MaryD.Sheriff,internationallycelebratedarthistorian,belovedteacher,andvaluedmemberofthe
WesternSocietyforFrenchHistorydiedtoosoononOctober192016,attheageof66.Asamemberof
WSFH,sheregularlyenrichedourscholarlyconversationswithherarthistoricalperspectiveand
knowledge.Shespecializedineighteenth-centuryFrenchartandtransformedthefieldbyre-evaluating
rococopainting,introducingfeministperspectives,andexaminingEuropeanartinaglobalcontext.Her
majorpublicationsincludethreemonographsfromtheUniversityofChicagoPress:J.-H.Fragonard:Art
andEroticism(1990);TheExceptionalWoman:ElisabethVigée-LebrunandtheCulturalPoliticsofArt
(1996)andMovedbyLove:InspiredArtistsandDeviantWomeninEighteenth-CenturyFrance(2004).
JustbeforeherdeathshecompletedEnchantedIslands:PicturingtheAllureofConquestinEighteenthCenturyFrance,tobepublishedbytheUniversityofChicagoPress.Shewasstillworkingonanother
project,WomeninFrenchArt:RococotoRealism,forwhichsheandherco-authorwonthefirstMellor
PrizefromtheNationalMuseumofWomenintheArts.ShetaughtattheUniversityofNorthCarolina
ChapelHillsince1983,wasaformerchairoftheArtDepartment,andwasnamedW.R.KenanJr.
DistinguishedProfessorin2005.Shewasalsoacentralfigureineighteenth-centuryscholarshipasan
editorofthejournalEighteenthCenturyStudiesandasafoundingmemberoftheHistoriansof
Eighteenth-CenturyArt(HECAA).Herscholarlyachievementswererecognizedthroughnumerous
visitingprofessorships,invitationstolecturearoundtheglobe,awards,andfellowshipsfrom,among
others,theGuggenheimFoundationandtheNEH.Shealsomadeagreatimpactonthefieldwithher
teaching.Bothundergraduateandgraduatestudentsreveredher,andshetrainedmanydoctoral
students,whofollowherexampleofcommitmenttoexcellentteachingandscholarship.Inadditionto
herprofessionalwork,shewasalsoanavidtraveler,birdwatcher,andscubadiver.Sheandher
husband,historianKeithLuria(NorthCarolinaState),weredevotedtoeachotherandsharedthese
professionalandnon-professionalpassions.MarySheriffwasbornonSeptember19,1950inPlainfield,
NJtoRobertWilliamSheriffandJuneLeaf.ShewaseducatedatBucknellUniversityandtheUniversity
ofDelaware.SheissurvivedbyherhusbandKeithLuriaofChapelHill,NCandherfatherRobertSheriff
ofTarponSprings,FL.Historians,arthistorians,colleaguesandfriendsacrossthefieldsofFrenchstudies
mournherloss.
Thisélogesubmittedby:
MelissaHyde(ProfessorofArtHistoryattheUniversityofFlorida)
DenaGoodman(LilaMillerCollegiateProfessorofHistoryandWomen'sStudies,UniversityofMichigan)