DR STEPHANIE BROWN
RESEARCH AREAS
Contemporary Visual Art, primarily sculpture, public sculpture and sculptural ceramics; photography; visual culture in the North East region. French and British 18th and 19th Century Art
CURRENT PROJECTS
G.F. WATTS. Co-editor with Colin Trodd (University of Sunderland) of volume of essays, G.F. Watts: Cultural Enchantment in Victorian Art to be published by Ashgate in 2002. This aims to be the first comprehensive (10x75000 essays) study of Watts as a creative cultural figure, contributing to the growing body of material re-evaluating major Victorian artists. Essentially, it fulfils the need to examine Watts’s career without resorting to reductivist models of ‘academic inertia’ and ‘discursive symbolism’ which have hitherto characterised interpretations of his work. The essays will present new knowledge and thinking about all aspects of Watts’s career: critical reception of his work; the ‘construction’ of the Wattsian mythos; the significance of his largely-neglected, writings on art, culture and society.
My particular interest is in Watts’s sculptural work, including its relationship with the monumentalizing rhetoric of the Victorian public art aesthetic and its gestures towards the decorative intimacy associated with domestic space - its oscillation between expansion and miniaturisation. The conception and critical reception of Watts’s sculpture, his own theorising of sculptural concerns and the relationship of his sculptural work to that of his contemporaries will be examined in depth.
An extended introduction co-authored with Colin Trodd, will establish Watts’s importance in critical, cultural and visual terms, identifying the significant aesthetic and social frameworks in which his work can be productively discussed, and relating key issues to the content of individual essays.
Other contributors: Alison Smith (Tate Britain); Paul Barlow (University of Northumbria); Sheila Wilson (University of Northumbria); Liz Prettejohn (University of Plymouth); Caroline Arscott (Courtauld Institute); David Peters Corbett (University of York); Lara Perry (Birkbeck College).
GUSTAVSBERG, WATER-CLOSET WORKSHOP, SWEDEN (October/November 2000) Workshop organised by Keramik & Glas Department, Konstfack University, Stockholm for artists and ceramicists from UK, USA and Scandanavia working with production line sanitary ware from the Gustavsberg VVS Company factory. Documentation and critical contextualisation of the project, seminar paper at Konstfack, leading in first instance to articles for publication in UK (ICRC Electronic Journal for Ceramics), Scandanavia, and USA. Exploratory in contributing to plans for further exhibition and publication. Link with Water Closet Workshop site at www.printandclay.net.
CURRICULUM VITAE
QUALIFICATIONS
1971 BA First Class Hons, Fine Art (Sculpture) Sunderland Polytechnic
1972 Post Graduate Certificate in Education, University of Newcastle upon Tyne
1974 MA with Double Distinction, Art History, Courtauld Institute of Art, London University
1980 PhD, Courtauld Institute of Art, London University (Thesis on A. L. Girodet)
AWARDS
1972 Major State Studentship
1975 London University Travelling Scholarship
1976 London University Central Research Fund Award
1977 London University Central Research Fund Award
PREVIOUS ACADEMIC POSTS
1974 - 75 Lecturer p/t in Art History, Canterbury School of Art
1975 - 76 Resident in Paris researching PhD
1976 - 78 Witt Library Assistant, Courtauld Institute of Art
Art History tutor to students from Guelph University (Canada), Canada House, London
1978 - 80 Lecturer in Art History, Falmouth School of Art
1981 - 82 Lecturer p/t in Art History, Sunderland Polytechnic
Lecturer p/t in Art History & Complementary Studies, Newcastle College of Art &
Technology
Lecturer p/t 3D Design, Newcastle College of Art & Technology
1982 - 85 Lecturer p/t, Art History, Newcastle University
1986 - 90 Lecturer p/t, Art History, Sunderland University
1989 - 92 Lecturer p/t, Art History, Newcastle University
1993 - 94 Lecturer p/t, Art History, Newcastle University
1996 - 97 Lecturer p/t, Art History, Newcastle University
1998 - Lecturer 0.5 post, Art History, Newcastle University
OTHER EMPLOYMENT (SELECTED)
1983 - 85 Visual Arts Officer & Exhibitions Organiser, Sunderland Arts Centre
1985 Guest Visual Arts Critic and special feature presenter, The Works, Tyne Tees Television
1986 - 88 Publicity Manager p/t, Bloodaxe Books, Newcastle
EDITORIAL POSTS
1986 - 97 Editor, Quarterly Publications Supplement (to 1995) & Monthly Publications Pages
(95-97) AN Magazine. Reviews of books, catalogues and journals on the visual arts,
architecture + articles on publishing ; catalogue production; self-publishing, artists
books.
