Instructor of Art
BA - Pamona College, MA - Indiana University, Ph.D Candidate- Indiana University
E-mail: mbacker@semo.edu
(573) 651-2720
Office: River Campus RCT048

Matt Backer began teaching art history at Southeast this fall. Previously, he taught at Indiana University and Wabash College, also in Indiana. He leads classes on the appreciation of art, a two-semester survey on the history of art, from prehistory to the present, Renaissance art, 19th-century art, 20th-century art, modern art, historical art theory, postmodern art, American art, and a class on art and war in America.

Matt is currently working on his dissertation in order to earn a doctoral degree from Indiana University. The subject involves The Century of Progress World Exposition in Chicago, 1933-34, modern architecture, and science fiction illustration from the 1920s and ‘30s. Matt earned his master's degree from IU in 2005, and the subject of his thesis was the psychological aspects of Edward Hopper’s paintings. Matt published part of this essay in Oculus, the Indiana University graduate student art history journal. In 2006, he co-curated an exhibition of Eldzier Cortor’s works on paper at the Indiana University Art Museum.

Matt’s research interests mostly involve art and America, from the Civil War to the present. Some subjects of particular concern are: science fiction, art and war, comic books, modernism, the impact of technology on society, art theory, popular culture, architecture, public space, propaganda, feminism, video art and performance art. A favorite pasttime is taking pictures casually, and Matt looks forward to exhibiting his own art after a long hiatus at the Faculty Show this fall. He also enjoys running, novels, movies and rock music, as well as spending time with his two dogs.

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