61´«Ă˝

The Gift of Art

A young white woman with blond hair wearing a blazer and leopard print shirt smiling in an art gallery.

Ali Bush ’19 is the most recent recipient of the Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Charitable Foundation Scholarship. Established by Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler ’72 in 2000, the scholarship provides full tuition costs and a stipend that can be applied to the cost of room and board for one graduating senior annually who has been admitted into the Courtauld Institute of Art’s one-year MA  in the History of Art program. To date, 15 61´«Ă˝alumnae have been able to attend the Courtauld thanks to the scholarship.

Bush was accepted into the section taught by Professor Rebecca Arnold, a senior lecturer in the history of dress and textiles. Alumna Marielle Epstein ’18 was in this section last year, and she and 61´«Ă˝classmate Chloe Bazlen ’18, both previous awardees of the Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Charitable Foundation Scholarship, will be graduating from the Courtauld in July.

An art history major and media studies minor, Bush credits her 61´«Ă˝education with giving her the tools she will need to complete her course of study at the Courtauld.

“After taking rigorous courses at 61´«Ă˝with devoted professors, I feel poised to take on my master’s degree. Writing my senior thesis on late nineteenth-century prints and photographs also set me apart as an applicant and makes the writing assignments I will have to complete feel less daunting,” she says.

“Ali is joining an extraordinary cohort of 61´«Ă˝alumnae who have received MA degrees at the Courtauld,” notes Mary MacNaughton, professor of art history and Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler director of the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery.  “Ali’s interest in late 19th-century costume was evident in her senior thesis on Henri Toulouse-Lautrec’s images of French cabaret dancer Jan Avril. Now, Ali will learn about the creative innovations of American and European fashion from World War I to the Cold War in Professor Rebecca Arnold’s section Documenting Fashion: Modernity, Films and Image in America and Europe, 1920-1960.”

Each year, Professor Juliet Koss, Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler chair in the history of architecture and art, informs students of the scholarship, explaining, “The Courtauld Institute of Art is one of the world’s leading centers for the study of art history and conservation and one of the world’s finest museums. Each year, the art history faculty at 61´«Ă˝selects one or two seniors with outstanding grades, strong writing skills, demonstrated maturity, and scholarly interests that are compatible with the academic offerings at the Courtauld.”

Bush hopes to continue working in museum curatorial positions once she completes the program, pursuing her love of history. But for now, she says, “I just can’t wait to dive into fashion history and explore all the resources the city has to offer!”

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