ANREUS, Alejandro 1960-

PERSONAL: Born September 11, 1960, in Havana, Cuba; naturalized U.S. citizen; son of Margarita Rodriguez (a factory worker); married Debra Bleharr, October 12, 1985; children: David Rentkiewicz, Isabel. Ethnicity: "Latino." Education: Kean College of New Jersey, B.A., 1984; City University of New York, M.A., 1995, Ph.D., 1997. Politics: "Democratic Socialist." Religion: Roman Catholic. Hobbies and other interests: Fellini films, Don DeLillo novels, walking.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of Art, William Paterson University of New Jersey, 300 Pompton Rd., Wayne, NJ 07470. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ, began as assistant curator, became curator, 1986-93; Jersey City Museum, Jersey City, NJ, curator, 1993-2001; William Paterson University of New Jersey, Wayne, NJ, associate professor of art history, 2001—.

MEMBER: College Art Association of America.

AWARDS, HONORS: Nancy Hanks Award, American Association of Museums, 1993.

WRITINGS:

Ben Shahn and the Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, Rutgers University Press (Piscataway, NJ), 2001.

Orozco in Gringoland, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NJ), 2001.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Editing The Social and the Real, with others, for Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), completion expected in 2003; a manuscript on exile and Cuban-American artists.

SIDELIGHTS: Alejandro Anreus told CA: "I am an art historian. I write to elucidate the meaning(s) of art and its social context. My thinking and writing about art history are influenced by the social historians of art: Arnold Hauser, Meyer Schapiro, John Berger, Marta Traba, and Alan Wallach.

"Writing is quite an ordeal. My mother tongue is very baroque (Spanish), so I am always struggling for clarity. Models of clear prose include Orwell and Camus. I write first in pencil, longhand. Then I type a first draft, edit it, then make a final draft.

"I am inspired by the crossroads of art and politics, particularly during the 1920s and 1930s in the Americas. Here are the subjects for the rest of my writing career."