Nathan J. Timpano

Biography:
Nathan Timpano is Chair of Art & Art History and Associate Professor Art History. 

Dr. Timpano joined the department in 2010. His research focuses on the history of modern art & visual culture(s) in the long nineteenth century (ca. 1789-1945), with a specialty in German and Austrian symbolism and expressionism. Within the department, he teaches courses that range from late-seventeenth to early twentieth-century art, as well as surrealism in Europe & Latin America.

In his book Constructing the Viennese Modern Body (Routledge, 2017), Professor Timpano demonstrates how the human body was discussed, portrayed, and utilized as an aesthetic metaphor in turn-of-the-century Vienna. By scrutinizing theatrically “hysterical” performances, avant-garde puppet plays, and images created by Oskar Kokoschka, Koloman Moser, Egon Schiele and others, he illustrates the manner in which these Viennese artists favored the pathological or puppet-like body as their contributions to European modernism.

Prior to his work at UM, Dr. Timpano was the Stefan Engelhorn Curatorial Fellow at the Harvard Art Museums (2009-2010), where his studies focused on the photographic works of the German-American artist Lyonel Feininger. Professor Timpano has additionally been awarded fellowships from: DAAD Program in Germany (2007); the Fulbright Program in Austria (2007-2008); the Getty (2015); LACMA (2013; 2022). He has held professional positions at the National Gallery of Art & the Kreeger Museum (both in Washington, DC), and currently serves as a guest faculty curator at UM’s Lowe Art Museum.

Selected Publications: