Brief Biography
Julie Wosk is Professor Emerita of English, art history, and studio painting at the State University of New York, Maritime College in New York City. Her email address is jwosk@sunymaritime.edu.
She is the author of five books: MY FAIR LADIES: FEMALE ROBOTS, ANDROIDS, AND OTHER ARTIFICIAL EVES (Rutgers University Press, July 2015); ALLURING ANDROIDS, ROBOT WOMEN, AND ELECTRONIC EVES (2008); WOMEN AND THE MACHINE: REPRESENTATIONS FROM THE SPINNING WHEEL TO THE ELECTRONIC AGE (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001; , BREAKING FRAME: TECHNOLOGY AND THE VISUAL ARTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (Rutgers University Press, 1992); and the Authors Guild reprint edition of BREAKING FRAME: TECHNOLOGY, ART, AND DESIGN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, 2013 with its new updated introduction .
She has lectured widely on technology, art, and design to academic, community, and museum audiences throughout the United States and Europe. She was a long-time member of the Speakers Program of the New York Council for the Humanities before the program ended, and she has given talks to academic and community audiences at colleges and universities, museums, and libraries throughout the world.
She has been awarded a State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Scholarship and Creative Activities and she also received a State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
She was the curator and writer of the exhibit "Alluring Androids, Robot Women, and Electronic Eves" which was first held at the New York Hall of Science from June-September 10, 2006 and was also shown at The Cooper Union in New York in 2008. This is a traveling exhibit of large digital images, and more information about it can be obtained by contacting her.
A native of Evanston, Illinois, Dr.Wosk has a BA degree from Washington University in St. Louis (graduating magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), a Master's Degree from Harvard University, and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin. She has twice been a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow in art history, and received early studio art training at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and the Parsons School of Design in New York. Her paintings and photographs have been exhibited at New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut museums and galleries.
Her articles on art and technology, literature, and design have appeared in DESIGN ISSUES, TECHNOLOGY REVIEW, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE, ART AND ARTISTS (London), LEONARDO, and others. She is also a blogger reviewing plays and art exhibits for the HUFFINGTON POST. She is also a painter and photographer whose works have been exhibited in New York and New England galleries.
SELECTED WORKS by Julie Wosk
BOOKS
ARTIFICIAL WOMEN: SEX ROBOTS, ROBOT CAREGIVERS, AND MORE FACSIMIE FEMALES (Indiana University Press, April 2, 2024)
MY FAIR LADIES: FEMALE ROBOTS, ANDROIDS, AND OTHER ARTIFICIAL EVES (Rutgers Univ. Press, July 2015). Recently reviewed in the Library Journal as a "riveting portrait of simulated women, female robots, and robot technology in media and art from ancient generations to modern-day creations." It includes robots, androids, dolls, and mannequins in movies, television, literature, photography, art, and robotics. The book draws on the author's own early experiences as a female copywriter and public relations writer at PLAYBOY in Chicago.
WOMEN AND THE MACHINE: REPRESENTATIONS FROM THE SPINNING WHEEL TO THE ELECTRONIC AGE (Johns Hopkins University Press). Artists and photographers, advertisers and writers reveal the impact of new technologies on women's lives.
BREAKING FRAME: TECHNOLOGY AND THE VISUAL ARTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (Rutgers University Press, 1992); new Authors Guild edition BREAKING FRAME: TECHNOLOGY, ART, AND DESIGN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, 2013. Nineteenth-century artists and designers capture the dramatic and often traumatic impact of new machines and technologies on American and European society.
ALLURING ANDROIDS, ROBOT WOMEN, AND ELECTRONIC EVES (Images of Artificial Women in Film, Photography, Art, Anime, Videogames and more, Fort Schuyler Press).
SELECTED JOURNAL ARTICLES:
"Update on the Film Metropolis.” Technology and Culture 51: 4 (October 2010): 1061-1062.
“On the Cover: Metropolis.” Technology and Culture 51: 2 (April 2010): 403-408.
“Catastrophe Chic: A Commentary.” Design Issues 23:4 (Autumn 2007): 93-97.
“Designing For Safety: Safe: Design Takes on Risk” (exhibit review essay, Museum of Modern Art, New York). Technology and Culture 47:4 (October, 2006): 791-798.
“Perspectives on the Escalator in Photography and Art.” Catalogue essay for the exhibition Up Down and Across: Elevators, Escalators, and Moving Sidewalks. “ Washington, D.C.: National Building Museum/Merrell Pub. Co., 2003: 140-171.
“The Escalator in Art.” Blueprints, National Building Museum (Fall 2003): 12-14.
“Photographing Devastation: Three Photography Exhibits of 11 September 2001.” Technology and Culture, 43: 4 (October 2002): 771-76.
"Mutant Materials in Contemporary Design." Design Issues (Spring 1996): 63-39.
"Brunel Meets Brunelleschi" (ornamented machines in America). American Heritage of Invention and Technology (Summer 1995): 58-63.
"Manhole Covers and the Myths of America." Design Book Review (MIT Press), (Winter\Spring 1995): 54-56.
"The Electric Eve: Galvanizing Women in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century
Literature, Film, and Art." Research in Philosophy and Technology 13 (1993): 43-56.
"The P.U.L.S.E. Exhibit." Leonardo(June 1988): 318-20.
"The Impact of Technology on the Human Image in Art." Leonardo (9, No. 2, 1986): 145-52.
"The Impact of Technology on Art and Art on Technology: A College Course Design," in The State University of New York, The New Liberal Arts--Curriculum in Transition (Albany: State Univ. of New York, 1986): 67-71.
"The Distancing Effect of Technology in Twentieth Century Poetry
and Painting." San Jose Studies (Spring, 1985): 22-41. Awarded "Best Article
of the Year" by San Jose Studies editors.
"The Aeroplane in Art." Art and Artists (London) (December 1984):24-28.
“The Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage: A Unique Exhibition Space." Technology and Culture, (April 1984): 292-93.
"The Explosive Emergence of Technology in Art." Art and Artists (London) (December 1982): 11-15.
"Picasso, Car Classics, and the Engineers." Art Education (journal of the National Art Education Association) (July 1982): 16-19. RJ
"Humanities and the Machine: Responses to Technology." Technology and Culture ( July 1982): 435-38. (Report on SUNY Conversations in the Disciplines Conference held at SUNY Maritime College, 1981.)
"Lawrence Durrell: The Poet As Pygmalion." Deus Loci: The Lawrence Durrell Quarterly (1981): 158-75.
"The New American Classicism" (technology and American design).
USA Today (September 1980): 26-28.
"Artists on Technology." Technology Review (MIT Press) (January 1980): 66-75.
NEWSPAPER STORY:
“Waiting For Dr. King” published as “Hearing A Call to Action in a Hymn.” New York Newsday, Editorial/Opinion Page (January 16, 2007) [story about Julie Wosk’s summer experience as a civil rights worker teaching English to African-American students for Dr. Martin Luther King’s SCLC organization in Alabama].