OLD NEWS
Posted 14 January 2018
Alexander Calder at Pittsburgh International Airport On 27 January, 12pm, I will be speaking about Alexander Calder's Pittsburgh 1958 at the Pittsburgh International Airport in a public program hosted by the Office of Public Art for the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. More details are available here |
Posted 15 December 2017
Provenance Research Panel Discussion Online I was among the speakers on a panel on Museum Collections and the Digital Humanities for the Carnegie Museum of Art's Digital Provenance Symposium on 6 November 2017, among the outcomes of its pioneering Art Tracks initiative. Watch the sessions on Vimeo |
Posted 1 October 2017
Speaking on Richard Smith at University of St Andrews On 28 October, I will be presenting new research on the early paintings of Richard Smith for the 'In and Out of American Art: Between Provincialism and Transnationalism' conference at the University of St Andrews, organized by Alistair Rider, Catherine Spencer and Sam Rose. Read the full program on the ArtHist.net |
Posted 10 September 2017
James Rosenquist research project published My online publication on James Rosenquist's Silo 1963-4 in the Tate collection is now available. The project includes rarely seen film footage showing the original version of the work, and a previously unpublished interview with the artist concerning its complicated history. Read In Focus: Silo 1963-4 on the Tate website |
Posted 6 August 2017
Paper at INHA symposium on Art and Economic Encounters On 7 September, I will be presenting a paper on Richard Serra as part of the Objects of Exchange symposium at the Institute national d'histoire de l'art in Paris, the third in a series of related events planned by Sophie Cras, Maggie Cao and myself. Read the full program on the INHA website |
Posted 2 June 2017
Contribution to 30th Anniversary Issue of American Art I am pleased to have contributed an article titled 'Transactions: Trade, Diplomacy, and the Circulation of American Art' to the thirtieth anniversary issue of American Art, published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. See the full issue at University of Chicago Journals |
Posted 20 May 2017
Border Control conference at Tate Liverpool On 25 and 26 May, the culminating conference for the Refiguring American Art initiative I led as Terra Foundation Research Fellow in American Art will be presented at Tate Liverpool. Read the abstracts on the Tate website |
Posted 15 May 2017
Kenneth Noland research project published My online publication on Kenneth Noland's Gift 1961-2 in the Tate collection is now available. The publication offers a new reading of the painting in relation to the social and cultural mores of 1960s America, from the cold war space race to popular psychology. Read In Focus: Gift 1961-2 on the Tate website |
Posted 15 May 2017
Consuming Nature workshop explores Pittsburgh collections Last week, I co-convened a workshop exploring museum and archival collections exploring land, landscape and the environment, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation at part of the Collecting Knowledge Pittsburgh initiative. Learn more at the CKP website |
Posted 6 August 2016
Louise Nevelson research project published My online publication on Louise Nevelson’s Black Wall 1959 in the Tate collection is now available. The publication includes a newly digitized interview with the artist and a contribution by Nevelson scholar Elyse Speaks (University of Notre Dame). Read In Focus: Black Wall 1959 on the Tate website. |
Posted 30 July 2016
Australia’s Impressionists at National Gallery, London Major works by Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, Charles Conder and John Peter Russell will be shown at the National Gallery for the first time from December 2016. I am delighted to be contributing to the catalogue, alongside texts by Christopher Riopelle, Allison Goudie, Wayne Tunnicliffe, Tim Bonyhady and Sarah Thomas. More details about the publication at the Yale University Press website. |
Posted 2 June 2016
Gallery talk on David Smith at Hauser and Wirth Zurich On Friday 10 June, I will be in conversation with Peter Stevens, Executive Director of the Estate of David Smith on the occasion of the David Smith: Form in Colour exhibition at Hauser and Wirth in Zurich. More details on the Hauser and Wirth website. |
Posted 2 June 2016
Coins by Sculptors paper video online A recording of my paper at the Art and the Monetary conference at the Society of Fellows in Humanities at Columbia University is now online. Titled Making Money: Coins by Sculptors in 1962, this new research explores the involvement of a range of major sculptors in proposing new designs for American coinage. Watch the video on YouTube. |
Posted 3 May 2016
Program announced for Art and the Monetary Occurring on 13 May, Art and Monetary is the second a series of three events on art and economics in which I am involved, organized with Maggie Cao (Columbia University/UNC at Chapel Hill) and Sophie Cras (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne). I will be presenting on the Coins by Sculptors project from 1962. See the full list of speakers on the Society of Fellows in the Humanities website |
