Associate Professor
- PhD, University of Michigan, Art History
- MA, UCLA, Art History
- AB, UC Berkeley, Art History
Derrick Cartwright began his teaching career as an Assistant Professor at USD. In 1998, Cartwright left San Diego to direct art museums in Giverny (France), Hanover (New Hampshire), San Diego and Seattle. He then returned to USD and led the newly-created University Galleries from 2012-2022, becoming Associate Professor in the Department in 2016. Since that year, Cartwright has also served as Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park where he helps link majors with professional opportunities in local museums.
Areas of Expertise
North American Art and Architecture, Museum Studies and Curatorial Practice, Histories and Theories of Photography, and Public Art History.
Scholarly Work
Natural Landscapes and Human Meaning, ed. with Brian R. Clack, (San Diego: University of San Diego, 2025).
“From Forges to Fiery Furnaces: Amy Putnam, Icon Collector,” Journal of Icon Studies 4 (2025): 2-22.
“Punch Lines: Anguish and Humor in Wayne Thiebaud’s Lifework,” and “Interview,” in Wayne Thiebaud: A Radical Realism (New York: Rizzoli, 2025): 138-165 and 169-182.
“Marisol Rendòn: Acts of Reconciliation,” in Lara Bullock, ed., 24 th San Diego Art Prize (San Diego: San Diego Library Foundation, 2024: 21-22.
“Collecting Whistler,” in Glorious Harmony: The Kathryn A. and James E. Whistler Collection (San Diego: University of San Diego, 2024): 14-18.
“Constructing Visibility: Esther Born’s Photography beyond the Archives,” ZU (Život umjetnosti) 111, no. 2 (July 2023): 96-105.
“Ella Ferris Pell: Regretting and Forgetting,” in Charles C. Eldredge, ed., Unforgettables: Expanding the History of American Art (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2022: 57-63.
“Call-and-Response: A Dialogue with Marie Watt,” in Storywork: The Prints of Marie Watt (Portland: Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, 2022): 153-172.
“The Pope of Coyoacán,” in Peter Selz, et al., Armando Romero/Perpetual Provocation: Paintings, Sculpture, Drawings (San Diego: Tasende Gallery, 2021): 20-26.
Conferences and Presentations
“Constructing Invisibility: Esther Born in the Photographic Archive,” Institute of Art History, Zagreb, Croatia (October 2021).
“From Forges to Fiery Furnaces: Amy Putnam, Icon Collector,” Museum of Russian Icons, Lincoln, MA (June 2021).
“Fitz Henry Lane from Castine to San Diego,” Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME (January 2021).
“Risks and Rewards of Student Acquisitions,” with John P. Murphy, Association of Academic Museums and Galleries, Lawrence, KS (June 2020).
“Lucian Freud’s Domestic Murals,” Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland (September 2019).
“Exchanging Identities: Benjamin West and The Woodcutters in Windsor Great Park,” Tsinghua University, Beijing, China (March 2019).
“Object Biographies: Downstream Histories and Unanticipated Artwork Conversations,” Respondent at the College Art Association’s Annual Conference, New York, NY (Feb. 2019).
“Ashcan Images and Anarchist Ideals: Robert Henri’s Radical Texts,” Marie Curie-Sklowdowska University, Lublin, Poland (May 2015).
Areas of Interest
Cartwright enjoys demystifying “the art world” for undergraduates. He teaches a variety of courses exploring art in different media from the 18 th -century to the present, with an emphasis on Anglo-American visual culture. He is dedicated to helping students understand the history of museums and curatorship, as well as problems of collecting. Cartwright participates regularly in the Honors Program at USD, co-teaching courses with colleagues in the History, English, Theology and Religious Studies, and Philosophy Departments.