Kulpa, Pierette M.

Pierette Kulpa received her Ph.D. in art history from the Pennsylvania State University, her Master’s degree in art history from London’s Courtauld Institute of Art, and her BA in Art History and Anthropology from the University of Arizona. Kulpa’s research investigates the appropriation of art objects for political means and object biography. Her recent publication, “The Fascistization of Michelangelo Buonarroti and the ‘libertà espressiva’ of the Pietà of Palestrina” appeared in I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance in 2017. Her research interests include patronage within the seventeenth-century Roman Curia, the reuse of Renaissance sculptures by Mussolini, and the legacy of Michelangelo in the centuries after his death. She has received numerous grants to pursue these studies including the Nevada Arts Council Jackpot Grant, Penn State’s Dissertation Fellowship, a Renato Cevese Scholarship to study Palladio in Vicenza, and the Silver Trout Curatorial Award from the Palmer Museum of Art. She is co-coordinator of KU’s Italy Study Abroad Program, loves speaking Italian, and traveling far and wide in Italy.

Art History A Survey: Prehistoric to Early Renaissance

Renaissance Art

Southern Baroque

Art History Seminar

Ancient Egypt: Art, Exploration, and Afterlife

Paragone: Rivalry in the Arts