Ellen Joan Handy is a critic and historian of art, printmaking, and photography. She is Chair of the Photography Department of City College of the City University of New York.
She is known for both her wide knowledge of historical movements and genres, such as Japanese photo-postcards and her commitment to developing, original talent. Some artists who became well known were championed by her in their early years, such as Barbara Rosenthal

Barbara Rosenthal

Barbara Rosenthal is an American avant-garde artist and writer. Her existential themes have contributed to contemporary art and philosophy...

 and Mark Feldstein

Mark Feldstein

Mark Feldstein , was an American artist and photographer best known for his large format photography of the streetlife and architecture of New York City....

.

History

Born March 11, 1961, in Schenectady, New York, Her father, Rollo Handy, is an itinerant philosopher (now retired); her mother was the former Toni Scheiner. She graduated from Barnard College in 1980 while still a teenager and later received a Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Contributions

Handy has written for international publications such as Arts magazine, as well as small, regional ones, such asThe Catskill Center for Photography Quarterly. She has contributed essays to reference books such as Cézanne and American Modernism. She has been Curator of Collections at the International Center of Photography

International Center of Photography

The International Center of Photography is a photography museum, school, and research center in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...

, and in 1999, edited reference books the Center published, such as Reflections in a Glass Eye. She has also held curatorial posts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and, briefly, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas, and has been an instructor in Christie's M.A. program and a faculty member at Bard College and LaGuardia Community College.