Posted 25 April 2016
Workshop on public art in Chicago I am presenting at a workshop being held this week by the Terra Foundation of American Art to explore the histories of public art in Chicago. Other speakers include Rebecca Zorach (Northwestern University), Jessica Stockholder (University of Chicago), Mechtild Widrich (Art Institute of Chicago), Kymberly Pinder (University of New Mexico), Amanda Douberley (Art Institute of Chicago) and Christine Mehring (University of Chicago). |
Posted 15 March 2016
Paper at National Gallery conference on art dealers I am presenting a paper on art dealers and the arrival of American art at Tate Gallery in the post-war decades as part of the forthcoming Negotiating Art: Dealers and Museums 1855-2015 conference at the National Gallery, London on 1-2 April. For the full program of speakers see the National Gallery website. |
Posted 16 January 2016
Louise Nevelson display at Tate Modern My research on Louise Nevelson's Black Wall (1959), and the conservation project it spurred, has culminated in a display of Nevelson's work as part of Tate Modern's Material Worlds galleries on Level 4. Don't miss the chance to see her rarely-exhibited An American Tribute to the British People (1960-4). |
Posted 13 November 2015
New essay on early Calder wire sculpture published in Tate catalogue Along with my essay on his early wire sculpture titled Calder's Carnival, Tate's exhibition catalogue (edited by Achim Borchardt-Hume) includes contributions by Ann Coxon, Penelope Curtis, Marko Daniel, Thomas Fichter, Sérgio B. Martins, Vassilis Oikonomopoulos and Alexander S.C. Rower. See more on Alexander Calder: Performing Sculpture |
Posted 13 November 2015
Crash and Burn symposia papers now available on YouTube Listen to the papers presented as part of the Crash and Burn: Destruction in American Art symposium that I co-convened with Helene Valance at the Courtauld Institute of Art earlier in the year. Now available on the Terra Foundation YouTube channel. |
Posted 18 October 2015
Shifting Terrain live webcast of Transactions session available online The session of the Shifting Terrain symposium that I chaired is now available on YouTube, featuring papers by Melody Barnett Deusner (Indiana University), Yuko Kikuchi (University of the Arts London), Jessica Horton (University of Delaware) and myself. Watch the web stream on the Smithsonian American Art Museum YouTube channel |
Posted 28 September 2015
Call for Papers for Visible Hands: Markets and the Making of American Art As part of my Terra Foundation fellowship at Tate, I am convening a one-day workshop will seek to identify the traces of market capitalism on American art, exploring how the operation of the market might help us understand its forms and ideas, and the social ends that art serves. More details available on the Tate website |
Posted 10 September 2015
Participating in Shifting Terrain symposia at Smithsonian American Art Museum I am pleased to be chairing a session as part of Shifting Terrain: Mapping a Transnational American Art History on 16-17 October, the culminating event as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s five-part series Terra Symposia on American Art in a Global Context, initiated in 2006 with support from the Terra Foundation. Find out more at Smithsonian American Art Museum website. |
Posted 1 August 2015
Blind Spots: Revisiting the American Canon at Tate Liverpool Presented alongside two major exhibitions at Tate Liverpool, Glenn Ligon's Encounters and Collisions and Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots on 9 October, this symposium will bring together papers that explore canons and canon formation in American art. Full speaker list available soon. |
Posted 20 June 2015
Abstracts from Marshalling American Art workshop published Co-convened with Julia Tatiana Bailey, this workshop featured papers by Angela Miller (Washington University in St Louis), Marina Moskowitz (University of Glasgow), Colleen O’Reilly (University of Pittsburgh), Logan Sisley (Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane), Lauren Hanson (University of Texas at Austin), Rachel Warriner (University College Cork) and Jennifer Noonan (Caldwell University). Read workshop abstracts |
Posted 20 June 2015
Essay published Henry Moore: Sculptural Process and Public Identity My essay 'Henry Moore and the Values of Business' has been published as part of a major Tate research research project on Henry Moore. The essay is one of more than thirty scholarly contributions to the publication, which was supported by the Henry Moore Foundation. Read the essay at the Tate website |
Posted 2 May 2015
Public lecture at Foundatión Jumex I have been invited to speak on the work of Alexander Calder in for a forthcoming exhibition of his work at the Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo in Mexico City. The lecture takes place on 21 June 2015. For more information see the Fundación Jumex website |
Posted 2 May 2015
