Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

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Today we’re delighted to announce the opening of the 2025 New Generation Thinkers, in partnership with BBC Radio Four. This year’s scheme looks a bit different to previous years. Five successful researchers will now be attached to flagship Radio 4 programmes and BBC Units for a full year, working with programme mentors, pitching ideas, each producing a 15-minute radio essay. There will be training opportunities provided by AHRC, including a half day Institute for Government workshop on engaging policymakers, and a pot of funding linked to the Being Human Festival. We’ve also made changes to our pre-application process to provide tailored assistance to applicants from post-92 universities. New Generation Thinkers is one of our flagship schemes and we’re really proud of the 140 amazing researchers that made up our previous cohorts – from John Gallagher to Shahidha Bari. The funding and ambition for the scheme remains the same for this round– but we are hoping to ensure a much richer experience for the researchers that are selected. They will gain more in-depth insights into programme making and much greater knowledge of how the broadcast media works. We really hope the community is excited by the opportunities the 2025 scheme offers. More details, eligibility and how to apply here: https://lnkd.in/eSXp2jxJ

Research towards the fantastic sounding Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscapes, an upcoming exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield, has been supported by a Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art Curatorial Research Grant. Find out more: https://lnkd.in/e9cp5ApE

✨Alt-Ac Showcase and Away Day Early Career Researchers Network members only In collaboration with the CALt-Ac Network at the University of Birmingham, the ECRN will host an “Alt-Ac Showcase” at the University of Birmingham. This is an excellent opportunity to meet (other) “alternative academics” – which means professional services staff in higher education or similar institutions who are research active. Lunch will be provided. Travel bursaries are available for ECRN members. Reserve your place here: https://lnkd.in/e8uw2EMC

The event 'What is alternative academia' is this evening. Link to register below! Our speakers include: ✨ Dr. Adrian Powney, Head of Operations for Student Wellbeing, Experience and Academic Writing Services in the College of Arts at the University of Birmingham and founder of CALt-Ac, a network for research active professional services staff at the University of Birmingham. ✨Dr. Tania Cleaves (née Woloshyn), research development manager at the University of Nottingham (2023–present). With recent funding from the Paul Mellon Centre (PMC), Association for Art History and the Peter E. Palmquist Memorial Fund, she is writing her second monograph, Touchy Subjects: Nude Photography and Nudism in Britain, ca.1930–1950. ✨Liam McLeod is a teaching fellow in academic skills at Leeds Trinity University (LTU), where he undertakes cross-disciplinary work to support students at all levels. As of 2024, he also acts as the Network Lead for LTU’s recently established Professional Services Research Network.

✨ What is an Early Career Researcher? And is that you? We define Early Career Researchers as either post-doctoral scholars who are within ten years of receiving their doctorate, or researchers who have followed non-traditional routes and have gained the equivalent research experience. If you think this could apply to you make sure to have a look at our Early Career Researchers Network: https://lnkd.in/evpai_D7 We have an exciting away day for members coming up on 14 November. In collaboration with the CALt-Ac Network at the University of Birmingham, the ECRN will host an “Alt-Ac Showcase” at the University of Birmingham. This is an excellent opportunity to meet (other) “alternative academics” – which means professional services staff in higher education or similar institutions who are research active. In the morning, join ECRN Convenor, Cai Lyons, for a tour of the Barber Institute of Fine Art and the new exhibition Scent and the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites, followed by lunch. Reserve your space here: https://lnkd.in/e8uw2EMC

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I had the pleasure of listening to Adam Eaker, Assistant Curator at the Department of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, present a paper titled “The Body of the Maharani: Portraiture, Gender & Empire at the RA 1791–1865” at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art today evening. The artwork in discussion was George Richmond’s Portrait of Maharani Jind Kaur (1863) which was commissioned by Duleep Singh, her son. The portrait was displayed at the Royal Academy in 1865 for the first time. While Richmond was hailed for his artistic prowess, the British regarded the Maharani as a symbol of decaying Indian beauty and the fallen Sikh Empire. Her stacked jewels and Richmond’s accounts of the Maharani’s luxurious lifestyle in London fed the existing nineteenth-century British perception of Indian courtly decadence and orientalised views of courtly women. But it would be unfair to consider the formidable Maharani as just that. She was the Queen Regent of the Sikh Empire till the British took over the region in 1847. As Adam pointed out in his talk, the Maharani was adept at court traditions, manipulated the purdah system to her advantage and strongly advocated for her son’s return to India while in exile. In this context, the portrait is not a symbol of the decaying Indian past but perhaps a way to record the Maharani’s illustrious life as per her liking. Donning her splendid jewels and looking away from the viewer, it is almost as if she puts on a performance of her 1) gender and 2) Indian courtly identity – in line to what the British would expect her to. However, considering Richmond’s preparatory sketches in his journal (shown at the talk), her relaxed posture – authoritatively masculine in a way – contradicts the glittering jewellery. Perhaps, it is a nod to the royal leadership she assumed after the passing of her husband. I think the agency of the Maharani (in this case, the sitter of this portrait) should not be subdued by what the British perception of the painting was. For all we know, this could be the Maharani’s attempt to self-fashion a contemporary identity that encompasses the expectations of being an Indian courtly woman in the British eye while also acknowledging her lived experience as Regent to a large empire. Choosing to confidently present her complex identity and life through juxtapositions like this seems like a choice the Maharani would have made! I am excited to see where Adam goes with his research. Thank you to The Paul Mellon Centre for hosting the wonderful talk. #nineteenthcentury #britishart #portraiture #britishempire #sikhempire #jindkaur #ranjitsingh #paulmelloncentre #adameaker #metropolitanmuseumofart #europeanpaintings

✨Join us for the Exhibition Histories and Interpretative Walking Tours Reading Group 28 November 2024 3pm – 4pm Online Part of the “On Art Becoming Public": An Exhibition Histories Reading Group In this session we will focus on exploring how installation views can be used to develop an interpretative (written) walking tour of an exhibition, and what we can learn from this approach to exhibition histories. More information and tickets: https://lnkd.in/eBKZJY4m

At the intersection of Caribbean, British and Atlantic histories, Guyanese artist Aubrey Williams (1926–1990) was hard at work. Evoking elemental forces of earth, fire and cataclysm, his paintings bore witness to the deep, transnational interconnections that transformed the colonial and postcolonial eras. This new book investigates for the first time Williams’s phenomenal practice and its myriad influences. With a foreword by Tate Britain’s director, Alex Farquharson, an introduction by Kobena Mercer, groundbreaking new scholarship by Ian Dudley, Claudia Hucke and Giulia Smith, and a memoir by the artist’s daughter, Maridowa Williams, this volume addresses the Indigenous, ecological and transnational dimensions of Williams’s modernist oeuvre. Alongside an extraordinary and revealing selection of unpublished and out-of-print writings by Williams, artworks illustrating the full range of his practice – from early abstracts and lesser‑known murals and portraits to such later major works as the Shostakovich, Bird Paintings, Olmec-Maya & Now and Cosmos series – illuminate the complex cross-cultural dynamics at play across Williams’s 'World Aesthetic'. Published by the Paul Mellon Centre, Aubrey Williams: Art Histories, Futures, is out today. Purchase: https://lnkd.in/eM67cJHR