Anna E. Dobbins

Anna E. Dobbins is a doctoral candidate studying modern and contemporary art with Dr. Rachel Silveri. Her research spans Impressionism to the Contemporary as she examines constructions of gender, sexuality, and eroticism. Her dissertation, “The Sadeian Aesthetic of Women Surrealists: Queer Femininity, Sexuality, and Transgression in the Post-War Era” investigates how women Surrealists borrowed from the Marquis de Sade to assert a form of eroticism that centers a queer femininity. Her research has been supported by the Yale LGBT Studies Research Fellowship, the Rothman Doctoral Fellowship in the Humanities, the Charles T. Woods Grant, the AAUW (Gainesville) Grant, and the Grinter Fellowship. Anna has presented her research internationally at the CAA (2027, 2026), Impressionisme, cultivating one’s own garden, expanding horizons (2026), the International Society for the Study of Surrealism (2026), Nineteenth Century Studies Association (2026, 2025), Workshopping Future Directions in Impressionism (2025, 2024), Feminist inter/Modernist Association (2024).