Courtauld Institute symposium program announced The program for Crash and Burn is now available. Keynote lecture by Wendy Belion (University of Delaware), with papers by Andrianna Campbell, Maggie Cao, David Peters Corbett, Amanda Douberley, Jason E. Hill, Liz Kim, Lauren Kroiz, Joshua Lubin-Levy, Jody Patterson, Oliver Shultz, Catherine Spencer, Taylor Walsh, Andrew Witt and Tatsiana Zhurauliova. More details at the Courtauld website. |
Posted 10 April 2015
Catalogue essay for Alexander Calder: Performing Sculpture I am contributing an essay on the early wire sculptures of Alexander Calder for the exhibition catalogue of Tate's upcoming exhibition entitled Alexander Calder: Performing Sculpture, opening November 2016. See more on the exhibition at the Tate website |
Posted 9 February 2015
Marshalling American Art workshop call for papers Julia Tatiana Bailey and I are looking for papers for a research workshop we are running at Tate in May entitled Marshalling American Art: Exhibiting Ideology in the Cold War. Submissions are due by 27 February. For more information see the Tate website |
Posted 17 January 2015
Impure Modernism published in Art History My review of Nancy Troy's marvellous The Afterlife of Piet Mondrian has been published in February 2015 issue of Art History. To read the piece visit the Wiley Online Library |
Posted 20 December 2014
Crash and Burn at Courtauld Institute call for papers Helene Valance and I are organizing a two-day symposium at the Courtauld Institute of Art exploring the destructive impulse in American Art, charting its evolution from the colonial era to the present. See the call for papers at the Courtauld website |
Posted 15 September 2014
American art initiative at Tate Tate and the Terra Foundation for American Art have announced my appointment to lead a new American art research initiative, spanning research, publications, displays and academic events. For more information see the press release. Posted 5 September 2014
Mapping American art around the globe Speakers have been finalised for ‘American Art in Unlikely Places: Exhibitions Beyond the Transatlantic Axis’, the Association of Historians of American Art panel I am chairing at CAA 2015. The speakers will be M. Elizabeth Boone (University of Alberta), Berit Potter (University of San Francisco), Briley Rasmussen (University of Leicester) and Katie A. Pfohl (LSU Museum of Art). See paper titles at CAA website |
Posted 14 July 2014
Dissertation bound for the Bodleian Library My doctoral dissertation has been submitted, examined and bound for the collection of the Bodleian Library. Entitled Forms of Persuasion: Art and Corporate Image in the 1960s, my research recovers how a wide range of sixties art contributed to the marketing, public relations, lobbying and personnel strategies of business, and how in turn, commercial imperatives shaped the forms of sixties art. |
Posted 20 May 2014
Forthcoming essay for Henry Moore online research project A forthcoming essay entitled 'The Values of Henry Moore' will be included in a forthcoming online research project entitled Henry Moore: Sculptural Process and Public Identity, the culmination of a four-year collaboration between the Henry Moore Foundation, Arts and Humanities Research Council, University of York and Tate. More about the project |
Posted 21 April 2014
Seminar paper on sixties sculpture now online A version of my work-in-progress paper entitled 'Reconsidering the Average Object of Art, 1965-1966', on Gerald Laing and Peter Phillips' sculpture Hybrid (1966), a work on which I conducted research at the Harvard Art Museum in 2011, is available on the blog for Pop Art and Beyond at UCL. Read the paper at Pop Art and Beyond |
Posted on 4 May 2014
Association of Historians of American Art session for CAA 2015 I will be chairing the AHAA sponsored session at the College Art Association conference in New York next year. The title of my panel is 'American Art in Unlikely Places: Exhibitions beyond the Transatlantic Axis' and proposals are due by 9 May. Read the session call for papers at H-Net |
Posted 22 March 2014
The Calder Problem article now published The new issue of Oxford Art Journal, Volume 37, Number 1, contains my article The Calder Problem: Mobiles, Modern Taste, and Mass Culture, alongside articles by Rachel Federman, Kerry Greaves, John X. Christ and Richard Checketts. See Oxford Art Journal 37: 1 (March 2014) |
Posted 15 March 2014
Presenting at Pop Art and Beyond seminar I will be presenting a paper at the first session of this new research group for scholars of pop, its themes and legacies, at the History of Art department at University College London. Organised by Elisa Schaar, Ruskin School of Art and Thomas Morgan-Evans, UCL, other speakers will include Catherine Spencer, Amy Tobin, Alexander Massouras, Flavia Frigeri and Rye Holmboe. See Pop Art and Beyond |
Posted 22 January 2014
Forthcoming article on mobiles and mass culture Now in the final stages of publication, my latest article will appear in the next issue of the Oxford Art Journal. Exploring the mid-1950s explosion of mobiles inspired by Calder's example, I use the fad to trace the relations between modernism and popular taste in post-war art. |
