Today, I sent an email to Mariet Westermann. It's unlikely that you know who that is, unless you get off to 17th century Netherlandish painting (like I do). She is a Dutch professor of Art History at NYU, and I have read all of her books and most of her articles and reviews. I will go ahead and tell you that she is the shit... seriously. Not only is this woman an incredible researcher and writer, she has a great sense of humor that comes through in all of her work. We also have the same research interest: Jan Steen! If you asked me to name people who I'd love to meet in person OR that I most admire, she would certainly be one of them.
The email that I sent her included the following elements:
1. self-deprecation, recognition of my status as a lowly grad student
2. admiration of her work, citing specifics of course
3. explanation of my project and
4. plea for research advice
I told her that I was going to be in New York, at NYU where she teaches, and I suggested that we have coffee and talk about our favorite painter. If she even replies to my email, I swear to god that I will freak out and be totally star-struck. If I get to have coffee with her, I'm gonna have a bystander take our picture, just so all the people I tell who don't know who the fuck she is will believe me.... OMG OMG OMG
Don't fret, I will keep you posted on this (hopefully) evolving situation.
Here is a link to her faculty page at NYU.
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