Reinhild Janzen, Professor

B.A., Padagogische Hochschule in Germany
M.A., University of Chicago
M. Phil, University of Kansas
Ph.D., University of Kansas

Garvey Center 113
reinhild.janzen@washburn.edu
785-670-2242

Courses Taught:

Background:

Reinhild Kauenhoven Janzen is a native of Germany who has adopted Central Kansas as her second home. Professor Janzen received her M.A. in Art History from the University of Chicago and Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. Her areas of specialization include the Northern European Renaissance; the non-western arts of North America and Africa, and the cultural history of Mennonites (European, North and South American). 

Prior to joining the Art Department at Washburn University in 1996, Professor Janzen has had extensive teaching experience in Dawson College in Montreal, Canada and at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Janzen has worked as research associate, grants and public education coordinator and curator at the University of Kansas Museum of Anthropology and at Kauffman Museum at Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas. During her years as a museum professional she served as president of Kansas Museum Association and as president of Warkentin House Association (Newton, Kansas).

Dr. Janzen has received numerous grants (from the Institute of Museum Services, National Endowment of the Arts, The Kansas Humanities Council, the Kansas Art Councils, the Federal Republic of Germany and private agencies).

Her publications include the following:

Books and Catalogues:

• Do I Still Have a Life? Voices from the Aftermath of War in Rwanda and Burundi with John M, Janzen. University of Kansas 2000
• Mennonite Furniture: A Migrant Tradition 1766-1910, with John M. Janzen, Good Books, 1991
• Albrecht Altdorfer: Four Centuries of Criticism, UMI Research Press, 1980;
• Of Matter and Sprit, African Arts from Kansas Museum, Salina Art Center, Salina, Kansas, 1996
• The Art of Sharing, the Sharing of Art: Responses to Mennonite Relief in Postwar Germany, Mennonite Press, North Newton, KS, 1984

Articles and book contributions:

• "'To Help us Think of God': Iconic versus Anti-Iconic Mennonite Celebrations of Christmas and Easter in Kansas," The Mennonite Quarterly Review, April 2005, pp. 207-229.
• "Albrecht Altdorfer's The Two Saint Johns: Apocalyptic Vision of Wholeness and Salvation" in Essays in Honor of Professor Erik Larsen, G. Canale & C.S.p.A., Torino, 2002
• "Door to the Spiritual: The Visual Arts in Anabaptist-Mennonite Worship," The Mennonite Quarterly Review, Vol. LXXIII, No.2 April 1999
• "Albert Bloch's Image of Christ," Albert Bloch, Artistic and Literary Perspectives, F. Baron, H. Arntzen, D. Cateforis, eds., Prestel, Munich,1997
• "Mennonite Furniture: The Dynamics of a Migrant Culture Tradition," Kansas Quarterly 25:2 1994
• "Sources and Styles of the Material Cultural Life of Mennonites in the Vistula Delta," The Mennonite Quarterly Review, April 1992;
• "On the Sculptural Programs of Chokwe Thrones, "African Arts, Vol XIV, No. 3, May 1981

Reinhild Kauenhoven Janzen's scholarly work and teaching is informed by a very broad international perspective, gained through her extensive experience of travel, research, study and collecting abroad in Canada, in South Africa and Central & Eastern Europe. At home in Kansas, she serves as humanities scholar for the Speakers' Bureau of Kansas Humanities Council. Topics include art and religion in contemporary America and the role of works of art in the healing process. She also assists in the preservation of public art through Save Outdoor Sculpture (SOS!).

She likes to quote Diego Rivera who said "Art is like ham. It feeds people."

Return to Top of Page