1987 - 91 Editor, Art News Magazine, Tyne & Wear Museums Service
CONSULTANCY/CURATORIAL (SELECTED)
1985 Curator, Art From Cherry Knowle, Washington Art Centre. Exhibition of paintings by Suzanne Montgomery, first artist in residence at Cherry Knowle Psychiatric Hospital, Ryhope and works by residents. Convenor of Visual Arts and Mental Illness Symposium with speakers representing psychological, psychiatric, art therapy, art practice and art historical perspectives.
1993 Critical evaluation and report on the permanent collection at Middlesbrough Art
Gallery for feasibility study into new gallery provision at Dorman Museum
Researcher/curator for William Hodges: Artist on Captain Cook’s Resolution Voyage,
inaugural exhibition for new exhibition space at Captain Cook Birthplace Museum,
Middlesbrough. Exhibition includes major loans from National Maritime Museum, loans from
the Museum of London and ethnographic items from the Hancock Museum
1994 Research & report on proposal for major rock art exhibition, one of two flagship exhibitions for Visual Arts Year 1996, for Durham County Council, Arts Libraries & Museums Department
1996 Curator, Northern Rock Art: Prehistoric Carvings and Contemporary Artists, Durham Art
Gallery & grounds. First exhibition of region’s neolithic rock art, featuring 18 ‘portable’ petroglyphs, including several newly excavated/ never previously exhibited - all fully documented in wall texts and information panels. Works by 15 contemporary national and international artists included sculpture, painting, video, print, photography and installation; major new works commissioned from Kate Whiteford and Andy Goldsworthy + only UK showing of Goldsworthy’s 25 cibachrome prints from Digne, France. Other exhibitors included Hamish Fulton, Richard Long, Malcolm Whittaker, Gilbert Ward. Artist Residencies: Karl Ciesluk (Canada); Thomas Scicluna (Malta). Total 98 exhibits (70 contemporary, 28 archaeological & antiquarian). Sole author of catalogue & researcher/convenor of international rock art conference, Durham University; speakers from Durham & Reading Universities.
1997/98 Curator, exhibition of contemporary West African Art to accompany a major re-display of traditional works from the permanent Uhlman Collection for the African Art exhibition, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University. The aim was to reflect new interpretations of classical tribal forms, and the development of new styles, uses and transcultural values through loans from a private collection (including works by Twins Seven-Seven, Ben Enwonwu, Jimoh Buraimoh, the Oshogbo School) and works by Sokari Douglas Camp from the Arts Council Collection.
COMMITTEE & BOARD MEMBERSHIP
1983 - 84 Member of selection committees for:
Northern Arts Visual Arts Bursary
Grizedale Forest Sculpture Residency
Sunderland Football Club Artist in Residence
Cherry Knowle Psychiatric Hospital Artist’s Residency
1984 - 86 Cherry Knowle Psychiatric Hospital Arts Panel
1984 - 87 Board of Governors Sunderland University
1988 - 90 Board of Managers Sunderland Arts Development Trust
1989 - 90 Board of Directors Artists Agency
PUBLICATIONS (SELECTED)
BOOKS
1979 Religious Painting: Christ’s Passion and Crucifixion, (13th-17thC), Phaidon Press,
Oxford & Mayflower Books, New York
REFERENCE WORKS
1978 Dent’s Encyclopaedia, all entries on: French Art; Art Criticism & Aesthetics; Styles,
Schools and Movements in Art
1996 The Grove Dictionary of Art, Macmillan, London/New York. Entries on: A.L. Girodet; Jean-
Victor Bertin; Aubry-Lecomte; Leroy de Barde.