Posted 17 September 2013
Research on David Smith's corporate collaborations As part of a summer trip to the United States, I have conducted new research on Smith's corporate collaborations. At the archives of the David Smith Foundation, I was able to inspect Smith's own photographs of his works made with Italian steel corporation Italsider, and his sketchbooks of the works he produced in their factories. |
Posted 11 August 2013
Archival research on the Peter Stuyvesant Collection at Liemers Museum This week, I will be conducting research in the archives of Liemers Museum in Zevenaar, The Netherlands. I will be working with their collection of papers of the Peter Stuyvesant Collection. My focus will be on the paintings installed in the Zevenaar factory of the Turmac Tobacco Company in the early 1960s. |
Posted 10 June 2013
Off to Giverny for the Terra Summer Residency 2013 For the next two months I will be based in Giverny for the annual Terra Summer Residency, along with art historians Mazie Harris (Brown University), Miri Kim (Princeton University), Roberta Serpolli (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), Catherine Spencer (University of York), Tatsiana Zhurauliova (Yale University) and artists Megan Cotts, Florian Fouché, Julia Klein and Sophie Lamm. See TSR 2013 |
Posted 18 April 2013
Sculpting the Future in Steel "In the 1960s, the American steel industry - regarded by many as the 'epitome of corporate conservatism' - developed an unexpected taste for abstract sculpture." A short article based on some of my research in the archives of the American Iron and Steel Institute has been published by the Hagley Museum and Library. See Hagley Library and Archives News |
Posted 18 April 2013
New essay extends research in Perils of the Studio A recent essay by Australian art historian Juliette Peers delves into the commercial tenants that worked alongside artists at the studio complex at Grosvenor Chambers, the subject of the opening chapter of my book Perils of the Studio - which it extends and generously cites. See the latest issue of the Australian National University's Craft + Design Enquiry |
Posted 14 March 2013
Symposium paper on Alexander Calder at Museum Tinguely On 21 March I will present a paper entitled Flying Colors: Alexander Calder at the Jet Age from my ongoing research on Calder as part of a session on kinetic art at the Museum Tinguely. The 'Metamatic Reloaded' symposium, with keynote by Pamela Lee, runs alongside an exhibition with new artworks by Marina Abramovic, Thomas Hirschhorn and Jon Kessler. See full program at Museum Tinguely events |
Posted 15 February 2013
Talk on Hans Josephsohn at Modern Art Oxford On 2 March, I will be presenting a tour of the Hans Josephsohn (1920-2012) exhibition at Modern Art Oxford. This is the first UK exhibition of Josephson's work the little-known but increasingly celebrated Swiss modernist sculptor. See Modern Art Oxford events |
Posted 8 January 2013
Research blog posting for University of Chicago "[Walter] Papecke’s art patronage is legendary, but his interest in architecture is less well known. In 1959, he sent letters to fifteen famous architects, asking them to design a house for Aspen, the town to which he dedicated so much of his late-career philanthropy..." Findings from my research in Chicago has been published on the University of Chicago library's blog. See Special Collection Research Center Scope Notes |
Posted 23 November 2012
Conference paper on Henry Moore at AAH 2013 I am working on a paper entitled The Transatlantic Turn: Henry Moore and the Time-Life Building this for the 39th Association of Art Historians conference in April 2013 at the University of Reading. It will be presented as part of the panel titled 'Henry Moore: Sculptural process and public identity reconsidered' chaired by Alice Correia (Tate) and Robert Sutton (University of York/Tate). |
Posted 15 February 2011
Essay on the Chicago Picasso for edited collection I am currently preparing this essay on the Chicago Picasso (1967) and its use as a promotional vehicle for U.S. Steel's Cor-Ten steel for inclusion in Monica Jonanovich-Kelley and Melissa Renn's forthcoming volume 'Incorporating Culture: Corporate Patronage of Art and Architecture in the United States.' |
Posted 29 August 2012
Robert L. Platzman fellowship at the University of Chicago From the start of September 2012, I will be based at the University of Chicago, conducting research in the special collections of the Regenstein Library towards my doctoral dissertation. My work will focus on the papers of Walter P. Paepcke, Elizabeth Paepcke and Fairfax Cone. |
Posted 23 May 2012
Conference paper for College Art Association 2013 I am working on a paper entitled 'Executive Modern: Abstraction and the art of office planning' for the College Art Association conference in New York, February 2013. It will be presented in Mona Hadler's session titled 'Mad “Men” and the Visual Culture of the Long Sixties', along with papers by Suzanne Lemakis, Scott Murray, Kristina Wilson and Pamela Robertson Wojcik. See session outlines at CAA 2013 |
