The Department of History of Art & Architecture invites you to the 2026-2027 HAA Guest Lecture Series

Sponsored by the Boston University Center for the Humanities, the HAA Guest Lecture Series brings together historians of art and architecture specializing in diverse fields and genres. Prominent scholars and museum professionals are invited to share their latest work with the BU community in a lecture followed by a Q&A.

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Upcoming Lecture

Thursday, October 1st at 5 PM in FLR 132
Kathleen James-Chakraborty, Professor of Art History, University College Dublin
Title:“The Belgian Friendship Building – From the New York World’s Fair to a Virginia HBCU.”

Abstract: Designed by a trio of eminent Belgian architects as their country’s contribution to the World’s Fair held in New York in 1939 and 1940, the Belgian Friendship Building now stands on the campus of Virginia Union, a historically Black university in Richmond, Virginia. In New York, the pre-fabricated structure, constructed entirely out of materials imported from Belgium, housed exhibitions celebrating modern Belgian design and artisanship, as well as the country’s supposed “civilising” mission in the Congo, its largest colony. In Richmond, however, where its tower became the Robert L. Vann Memorial, commemorating the editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, it served as an affirmation of African American achievement and a riposte to the Confederate memorials on nearby Monument Avenue. Here it provided educational facilities that inspired a generation of students active in the Civil Rights Movement and in national as well as local politics. The building’s complex history demonstrates the importance of including African American patronage and experience when recounting the arrival of Europe Modern architecture in the United States and particularly on its campuses.

Archive of Past Lectures