2000 From David to Ingres: Early 19th century French Artists, Grove/Macmillan (entries as above)
BOOKS & CATALOGUES EDITED
1993 Editorial assistant for Dr Anthony Parton, Mikhail Larionov and the Russian
Avant-Garde, Princeton University Press
1995 Co-editor with Stephen Hobson, Intimations of Mortality: Photography & Death, Available Light/Arts Council. Second in series of books funded by Arts Council of England under the Available Light imprint designed to focus on thematic issues in photography and previously unpublished work by British and international photographers. The book examines connections between photography and death in the personal and domestic sphere, within different cultural contexts. It juxtaposes critical/historical essays with groups of images by 9 British, Irish, Greek, Guatemalan and Canadian photographers. Text includes historical account of Post-Mortem Photography in America by Professor Jay Ruby (Temple University, Phil.,USA) and the uses of photographs in bereavement by Alida Gersie (University of Hertfordshire).
Co-editor with Tanya Peixoto, Stefan Szczelkun & John Bently, Artist’s Book Yearbook 1994/5, Magpie Press, London. International collection of essays and bound-in artists’ originals. Text includes Sybille Fraser on underground printing in Europe, 1933-1945;Sarah Jacobs on Walt Whitman,;Ian Breakwell’s Stories of the Eye; Simon Ford interview with John Latham; Nikonova Tarshis, artists’ books and inter-media forms in Russia., Johanna Drucker, Women Artists’ books in the USA in the 1970s. Original pages include works by Liliane Lijn, Bob Cobbing, Jurgen Olbrich, Dawn Redwood, Natalie d’Arbeloff, Stephen Mepsted, Susan Johanknecht, Ti Parks.
Editor, Modern Riddles, Artists Agency, Sunderland. Documentation and critical account of collaboration between Chilean artist Gonzalo Diaz, writers Julia Darling and Ellen Phethean, and photographers from North Shields People’s Centre responding to the region’s post-industrial landscape.
1996 Co-editor with Peixoto/Bently,Artist’s Book Yearbook 1996/7, Magpie Press, London. International collection of essays including Peter Ford - Russian artists’ books,; Mikhail Karasik - Danil Kharms and contemporary Russian artists’ books, Paul Johnson - book arts in the South pacific islands; Tom Trusky - the Idaho Centre for the Book; Simon Ford - the books of Genesis P-Orridge .
1998 Editor, Prof. Fred Inglis, , Len Tabner: Paintings, Darlington Arts
Editor, Peter Hicks, Lilian Colbourne: Staithes Painter, Darlington Arts
ESSAYS IN BOOKS
1984 ‘Grizedale: A Wider Perspective’ in Peter Davies & Tony Knipe (eds.), A Sense of Place: Sculpture in Landscape, Ceolfrith Press, Sunderland. Essay examining issues raised by permanent and temporary siting of sculpture in landscape and landscaped settings, and making critical comparisons between the Grizedale project and the Forma Viva Sculpture symosia in Yugoslavia.
1995 ‘ The Wait: Barthes, Kienholz, Photography and Death’, in Intimations of Mortality (eds. Stephanie Brown & Stephen Hobson). Essay which challenges the privileging of theory over practice, text over image, through a critical comparison of Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida and Ed Kienholz’s The Wait.
‘ Modern Riddles and Modified Responses’, Modern Riddles (ed. Stephanie Brown) Essay exposing tensions between regional and international perspectives, metaphoric and documentary visualisation, and political and aesthetic priorities in response to the destruction of Tyneside’s traditional industries and communities. Offers a critical comparison of approaches by Gonzalo Diaz, member of Chile’s artistic avanzada and local people using photography to comment on changes in the region.
Interview with Ian Breakwell & Paul Hammond on publication of Brought to Book (Penguin),
Artist’s Book Yearbook. (eds. Stephanie Brown, Tanya Peixoto, John Bently, Stefan Szczelkun)
1996 ‘Pots, Print and Pop’, in Paul Scott & Terry Bennett (eds.), Hot off the Press: Ceramics and Print, Bellew Press, London. Essay in first publication to examine recent developments in new technical and conceptual inter-connections between ceramics and print in a cross-disciplinary context merging fine art and ceramics. Essay locates the linking of 2D and 3D reproducible images and forms in an art historical context, from Sam Haile, Picasso and Lichtenstein to the present.
1998 ‘An Enlightened Icarus’, in Diane Allan (ed.), Making an Angel, Booth-Clibborn Editions, London. First scholarly published examination of Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North, a major work of regional, national and international significance. Analyses and contextualises the work’s place in post-war British sculpture, connections with ‘Geometry of Fear’ sculpture and contemporary sculptural practice, locating it within a sculptural discourse indicating the nexus of pre-modernist, modernist and post-modernist values informing and converging in the work. The essay appears alongside those by Antony Gormley, Beatrix Campbell, Iain Sinclair, Ove Arup & Partners etc.
