Prof. Frances Spalding
Professor of Art History
- Email: frances.spalding@ncl.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0)191 222 7377
Frances Spalding is an art historian, critic and biographer. She is the author of 'British Art since 1900', a centenary history of the Tate and has also written lives of the artists Vanessa Bell, John Minton, Duncan Grant and Gwen Raverat, as well as of the poet Stevie Smith. She is Professor of Art History within the Fine Art section of SACS. Recently she published 'John Piper, Myfanwy Piper: Lives in Art' with Oxford University Press. Her research interests cover art and architecture, cultural and social history.
Research Interests
Frances Spalding is committed in her work to reaching a wide audience. She has appeared in television documentaries on Whistler and Tate Modern and her 'British Art since 1900',in the Thames & Hudson World of Art series, has been widely used in schools, colleges and universities. She is both a specialist in twentieth-century British Art and a biographer, with the result that she has a broad knowledge of English social and cultural history. She has written some 15 books, including a biography of the poet Stevie Smith, as well as lives of the artists Roger Fry, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, John Minton and Gwen Raverat. With David Fraser Jenkins, she curated 'John Piper in the 1930s: Abstraction on the Beach' exhibition which was shown at Dulwich Picture Gallery in April 2003 and at the Djanogly Gallery, University of Nottingham in July 2003. Her new book - 'John Piper, Myfanwy Piper: Lives in Art - has recently been published by Oxford University Press and in connection with this she will be speaking at a number of literary festivals and giving a public lecture at the University of Essex in the course of 2010. She is currently doing reserach into Prunella Clough, one of the few British artists to register the working environment and to form a vision based on industrial landscapes and urban wasteland.
Other Expertise
Frances Spalding has lectured widely, at universities in this country and abroad, and has given many talks at arts and literary festivals and to learned societies. She recently gave a pre-performance talk at English National Opera on Myfanwy Piper's libretto for Benjamin Britten's 'The Turn of the Screw'.
Current Work
Frances Spalding recently published an essay on 'John Piper and the Nautical Tradition' in a collection of conference essays, entitled 'Modernism at the Seaside', edited by Alex Harris and Lara Feigel, as well as two essays for a book celebraring the sixtieth anniversary of the Aldeburgh Festival. Piper. She is currently working on a book, provisionally titled 'Regions Unmapped: The Art of Prunella Clough'.
Selected Publications
- Frances Spalding. 'Powerful emotive agents': the association between Ben Nicholson and John Piper. Burlington Magazine 2007, CXLIX(1255), pp.694-703.
- Frances Spalding. Prunella Clough at Tate Britain. The Burlington Magazine 2007, CXLIX(1252).
- Spalding F. The Bloomsbury Group in the National Portrait Gallery 'Insights' series. 2005.
- Frances Spalding. John Piper and Coventry, in war and peace. The Burlington Magazine 2003, 145(1204), 488-500.
- Frances Spalding and David Fraser Jenkins. John Piper in the 1930s : Abstraction on the Beach. London: Merrell, 2003.
- Spalding F. Ravilious in Public. introduction to a gazeteer to all the watercolours by Eric Ravilious in public collections, Black Dog Books 2002.
Future Research
Frances Spalding's future research interests include the changing face of art during the 1960s and '70s and the Anglo-American relations that developed in that period.
Research Roles
Co-Ordinator of Art History at Newastle University.
Postgraduate Supervision
I have a particular interest in the relationship between art and national identity within British art, and in relations between England and America in the 1960s. I welcome opportunities to assist post-graduates in these areas, as well as in the more general field of 20th Century British Art and the practice of life writing.
Esteem Indicators
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art
Member of Council for the Charleston Trust
Funding
Recent funding includes a Senior Fellowship from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, as well as a British Academy Small Research Grant
Background
Frances Spalding taught art history at Sheffield City Polytechnic (now the University of Sheffield-Hallam) before opting to become a free-lance writer and curator. She has written fifteen books, contributed introductions and chapters to others, and written numerous catalogue essays and book and exhibition reviews. She alx has also been active supporter of the English Centre of International PEN, in connection with its promotion of freedom of expression and has also been closley involved with the Charleston Trust and its work to preserve and maintina the traditions associated with the Bloomsbury house. Charleston, in Sussex.She returned to academic work in 2000 with her appointment at the University of Newcastle. She is now Professor of Art History and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours, 2005.
Roles and Responsibilities
Frances Spalding is currently Art History Co-Ordinator within Fine Art. She teaches students on all four years of the Fine Art degree aw well as students from Combined Studies.
Qualifications
BA (Hons) First Class
PhD
Memberships
Council Member of the Royal Society of Literature
Council Member of the Charleston TRust
Honours and Awards
Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art
Awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours, 2005
Undergraduate Teaching
Frances Spalding is the Module Co-ordinator for the 'Preliminary Studies in Art History' for First Year Fine Art and Combined Honours students. She also teaches and co-rodinates two other modeules, on 'Issues in Modern British Art' and on 'Issues in Portraiture' module for Second Year students.
Postgraduate Teaching
Currently supervising one PhD student.