Paroma Chatterjee

Paroma Chatterjee is Associate Professor in the History of Art Department at the University of Michigan. Her research examines artistic encounters across the medieval Mediterranean, Byzantine image theories, ekphrasis, relics and icons, and sculpture. She holds fellowships from Dumbarton Oaks, Kress Foundation, and Italian Academy for Advanced Studies.

Her first monograph Living Icons (2014) investigates portrait/narrative configurations in Byzantine and Italian saint imagery. Current book project analyzes historical and conceptual functions of sculpture in Byzantium.

Research Focus

• Byzantine visual culture and aesthetics
• Cross-cultural artistic exchange
• Medieval theories of representation
• Relic veneration practices
• Word-image relationships in manuscripts

Recent Publications

• Iconoclasm's Legacy: Interpreting the Trier Ivory (Art Bulletin, forthcoming)
• Charisma and the Ideal Viewer in Nicetas Choniates' De Signis
• Viewing the Unknown in Eighth-Century Constantinople (Gesta)