2000 ‘ The Society of Female Artists and the Song of the Sisterhood’, co-author with Sara Dodd, in Paul Barlow & Colin Trodd (eds.), Governing Cultures: Art Institutions in Victorian London, Ashgate, Aldershot . Chapter challenging recent interpretations of female art institutions and the division of Victorian female cultural commentators into ‘radical’ and ‘conservative’ camps. In particular, re-assesses the significance of Harriet Grote ( benefactor of the Society of Female Artists) and the values of the Female School of Art, arguing that utilitarian initiatives and practical exercises in self-help should not be confused with notions of developing a ‘sisterhood’ of feminist artists.
CATALOGUE ESSAYS
1984 Brian Chalkley at British Steel, (paintings done at steel works) Cleveland /Sunderland A. C. 1985 Artists in Industry, Cleveland Gallery, Middlesbrough
Art from Cherry Knowle Hospital, Washington Arts Centre
Annette Chevallier: New Paintings, City of Edinburgh Art Centre
1986 Artworks for Industry, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle
1987 Sam Ainsley: Why I Choose Red, (new canvas constructions), Third Eye Gallery, Glasgow
Alali: Sculpture by Sokari Douglas Camp, (African, kinetic sculpture), Dorman Museum,
Middlesbrough
1988 Landscape & Environment: Sculpture Outdoors, Gray Museum & Art Gallery, Hartlepool
1989 Time and Motion: International Kinetic Art, (Fischli & Weiss, Stephan Huber, Sokari Douglas
Camp, Peter Appleton, John White, Benedict Whybrow) Laing Art Gallery Newcastle/ City of
Edinburgh Art Centre/ Minories, Colchester
1992 Colour and Improvisation: Paintings by Annette Chevallier, Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead
1994 Christine Constant: Sculptural Ceramics, Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Women Artists’ Books, Southampton City Art Gallery
1996 Velazquez and Painters in 17th Century Madrid, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle
Northern Rock Art: Prehistoric Carvings and Contemporary Artists, Durham Art Gallery
Shifting Ground: Alain Ayers’ Landscape Sculpture, Cumbria County Council/Nottingham
Trent University
1997 Jack Cunningham & Linda Green: A Sense of Place, Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh/ Gallery
Gallery, Kyoto, Japan
Layers of Meaning: the rag rug - a contemporary approach, Woodhorn Colliery Museum/
Bradford Industrial Museum/Collins Gallery, Glasgow/ Cleveland Arts Centre
1998 Hands: Isis Women Artists, Buddle Arts Centre, Wallsend
Glazed Expressions: Ceramics and the Written Word, Orleans House Gallery, Richmond
on Thames, London
1999 Visual Anecdotes: Works on Paper by Dick Ward: Kostroma City Art Gallery and Museum,
Kostroma, Russia
GUIDES
1990 Guide to A New Necessity: First Tyne International Exhibition of Contemporary Art, National
Garden Festival, Gateshead & public sites in area, Laing Art Gallery, Art Development Strategy
1993 Guide to Time & Tide: Second Tyne International Exhibition of Contemporary Art, sites
throughout Newcastle, Laing Art Gallery, Art Development Strategy
1996 Gateshead Public Art Guide, Gateshead MBC, Arts & Libraries
1998 Guide to The Uhlman Collection of African Art, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University
RECENT CONFERENCE/SEMINAR PAPERS
1997 ‘Ceramics, Words & Postmodernism’, Hot Off The Press: Ceramics and Print Seminar, Crafts Council, London
2000 ‘ Viz’s Ratboy and The Temple of Bel’, Visual Culture in a Changing Society: Britain
1940-2000, Conference, University of Northumbria
LECTURES BY INVITATION (UNIVERSITIES)
Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London; Essex University; University of Northumbria; Sunderland University; Konstfack University, Stockholm, Sweden
LECTURES BY INVITATION (OTHER)
University of Newcastle (Curtis Auditorium); Laing Art Gallery; South Shields Museum & Art Gallery;
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle; Durham Art Gallery; Woodhorn Church Museum; Darlington Arts Centre; Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, Middlesbrough; Queen’s Hall, Hexham; Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead; Wexford Arts Centre, Eire; Friends of the Laing Art Gallery; Friends of the Hatton Gallery.