Whitney Davis

Whitney Davis (born April 15, 1958) is an art historian, writer, and theorist. Between 2001 and 2023, he was Professor of History and Theory of Ancient and Modern Art in the Department of History of Art at the University of California, Berkeley, where he, in 2010, assumed the George C. and Helen N. Pardee Chair, a position previously held by T. J. Clark, and, in 2023, became Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Professor in the Graduate School. As a recipient of the 2024 NOMIS Distinguished Scientist and Scholar Award, Davis is currently directing "Depictured Worlds: The Perceptual Power of Pictures," a multiyear project that probes the impact of picture perception on our experience of the world beyond.

Career

Early academic career Whitney Davis attended Harvard College, earning an A.B. in 1980, later attending Harvard University to earn an A.M. in 1982 and Ph.D. in 1985. During this time, Davis held a position as a Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Harvard from 1983 to 1986, and wrote a dissertation titled The Canonical Tradition in Ancient Egyptian Art.