Especially knowledgeable on women American artists, Joan M. Marter, PhD, had never studied art history until she discovered it whilst attending Temple University. She quickly realized she had a passion for it, and decided to pursue teaching art history instead of art classes. Her studies coincided with the transformative feminist movement, and she is very gratified to be running the Women’s Art Journal since 2006, which has touched on the works of female artists all over the world. Dr. Marter began her professional career as an instructor at Pennsylvania State University in 1970, remaining in this position for three years before serving as an assistant professor at Sweet Briar College in Virginia from 1974 to 1977. She then joined Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey as an associate professor from 1977 to 1989, moving up the ranks to full professor from 1990 to 1999, director of the curatorial studies program from 1990 to 2016, director of graduate studies from 1994 to 1997 and distinguished professor from 2000 to 2016. Now in retirement, she has been recognized as a distinguished professor emerita since 2016 and has guest curated numerous exhibitions for museums and institutions.
Prior to the start of her professional life, Dr. Marter pursued a formal education at Temple University in Philadelphia, earning a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, in 1968. She then matriculated at the University of Delaware, where she attained a Master of Arts in 1970 and a PhD in 1974. Outside of her primary trade, Dr. Marter has maintained involvement with numerous organizations related to her field including the College Art Association of America since 1969, the American section of the International Association of Art Critics since 1981 and the Art Table since 2000. Furthermore, she is a national member of the New York chapter advisory board of the Women’s Caucus for Art since 1970.
The president of the Dorothy Dehner Foundation, Dr. Marter has contributed numerous chapter and essays in books and museum publications, articles in professional journals, and book and exhibition reviews, as well as presented extensively to the public. Likewise, she has authored or co-authored five books including “Women Artists on the Leading Edge: Visual Arts at Douglass College” in 2019, and served as an editor for numerous works such as “Off Limits: Rutgers University and the Avant-Garde, 1957-1963” in 1999, “Abstract Expressionism, The International Context” in 2007, “Grove Encyclopedia of American Art” in 2011 and “Women of Abstract Expressionism” in 2016.
In recognition of her contributions, Dr. Marter was awarded the Charles F. Montgomery Prize by the Decorative Arts Society of the Society of Architectural Historians in 1984, the George Wittenborn Award by the Art Libraries Society of North America in 1985 and the Diamond Achievement Award in the Humanities by Temple University in 1993. Later, she was inducted into the University of Delaware Alumni Wall of Fame for Distinguished Graduates in 2004, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Women’s Caucus for Art in 2011 and Distinguished Feminist Award, the Outstanding Reference Source Award from the American Library Association in 2011 and the Distinguished Feminist Award from the College Art Association of America in 2017, among many others. Dr. Marter is also the recipient of various fellowships and grants, and was selected for inclusion in the fourth edition of Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders in America and the 23rd and 27th editions of Who’s Who in the East.