James van Dyke, associate professor and director of graduate studies for the School of Visual Studies, was recently awarded a Visiting Senior Fellowship from the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

As the Paul Mellon Visiting Senior Fellow, van Dyke will spend two months this winter at CASVA, a leading art historical research center. During his residence, he will explore the Shell Oil company’s use of art, architecture, and design in Germany, Italy, Britain, and the Americas during the 1930s, examining how it was affected by severe socio-economic crises and confrontations between competing political systems.

Van Dyke is a specialist in twentieth-century German paintings and politics. His research will be featured in the book he’s penning, “Shell Oil and the Political Confrontation of the Arts.” He currently serves as the president of Historians of German, Scandinavian, and Central European Art and Architecture, an affiliated society of the College Art Association.