Posted 3 March 2012
Symposium presentation on James Rosenquist's The Friction Disappears On April 13, I will deliver a paper entitled 'The Friction Disappears: A case study in pop, packaging and patronage' exploring the circumstances of a Rosenquist commission by the Container Corporation of America's for their Great Ideas advertising series. For more details, see the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Fellows Lectures in American Art program. |
Posted 24 April 2012
Conference panel on color, commerce and consumption I am chairing the 'Managing Color: The Establishment of a Transnational Networks' session of Reggie Blaszczyk and Uwe Spiekermann's upcoming conference 'Bright Modernity: Color, Commerce and Consumption in Global Perspective' at at the German Historical Institute, 21- 23 June 2012. Read more at GHI |
Posted 17 April 2012
Presenting at Smithsonian Institution National Board Meeting On 27 April 2012, I will be presenting my research as a Terra Foundation for American Art Predoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Museum of American History to the Smithsonian Institution's National Board at the Museum of Natural History. |
Posted 2 April 2012
Exhibition hosts Aspen Institute discussion on Cultural Diplomacy My exhibition for the Embassy of Australia in Washington DC is hosting a discussion on the role of art in fostering international relations and diplomacy. Speakers include representatives from the Art in Embassies program, U.S. Department of State and the European Delegation to the United States. Find out more at Aspen Institute. |
Posted 1 April 2012
Research grant from Hagley Museum and Library In mid May 2012, I will be spending a week in residence at the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware, exploring a range of corporate archives on a short exploratory grant. I will look at selected records of the American Iron and Steel Institute, Raymond Loewy Associates, William Pahlmann Associates, Lippincott and Margulies and the Institute for Motivational Research. |
Posted 9 March 2012
Exhibition feature and interview in Australian Financial Review Art critic Ashley Crawford has written an extended article and interview exploring Lie of the Land: New Australian Landscapes for the Weekend edition of the Australian Financial Review. Thanks to Spiro Grace Art Rooms, Brisbane, read a PDF excerpt from the article. |
Posted 27 February 2012
Exhibition review in Washington Examiner Lie of the Land: New Australian Landscapes has received a four-star review by Examiner art critic Marsha Dubrow. "More than 60 artworks explore Australian landscapes through the prisms of Indigenous identity, colonialism, climare change, deforestation and bush stereotypes. Most cleverly blend wry humor with fine art." Read more at Examiner.com |
Posted 15 February 2012
Contemporary landscapes exhibition opening at Embassy of Australia My exhibition Lie of the Land: New Australian Landscapes will be opened at the Embassy of Australia by the Ambassador of Australia HE The Hon Kim Beazley AC on Tuesday 21 February. For more information on the artists in the show, see my exhibitions page |
Posted 19 December 2011
Research fellowship at Duke University For the next month, I am based at Duke University's John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising and Marketing History. As a recipient of a J. Walter Thompson Fellowship, I will be using their collection to research the overlap between mid-century abstraction and the optical techniques of packaging design. Read more about the Hartman Center collections |
Posted 1 December 2011
Collection research at Harvard Art Museums Today I am working with the staff at the Harvard Art Museums to inspect Gerald Laing and Peter Phillips' Hybrid (1966), a work which they hold in their collection along with hundreds of pages of rarely-seen documentation and preparatory materials. See the Harvard Art Museum's catalogue entry |
Posted 1 October 2011
Predoctoral Fellowship at Smithsonian Institution For the next twelve months, I will be a Terra Foundation for American Art Predoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Museum of American History. I will be focusing on my dissertation research, which includes works in these museum's collections. See full list of fellows |
Posted 26 July 2011
California State University Long Beach research trip As part of the research for my dissertation, I have visited CSU Long Beach to see the collection of monumental sculptures installed on campus in 1965, and the archival records of the International Sculpture Symposium for which they were created. See the full list of works at their University Art Museum website |
Posted 10 July 2011
Archival work at Getty Research Institute For the next few months, I will be based at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. As the recipient of a travel grant, I will be working with a variety of manuscript collections connected to my dissertation topic, focusing particularly on the Experiments in Art and Technology papers. |