The Golden Visionary

Special Assistant to the President for Arts and Culture Philip Eliasoph, PhD, is a professor of art history and visual culture who began his teaching career at Fairfield University in 1975. Dr. Eliasoph recently riffed with Fairfield University Magazine about his 50-year career and the naming of the Philip I. Eliasoph Open VISIONS Forum in his honor.

On His First Teaching Job at Fairfield…

“I was 25 years old when I arrived on campus in March 1975 for my interview with Fr. Coughlin, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences—he was the first Catholic priest I’d ever spoken to in my life. I told him that my great grandfather had been a rabbi in Montreal and Quebec City; he was fascinated that this young Jewish New York art historian was interviewing to join the faculty. ‘Eliasoph,’ he said, ‘we need some culture here.’

“In the ’70s and ’80s and early ’90s at Fairfield, the magic took place in a dark classroom in Canisius Hall. I showed slides on an old Kodak Carousel 35mm projector: click click click… the detail of Vermeer’s The Girl With the Pearl Earring… Monet’s paintings of his gardens at Giverney… these things lifted us out of ordinary life.”

On the Benefits of a Liberal Arts Education…

“That, I think, is the payoff of this Jesuit education—requiring an 18- or 19-year-old to taste this smorgasbord. We understand you may not be thirsting to learn about Baroque architecture or Renaissance literature or philosophy, but we think you should taste this and that, and then you will discover who you are.”

On the Origins of the Open VISIONS Forum…

“Being part of the public conversation was always something I felt a natural proclivity toward—shaping informed opinions about current events, whether related to art, culture, politics, society, the whole gamut.

“We were culture vultures in pre-internet times—going to the theatre and the ballet, staying up to date on the latest trends and styles, knowing the hot young artists of the ’80s and ’90s…now they’re the old masters!

“In the early 1990s, my wife Yael and I attended lectures at the 92nd Street Y in New York City for a sampling of their incredibly enriching ‘life of the mind’ programs. It was the intellectual hothouse of Manhattan. There were celebrities and public intellectuals on stage—Tom Wolfe in conversation with Barbara Walters. And in the audience, we’d see Nancy Kissinger, Jacqueline Kennedy, Anna Wintour from Vogue magazine. The crème de la crème of New York society wanted to be part of the conversation. I told Yael, I’m going to start a public affairs program.”

On Celebrity Speakers and Public Intellectuals…

“For the inaugural event of Fairfield’s Open VISIONS Forum in April of 1997, we had a packed house for the eminent director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philippe de Montebello.

“We’ve had the food critic Gael Greene, the theatre critic Ben Brantley, the Australian art critic Robert Hughes. We’ve had political leaders, we’ve had media stars. And obviously, because I swim around in the art world, we’ve had many leading art figures of our time.

“Every fox hunt is a different chase. You’re buying a celebrity speaker, a public intellectual and taking basically six hours out of their life—or 24 hours if they have to fly here. We’ve been fortunate to welcome such renowned people as Stephen Sondheim, Judy Woodruff, Harry Belafonte, David McCullough, William F. Buckley, Leslie Stahl, and documentarian Ken Burns—who is coming back next semester.

“The Open VISIONS Forum plays a vital role within the University as a neutral zone where all points of view have an airing. At our sold-out events, there’s electricity in the air, there’s anticipation. People wonder, ‘What is Samantha Power going to talk about? What is David Brooks going to talk about?’ You saw her on television, you’re reading his column that morning, and then they’re here.

“To have our 740 seats filled, representing different economic levels, different educational levels, different religions—it’s one of our University’s finest examples of how we respond to the Connecticut public.”

On the Naming of the Philip I. Eliasoph Open VISIONS Forum…

“When Dr. Nemec said, ‘Philip, we’re going to rename the series to the Philip I. Eliasoph Open VISIONS Forum,’ I was floored, I was flabbergasted. I have felt my life work is never completed, but I feel great satisfaction that this Jesuit school in Fairfield, Connecticut, has emerged into a national presence and that I’ve had the privilege to play a part in that scaffolding.

“One thing leads to the next…last semester, we had Stuart Weitzman to campus. Backstage, I met his daughter, film critic Elizabeth Weitzman. She’s written a book called Renegade Women: Great Women Pioneers of Film and Television in America, and she’ll be our guest in March.

“You cannot predict how one speaker in an event will open the door to the next. You have to trust your judgment, be aware of what’s going on—you have to be a culture vulture.”

Visit Fairfield University’s thought leadership blog, ThinkSpace, at thinkspace.fairfield.edu for an expanded version of this interview with Philip Eliasoph, PhD.

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