WILLIAMSTOWN, MA- The complex and controversial subject of the relationship between homosexuality, queer theory and queer studies, and the discipline of art history will be discussed at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute on Saturday, April 5, at 5:30 pm, during the Clark Conversation "How Queer is Art History?". Admission to the conversation is free.

In recent years, queer theory has challenged some basic premises of the humanities. A group of scholars who are pioneers of thinking about how sexual identity influences the way people write about art history and the way art is made and understood have met during a two-day colloquium to discuss these topics. This public conversation will be a summary of scholars' findings.

Participating in the conversation are Flavia Rando of Rutgers University; Jonathan Weinberg, artist and art historian; Deborah Bright of Brown University; Terry Castle of the University of Stanford; Jacqueline Francis of the University of Michigan; James Saslow of City University of New York; James Smalls of the University of Maryland, Baltimore; Catherine Lord of the University of California, Irvine; Richard Meyer of Von KleinSmid Center 351; Christopher Reed of Pennsylvania State University and fellow at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Research Center; Anne D'Alleva of the University of Connecticut; Harmony Hammond, Guggenheim fellow, artist, art writer, and independent curator; and Michael Hatt of the University of Warwick.

The Clark is one of the country's foremost art museums, as well as a dynamic center for research and higher education in art history and criticism. It is one of only a few art museums in the U.S. that is also a major research and academic center, with an international fellowship program and regular conferences, symposia, and colloquia, and an important art research library. The Clark, together with Williams College, jointly sponsors one of the nation's leading M.A. programs in art history, which has been part of the professional development of a significant number of directors of art museums, curators, and scholars.