For Immediate Release
March 24, 2011

Art History Major to Present Research at Stanford

Jennifer Akers researched artists Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani and their differing views of women.

Talk to Cañada student Jennifer Akers for five minutes about art history and you can immediately see the passion she has for the subject. That passion has resulted in a research project that has been selected for presentation at the annual Bay Area Community College Honors Research Symposium.

The title of Akers’ research topic is “Love and Sex in Modigliani’s and Picasso’s Portraits of Women.”

“My interest in the subject has been sparked by Professor (Denise) Erickson’s lectures in art history,” Akers said. “They are so compelling. It’s like watching a movie. She makes the class come alive and she makes art history important and interesting.”

Students, staff, and faculty can watch the presentation on April 25 as part of the Cañada Research Conference. Five Cañada students, including Akers, who will be presenting their original research at Stanford on May 7 will have the opportunity to polish their presentations at Cañada's conference.

Akers said Modigliani and Picasso were in Paris at the same time and socialized with the same crowd but represented women very differently in their paintings. “Modigliani presents women in a loving way while Picasso initially presents them that way but eventually portrays them almost violently. You get the sense that Picasso uses women.”

Akers said her career goal is to eventually work in a museum. She is majoring in art history but is earning a minor in anthropology. She is preparing to transfer to Notre Dame de Namur University. “I would like to eventually become a museum curator,” Akers said.

For more information, contact Robert Hood, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, at hoodr@smccd.edu or 306-3340