Archive Journeys: Reise | Biography | Research

Education | Research | Art criticism

Research

Barbara's opportunity to study and work in Britain came after she decided to focus on European art of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for her PhD. 'Turner and Venice: A Study in the Iconology of Romanticism' supervised by Professors Reff, Rosenblum and Wittkower, was perhaps not as surprising a choice as might at first be thought, considering her previous essays had included topics as varied as 'Centralized Composition' as a Characteristic of Roman Art: An Analysis of the Theory of Friedrich Matz, Autumn 1965; and An 18th Century 'Rape of Proserpine in the collection of Professor and Mrs. Julius Held.

Barbara studied for a year under the auspices of the Fulbright Commission, and was awarded a grant under the international educational and cultural exchange program, designed to promote goodwill and mutual understanding between people of the US and people of other countries through educational and cultural exchange. Her studies in London were helped by attending the Courtauld Institute of Art on 'a certificate of good standing' from Michael Kitson at Columbia University.

Budget submitted in Barbara Reise's proposal for a Travelling Fellowship

Letter from Barbara Reise to her family in which she discusses the MPhil proposal, 1974

The thesis began to cause problems for Barbara, particularly as her reputation as a critic and activities as a lecturer of American / English twentieth-century art began to grow. Balancing her commissioned workload with the demands of a PhD. thesis proved difficult. As she wrote in a letter to Alan Bowness in 1967:

Unfortunately, all my time spent studying Turner this past year has kept me out-of-touch with aspects of London's art-world.

Letter from Barbara Reise to Alan Bowness, 1967

Despite frequent polite demands from her supervisors, it was decided that after 12 years of being registered to the University of Columbia, it was time to concede defeat with the Turner essay and her PhD. For her efforts (minus the thesis) Barbara received the Master of Philosophy in 1974, an award for which she actually qualified back in 1966.