Dr. Pamela Patton

Biography

Pamela Patton’s scholarship centers on visual culture in medieval Spain and its environs, focusing on the role of images in articulating cultural identity and the social dynamics of multiethnic communities on the Iberian Peninsula. Her central work explores medieval iconographic traditions that uniquely express community ideologies and practices, which are critical for modern understanding of the medieval world. She has published two monographs: 'Pictorial Narrative in the Romanesque Cloister' (Peter Lang, 2004) and 'Art of Estrangement: Redefining Jews in Reconquest Spain' (Penn State University Press, 2012), the latter of which won the 2014 Eleanor Tufts Book Award. Her edited volumes include 'Envisioning Race, Color, and Visual Iberia in Latin America' (Brill, 2016) and 'Iconography at the Crossroads: Image, Meaning, and Method in Medieval Art' (Penn State University Press, 2022). Joining Princeton in 2015, Patton was previously professor and chair of art history at Southern Methodist University. She serves as a coeditor for 'Studies in Iconography', is a field editor for 'Oxford Bibliographies in Art History', and is a member of the advisory committee for 'Historia del Arte' at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Her scholarship has received support from fellowships including the Kress Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Research Interests

Experience