Sadly one of my favorite professors Dr Catherine Asher has passed away. Cathy was my undergraduate advisor for my BA in Art History and I took many undergrad and graduate classes in Islamic Art with her. She was such an amazing scholar and a really kind person. I remember complaining to her about some grad research I was going to do and how the school I was attending wanted me to have everyone sign a form saying that they had permission to talk to me, which was just ridiculous. She said to just ignore it! Haha. She also introduced me to some well-known scholars when they were visiting the U, including Oleg Grabar and Renata Holod. I know that she will be missed.
(photo from the UMN https://cla.umn.edu/art-history/news-events/profile/remembering-catherine-ella-blanshard-asher)
Here is her obit from the StarTribune newspaper:
Catherine Ella Blanshard Asher (1946-2023) “died Friday, April 14th, after a long battle with a progressive illness. Born in London, England, she arrived with her family at Ellis Island in 1951 and eventually settled in Claremont, California. Cathy attended Lake Forest College, where she met her professor and eventual husband, Frederick Asher, who seeded a passion for South Asian art history. She quickly acquired a love of India, Mughal art and architecture, Hindu and Jain temples, and travel throughout the Islamic world. She taught at colleges and universities throughout the twin cities and beyond before joining the University of Minnesota Department of Art History as a tenured faculty member and, eventually, full professor. Her recent work explored tolerance and cooperation across religious traditions. Cathy was an accomplished scholar. She trained a generation of students who now teach across the world and with whom she remained close even after retiring from the university. Her energy for exploring new places, cultures, and ideas animated her until the end. Her last book, a history of India Before Europe, was published in 2022. She resisted hospice for months to work on one last article, which was completed on the day of her death. In the final months of her life, Cathy became homebound. Despite this, she continued her tradition of entertaining visitors, even in the final hours of her life. She was a loving mother and grandmother, deeply loved, and survived by her children, Tom and Alice; daughter-in-law, Dana; grandchildren, Francesca, Fergus, and Imogen. Published on April 23, 2023” (https://www.startribune.com/obituaries/detail/0000456111/).
A few other tributes to her: