David O'Brien is a Professor of Art History at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and an affiliate faculty of the European Union Center.
What is the focus of your current work and/or subject of your current research?
Currently I am writing a book about how Napoleon was remembered through objects (relics, clothing, accessories, knick-knacks, etc.) in the years following his death.
What classes do you teach? What are some of the topics of those classes?
I teach standard surveys of European art during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and I have more topical classes. For example, I have an undergraduate class about how France pictured its colonial empire in the nineteenth century, and a graduate seminar on approaches to material culture.
Do you have any recent awards, honors, or publications that you would like to highlight?
Most recently, I received fellowships from the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery in Washington, DC, from the American Philosophical Society, and from the Center for Advanced Study here at the University of Illinois. My latest book is called Exiled in Modernity: Delacroix, Civilization, and Barbarism.
What is a book (academic or non-academic, in or outside your field) that you think should be more widely read?
One of my daughters is getting her PhD in English and has me reading Kazuo Ishiguro's work. I really liked An Artist of the Floating World.
Is there any additional information or advice you'd like to share?
Art history is a great way to get to know foreign cultures and enjoy yourself while you do it.