These works have been recognized with awards from institutions like the Society for French Historical Studies and the journal Medical History. She also contributes to public-facing platforms like Synapsis: A Health Humanities Journal and Nursing Clio.