Christiane L. Joost-Gaugier (born 1934) is a French-born American

art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

scholar whose research has included work on the art of the

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...

and on the influence of

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos (; BC) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher, polymath, and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia and influenced the philosophies of P ...

on art and philosophy into the Middle Ages and Renaissance. She is also known for bringing the first

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

against an American university for its discriminatory treatment of women faculty.

Education and career

Joost-Gaugier was born in 1934 in France. She graduated with honors from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

in 1955, earned an A.M. there in 1959 and a PhD from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1973. She taught at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

in the early 1960s, and in the late 1960s joined the

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

faculty,. In 1970 she initiated a class action lawsuit against Tufts University for unequal treatment of women. The case was taken up by the

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal agency that was established via the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to administer and enforce civil rights laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination ...

, eventually decided in her favor, settled in the mid-1980s, and became a significant legal precedent. However, as a consequence of her actions, Joost-Gaugier found herself "harassed and ostracized by her university" and "widely blackballed". She became a professor and department chair at the following universities: New Mexico State University, the University of New Mexico, and Wayne State University. Joost-Gaugier has lectured internationally and published widely including over 200 research articles. She is the recipient of many awards including a Fulbright Fellowship and grants from the American Society of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, the Delmas Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Kress Foundation. She is responsible for obtaining a grant which commenced the restoration of Minoru Yamasaki's Courtyard in Detroit. Already a three times graduate of Harvard, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award with Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University in 2005. She now continues her work as an independent scholar.

Books

Joost-Gaugier's books include: *''Jacopo Bellini, Selected Drawings'' (1982) *''Raphael's Stanza della Segnatura: Meaning and Invention'' (2002) *''Measuring Heaven: Pythagoras and his Influence on Thought and Art in Antiquity and the Middle Ages'' (2006; translated into Italian, ''Pitagora e suo Influsso sul Pensiero e sul Arte'' 2008) *''Pythagoras and Renaissance Europe: Finding Heaven'' (2009) *''Italian Renaissance Art: Understanding its Meaning'' (2013) *''Islamic Elements in the Architecture of Puglia'' (2019)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joost-Gaugier, Christiane Living people American art historians American women art historians Radcliffe College alumni Harvard University alumni Michigan State University faculty Tufts University faculty New Mexico State University faculty University of New Mexico faculty Wayne State University faculty Columbian College of Arts and Sciences faculty 1934 births