Stephen Murray

Stephen D. Murray (born 1945), Professor Emeritus of the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University, is an architectural historian, specialising in Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Before his retirement, Murray held the Lisa and Bernard Selz chair in Medieval Art History at Columbia University. He has written several important monographs on French Gothic cathedrals, including Troyes, Beauvais, and Amiens. His work combines analysis of architectural details with discussion of medieval writing about cathedrals. He is considered a pioneer in the development of digital media and visual arts resources for educational use. Early life and education Murray was born in London. He was educated as Keble College, Oxford and graduated in 1967. He completed his MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art in 1969, writing on the cathedral at Troyes before earning his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in 1972 under Peter Kidson. According to Murray, his interests in visually documenting Medieval architecture started during his undergraduate years at Oxford, where he was a part of an expedition to film an 11th-century Armenian cathedral. He first visited Amiens Cathedral before he began his teaching career in the United States, following in the footsteps of Englishmen like John Ruskin, whom Murray considers his hero. In an interview, Murray stated that he continues to visit Amiens several times every year. His second book on the cathedral, Notre-Dame of Amiens: Life of the Gothic Cathedral, dedicated to the people of Amiens, was published by Columbia University Press in 2020. Career Murray began his teaching career at Morley College, London in 1969. Before joining the Columbia University faculty in 1986, he held numerous posts at Indiana University, eventually appointed as the founding director the university's School of Fine Art. He was also a visiting professor at Harvard University. At Columbia, Murray was the Lisa and Bernard Selz Professor of Medieval Art History. He also served as the director of graduate studies of the Department of Art History and Archaeology between 1989 and 1992. In 1995, Murray founded the Visual Media Center (now the Media Center for Art History) and was its executive director until 1999. Murray is now retired from teaching.