John López

Assistant Professor of Art History

Contact Information

Office: Filene 102
Phone: 518-580-5057
Email: jlopez1@skidmore.edu

Office Hours: Spring 2017

Monday, 4:00 pm-5:00 pm
Tuesday, 2:00 pm-3:00 pm
Or by appointment.

Degree Listing

• Ph.D. in History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture and Art, MIT (2013)
• Master of Architecture, School of Architecture and Allied Arts, University of Oregon (2005)    
• Master of Arts, International Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oregon (2004)
• Bachelor of Architecture, cum laude, School of Architecture and Allied Arts, University of Oregon (2000)

RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS

• Art and architecture of the pre-Columbian world and Latin America
• Histories of cartography, disasters, and urbanism
• Pre-Columbian art and architecture in the modern imagination
• Colonialism and post-colonial theory

COURSES

• Ways of Seeing: The Art and Architecture of Latin America
• Pre-Columbian Art and Architecture in the Modern Imagination

WORKS IN PROGRESS

• The Aquatic Metropolis: Mapping Water and Urban Form at Viceregal Mexico City
• “Mapping Viceregal Mexico City’s Environmental History.” In Luis Gordo Peláez and John F. López, eds., A Companion to Viceregal Mexico City. Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic Publishers.
• “On the Pre-Columbian Stage: Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s Design for Fernand Cortez.”

PUBLICATIONS

• “La huella del agua” (with Luis Gordo Peláez) and “‘En el arte de mi profesión’: Adrian Boot y la tecnología holandesa en la Ciudad de México Virreinal” (Spanish translation of article published in Journal of Latin American Geography). In John F. López and Luis Gordo Peláez, eds., “Monumentos al agua: fábrica, descripción, e imagen de obras hidráulicas en el México Virreinal.” Special Issue, Boletín de Monumentos Históricos, vol. 29 (forthcoming, fall 2015).  
• “Beneath the Surface of a Map” (with Alexander Hidalgo) and “Indigenous Commentary on Sixteenth-Century Mexico City.” In Alexander Hidalgo and John F. López, eds., “The Ethnohistorical Map in New Spain.” Special issue, Ethnohistory, vol. 61, no. 2 (Spring 2014).
• “Introduction” (with Alexander Hidalgo) and “’In the Art of My Profession’: Adrian Boot and Dutch Water Management in Colonial Mexico City.” In Alexander Hidalgo and John F. López eds., “Imperial Geographies and Spatial Memories in Spanish America.” Special issue, Journal of Latin American Geography, vol. 11/S (2012).
• “In the Midst of Floodwaters: Mapping Viceregal Mexico City’s Urban Transformation, 1524-c.1690.” Rutgers Art Review, vol. 28 (2012): 35-52.

SELECTED CONFERENCE PAPERS AND INVITED LECTURES

• “Indigenous Commentary on Sixteenth-Century Mexico City,” Center for Latin American Studies, Northwestern University, May 8, 2014.
• “The Aquatic Metropolis: Mapping Water and Urban Form at Viceregal Mexico City,” TePaske Seminar in Colonial Latin American History, Atlanta, Georgia, April 11-12, 2014.
• “The Aquatic Metropolis: Mapping Water and Urban Form at Viceregal Mexico City,” Mexican Studies Seminar, Katz Center for Mexican Studies, University of Chicago, March 11, 2014.
• “On the Pre-Columbian Stage: Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s Design for Fernand Cortez,” Conference on Latin American History, Washington D. C., January 2, 2014.
• “Indigenous Commentary on Sixteenth-Century Mexico City,” Deeper History: Contemporary Considerations of Architecture’s Long Past, MIT, June 1, 2013.
• “In the Midst of Floodwaters: Mapping Viceregal Mexico City’s Urban Transformation, 1524-c.1690, University of Arizona, November 16, 2012.
• Invited Discussant, “From Tenochtitlan to La Ciudad de México: Transformations in the Early Modern City,” United States of America Library of Congress and Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, March 1-2, 2012.
• “The Hydrographic City,” Social Science Research Council, Savannah, Georgia, March 8-12, 2012.
• “Nature’s Machines: The Flood Control Devices of Adrian Boot,” American Historical Association, Chicago, Illinois, January 5-8, 2012.

CONFERENCE SESSIONS AND SYMPOSIA ORGANIZED

• “Precolumbia in Nineteenth-Century Art and Science,” College Art Association, Washington, D.C., February 3-6, 2016. Co-organized with Lisa Trever.
• “Pre-Columbia in the Modern Imagination,” Conference on Latin American History, Washington D. C., January 2-5, 2014.
• “Environmental History of Colonial Mexico City,” American Historical Association, Chicago, Illinois, January 5-8, 2012. Co-organized with Luis Fernando Granados.
• “The Ethnohistorical Map in New Spain,” American Society for Ethnohistory, Pasadena, California, October 19-22, 2012. Co-organized with Alexander Hidalgo.
• “The Production of Maps in New Spain,” American Historical Association, Boston, Massachusetts, January 6-9, 2011. Co-organized with Alexander Hidalgo.

SELECTED FELLOWSHIPS

• 2013-15 University of Chicago, Provost Career Enhancement Postdoctoral Scholarship
• 2013-15 University of Southern California, Provost Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities (Declined)
• 2012 Academic Council of Learned Society, Mellon Dissertation Completion Fellowship
• 2012 Dartmouth College, Charles Eastman Dissertation Completion Fellowship (Declined)
• 2011 C. C. Royal Fund Dissertation Fellowship, MIT
• 2010 Social Science Research Council, International Dissertation Research Fellowship
• 2010 Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Summer Fellow for Pre-Columbian Studies
• 2010 Graham Foundation, Carter Manny Award (Citation of Special Recognition)
• 2010 The Newberry Library, Short-Term Fellowship for Individual Research
• 2010 Latin American Studies Association, Travel Grant (to attend conference)
• 2010 Center for International Studies, Summer Fellowship, MIT (Declined)
• 2009 Fulbright García-Robles, Institute of International Education (Mexico)
• 2009 Edilia and François-Auguste de Montêquin Fellowship, Society of Architectural Historians