For release: March 6, 2012
For press information, contact Dr. Lorelei Corcoran

Dr. Nigel Strudwick

Dr. Nigel Strudwick, an instructor in art history at the University of Memphis and former curator in the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum in London, will present an illustrated lecture, “Capturing Ancient Egyptian Art: Norman and Nina de Garis Davies,” on Thursday, March 15, in the University Center Fountain View Suite (room 350). A reception will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by the lecture at 7. Both events are free and open to the public.

Norman and Nina de Garis Davies are known for the highest quality recording of ancient Egyptian tombs and other monuments. This illustrated lecture will highlight the couple personally and examine their work and their legacy.

Norman began working in Egypt in 1897. In 1906 he met Nina, who was visiting friends in Alexandria. After their marriage in 1907, they began recording the tombs of ancient Luxor for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Later, they worked at other sites in Egypt, including Amarna and Abydos, for the Egypt Exploration Society of London and the Oriental Institute in Chicago. They continued working in Egypt until 1939, when they returned to England. Norman died in 1941 and Nina in 1965.

Strudwick has excavated in Egypt for many years and has a long-standing interest in the Tombs of the Nobles at Thebes. Currently he directs the excavation of the tomb of Senneferi in Thebes.  He publishes extensively on ancient Egypt, and his books include scholarly and popular works on ancient Egyptian history and archaeology. A very versatile scholar, he has produced a volume of translations of ancient Egyptian texts from the Old Kingdom (2500-2000 B.C.) and several books on Egyptian objects in the collections of the British Museum.  Some of his fieldwork and publications are done in collaboration with his wife Helen, also a noted Egyptologist.  Strudwick earned his Ph.D. from Liverpool University.

The lecture is organized and sponsored by the Institute of Egyptian Art and Archaeology (IEAA) at the U of M and the Tennessee Chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt.

Paid parking is available in the Zach Curlin garage adjacent to the University Center.

For more information, call the IEAA at 901-678-2555.