Professor’s new book selected as Outstanding Academic Title by ‘Choice’

Art History Professor Reva Wolf’s co-edited book, “Freemasonry and the Visual Arts from the Eighteenth Century Forward: Historical and Global Perspectives” (Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2020), was selected by Choice, a publication of the American Library Association, as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2020.

According to Choice, “this prestigious list reflects the best in scholarly titles reviewed by Choice,” and “is quite selective: it contains approximately 10% of some 6,000 works reviewed in Choice each year.”

Visit this link for more details on the Outstanding Academic Title designation.

The book covers a wide range of times, places, and peoples that relate to the dramatic rise of Freemasonry in the 18th century, focusing on how art played a fundamental role in its practice, rhetoric, and global dissemination, and on how Freemasonry, in turn, directly influenced developments in art. It explores the challenges inherent to the subject through a series of eye-opening case studies that reveal new dimensions of well-known artists such as Francisco de Goya and John Singleton Copley, important collectors and entrepreneurs, Meissen porcelain figurines, Persian revival architecture in Iran and India, photographs of Black Freemasons, the links between Freemasonry and Vodou in Haiti, and more.

In addition to being the primary editor of this book, Wolf contributed a chapter about the Spanish artist Goya and co-authored an extensive introductory essay.

“Freemasonry and the Visual Arts” was featured as one of only five books in a May 2021 posting by Choice about Outstanding Academic Titles in the field of art. It was also included in a blog from the Museum of Freemasonry, London, within the selective list, “Learn about Freemasonry: 12 Books to Expand Your Knowledge.”

For more details on the content of the book, visit “Freemasonry and the Visual Arts from the Eighteenth Century Forward: Historical and Global Perspectives” online.