UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 31, Page 13
May 9, 1996
Prof. Homer on several boards

     An art historian, teacher and author, William I. Homer, H. Rodney
Sharp Professor of Art History, also contributes to the field of art
through service on the boards of several museums and other art-related
institutions.
     Recently, he was appointed a trustee of the Sewell C. Biggs
Museum of American Art in Dover, a trustee of the Anglo-American
Association of the National Portrait Gallery in London, a board member
of the National Gallery of Art's Center for Advanced Study in the
Visual Arts and a member of the Artists Pro-Eakins Committee of the
Thomas Eakins House Cultural Center and Museum in Philadelphia.
     The Biggs Museum, which opened last year on The Green in Dover,
is an "impressive, handsome gem of a museum," Homer said. It houses
the collection of American painting, sculpture and decorative arts of
its benefactor Sewell C. Biggs, Delaware '38. Homer acted as an
adviser for two years while the museum was being built and then was
invited to be a trustee.
     The author of Thomas Eakins: His Life and Art, Homer delivered a
lecture on Eakins at the National Portrait Gallery in London in late
1993. He became acquainted with the management of the gallery and was
subsequently asked to serve as a trustee of the Anglo-American
Association, which is planning to become an international group.
     As an Eakins scholar, he was invited to join the Artists Pro-
Eakins Committee, whose mission is to preserve Eakins' home on Mount
Vernon Street in center city Philadelphia as a museum and memorial to
the artist.
     The Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts is a research
facility and as board member, Homer is involved in the allocation of
research fellowships to pre-doctoral and senior scholars and in policy
recommendations.
     In addition to these recent appointments, Homer has been adviser
to the Henry Luce Foundation since 1981, has served on the Regional
Advisory Committee, Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian
Institution since 1979 and on the editorial board of American Art
Journal since 1970. Homer also has been a senior editor of The
American Art Review since 1992.