The Centre for American Art at The 91制片厂 was established in September 2016 with the help of a generous grant from the Terra Foundation of American Art. The Centre exists to support and develop research in the field of American art of all periods, from the earliest moment to the present day, and in its international, transnational and global contexts. It hosts a lively programme of lectures, workshops, conferences, and symposia on American art every year.
David Peters Corbett听joined the 91制片厂 in 2016, having been Professor of Art History at the University of York and Professor of Art History and American Studies at UEA. He has been a visiting professor at Yale and has held visiting fellowships at Yale, Clare Hall, Cambridge, St Catherine鈥檚 College, Oxford, and the Ecole normale sup茅rieure. Between 2007 and 2012 he was Editor of听Art History. At The 91制片厂 he was founding Director of the Centre for American Art, 2016-2023.
He is interested in American and British art between about 1850 and 1950 and in the historiography and methodology of art history. His publications include听The Modernity of English Art,听1914-1930听(Manchester, 1997) and听The Geographies of Englishness听(co-ed, Yale, 2002), both of which won prizes and the latter of which was a听Guardian听book of the year;听The World in Paint: Modern Art and Visuality in England听1848-1914听(Penn State, 2004);听Anglo-American: Artistic Relations between Britain and the US from Colonial Times to the Present听(co-ed, Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), and听An American Experiment: George Bellows and the Ashcan Painters听(Yale, 2011). He is now working on a book to be called 鈥淯rban Painting and the Landscape Tradition in America, 1850-1930鈥.
He has supervised more than 20 PhD students in English and American art, many of whom hold academic positions in the UK, US, and Europe. In the 2023-24 academic year he has 5 students working with him (listed below).
Teaching
- MA in History of Art:听
- BA2, “Histories”, “American Art and American Landscape, 1800-1920”
Current PhD supervision
- Choghakate Kazarian, 鈥淎lbert Pinkham Ryder: Painting Quickly鈥, 2019-
- Frances Varley, 鈥淐ollecting and Identity in Manchester and Philadelphia, c.1870-1914鈥, 2020-
- Rose Pickering, “Memory, Time and the Muse: The Representation of Women in the Work of Edouard Vuillard”, 2021
- Alice Dodds, “Rural Craft and Women鈥檚 Utopianism in Britain 1880 鈥 1940”, 2023-
- Zoe Mercer-Golden, “The Arthurian Legends in Public and Popular Art in Great Britain and America, 1840 鈥 1950”, 2023-
Recent PhD Completions
- Madeleine Harrison, “Aaron Douglas’ Art Era, 1925-34”, 2021, passed with no corrections
- Louis Shadwick, “Making Myths: Edward Hopper, American Art and National Identity”, 2022, passed with no corrections
Research interests
- American Art听1850-1950,听particularly painting
- British Art,听1850-1950
- Anglo-American Artistic Relations
- Word and Image relations
Recent publications
Articles on American Art
- “Exile and Subjectivity: Words and Images in the Writings of Sadakichi Hartmann”, forthcoming ,听Journal of Art Historiography
- 鈥淭he Coast of Experience: The Perceptual Machine of Fitz Henry Lane鈥, commissioned essay in Richard Read, ed.,听Colonization and Wilderness in Nineteenth-Century American and Australian Landscape Paintings, University of Chicago Press, 2020
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鈥淭ime and the Aesthetic in the River Paintings of George Caleb Bingham鈥,听American Art, vol 32, no 2 (summer 2018), pp. 2-23
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鈥淭he Ashcan Artists鈥, in the catalogue for 鈥淥nce Upon a Time in America: Three Centuries of American Art鈥, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum and Foundation Corboud, Cologne, 2018. In German
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鈥淎merican Realism and Naturalism鈥, in听Collection Handbook, Terra Foundation for American Art, University of Chicago Press, 2018
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鈥溾榃hat Is The Sea If It Isn鈥檛 Terrible鈥: George Bellows on Monhegan Island in 1913鈥, in Alexander Nemerov, ed.,听Experience, Chicago University Press/Terra Foundation, 2017
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鈥溾淒ecreation and Undoing: George Bellows鈥 Excavation Paintings, 1907-1909鈥,听Art History听vol 40, no 4 (September, 2017), pp. 838-855
- American Water: Memory and Projection in Mid-Nineteenth Century American Painting鈥, in听Interdisciplinary Encounters: Hidden and Visible Explorations in the Work of Adrian Rifkin, ed. Dana Arnold (I B Taurus, 2015)
- City Painting in American Art, 1880-1930鈥, in听The Blackwell Companion to American Art, ed John Davis et al (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015)
- 鈥淧ainting American Frontiers: 鈥楨ncounter鈥 and the Borders of American Identity in Nineteenth-Century Art鈥,听Perspective; La revue de l鈥滻NHA, actualit茅s de la recherche en histoire de l鈥檃rt,听2013, no 1, pp.129-15
- 鈥淟ife in the Ring: Boxing 1907-1909鈥, in听George Bellows, ed Charles Brock, exhib. cat., National Gallery, Washington DC (DelMonico/ Prestel, 2012)
- 鈥淭he Problematic Past in the Work of Charles Sheeler, 1917-1927鈥,听Journal of American Studies, vol 45, no 3 (2011), pp. 559-580
- 鈥淎rt, Morality and the National Interest: Theodore Winthrop, Frederic Church, and Martin Johnson Heade at the Tenth Street Studios in 1859鈥,听European Journal of American Studies, vol 30,听 no 1 (2011), pp. 57-72
- Camden Town and Ashcan: Difference, Similarity and the 鈥楢nglo-American鈥 in the Work of Walter Sickert and John Sloan鈥,听Art History, vol 34, no 5 (2011), pp. 774-795
- 鈥淣ineteenth Century American and British Art and their Historiographies: A Comparison鈥, in Barbara Groseclose and Jochen Wierich, eds.听National and International perspectives on American Art before 1945听(Penn State University Press, 2009)
Books on British Art
- British Art and the Cultural Field,听1939-1969, co-ed with Lisa Tickner (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012)
- A Companion to British Art, 1600 to the Present, co-ed with Dana Arnold (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013)
Recent grants
- Terra Foundation for American Art, grant to support the Centre for American Art at The 91制片厂
- Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship, 2008-10
- Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship, 2008-10
- Terra Foundation Senior Research Fellow, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC, 2009-10
Other professional activity
- Member, Advisory Board, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2012-16
- Jury Panel Member, College Art Association/ Terra Foundation for American Art, International publication Grant, 2015-17