Ann Blair Brownlee received a B.A. (1974) in classics from Lawrence University and an A.M. (1976) and Ph.D. (1981) in classical archaeology from Harvard University. She previously taught at Lehigh University and Rutgers University, Camden, before joining the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (Penn Museum) where she is Associate Curator in the Mediterranean Section.
Her research interests focus on Greek vase-painting, particularly Archaic Corinthian and Attic black-figure. She is preparing a study of the Archaic Corinthian pottery from the so-called Potters' Quarter at the site of Ancient Corinth, a project that frequently takes her to Greece. Recently, she was a Kress Publications Fellow at the American School of Classical Studies and spent a semester in Athens and Corinth. With AAMW alumna Valentina Follo, she is currently conducting a study of the Museum’s collection of Attic black-figure pottery from excavations in the 1890s in the Etruscan city of Orvieto. She is also interested in 19th century collectors of antiquities, especially in Philadelphia, and in the history of museums, in particular the University of Pennsylvania Museum and its building; she was co-author of its monumental Historic Structure Report. Ann Brownlee is also the co-director of the Museum’s Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum project and is editing two volumes in the series.
Professor Brownlee’s teaching includes courses on Greek vase painting, the history of collecting, and museum studies. The exhibition “Penn in the World: Twelve Decades at the University of Pennsylvania Museum” was created by a seminar co-taught with with David Brownlee. She provides a tour here: https://www.penn.museum/collections/videos/video/1128.