Penn Ph.D. Candidate Wins Rare Book School Mellon Fellowship

Jeannie Kenmotsu, a doctoral candidate in history of art, has been awarded a Rare Book School Mellon Fellowship in Critical Bibliography. She is among 20 early-career academics receiving fellowships to attend the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia. 

Kenmotsu’s research focuses on the art of early modern Japan, with particular emphasis on paintings, prints, and illustrated books. Her dissertation project examines the development of full-color printing in the 18th century. She is especially interested in materiality, social networks, and the relationship between color and emerging discourses of natural history and painting theory in the mid-18th century.

RBS-Mellon Fellows will receive advanced, intensive training in the analysis of textual artifacts. Fellows will also receive stipends to support research-related travel to special collections plus additional funds to host academic symposia at their home institutions. The three-year program seeks to reinvigorate bibliographical studies in the humanities.