Martin Postle is a British

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

who is deputy director for collections and publications at the

Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art is a scholarly centre in London devoted to supporting original research into the history of British Art. It was founded in 1970 and endowed by a gift from Paul Mellon. Since 1996, it has been si ...

, London, and a leading expert on the art of

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

. He is a former curator at the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

Early life and education

Martin Postle received his BA in art history with history from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

. He received his MA from the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

in 1981Alumnotes.
News Issue No. 7 Spring 1999. Courtauld Institute of Art. Archived at Internet Archive. Retrieved 20 February 2016. and his PhD from

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...

, University of London.Martin Postle.
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. Retrieved 20 February 2016.

Career

From 1992 to 1998, Postle was associate professor of art history at the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

and director of the University of Delaware's London centre. In 1998 he joined the Tate Gallery where he was senior curator, British art 1500–1780, and subsequently head of British art to 1900. Postle joined the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in London in 2007 as assistant director for academic activities. He is currently deputy director for grants and publications there. In 2008, Postle was elected a fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

Exhibitions curated

*''The Artist's Model. Its role in British Art from Lely to Etty'' (Kenwood and Nottingham 1991, with Ilaria Bignamini) *''Angels and Urchins. The Fancy Picture in 18th-Century British Art'' (Kenwood and Nottingham 1998) *''The Artist's Model: From Etty to Spencer'' (Kenwood, Nottingham and York 1999, with William Vaughan) *''Art of the Garden. The Garden in British Art, 1800 to the Present Day'' (Tate Britain, Belfast and Manchester 2004, with Nicholas Alfrey and Stephen Daniels) *''Joshua Reynolds. The Creation of Celebrity'' (Tate Britain and Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara 2005) *''Stanley Spencer and the English Garden'' (Compton Verney 2011, with Steven Parissien) *''Johan Zoffany, RA. Society Observed'' (Yale Center for British Art and the Royal Academy of Arts, London 2011-2012) *''Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting'' (Yale Center for British Art and the National Museum Wales, Cardiff, 2014).

Selected publications

*''Sir Joshua Reynolds: The subject pictures''.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, Cambridge, 1995. *''The artist's model: From Etty to Spencer''. Merrell, 1999. (With William Vaughan) *''Sir Joshua Reynolds: A complete catalogue of his paintings''.

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, 2000. (The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art) *''Thomas Gainsborough''. Tate Publishing, London, 2002. ( British Artists Series) *''Joshua Reynolds: The creation of celebrity''. Tate Publishing, London, 2005. *''Pictures of innocence: Portraits of children from Hogarth to Lawrence''.

Holburne Museum of Art The Holburne Museum (formerly known as the Holburne of Menstrie Museum and the Holburne Museum of Art) is located in Sydney Pleasure Gardens, Bath, Somerset, England. The city's first public art gallery, the Grade I listed building, is home to ...

, Bath, 2005. *''Model and supermodel: The artist's model in British art and culture''.

Manchester University Press Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with th ...

, Manchester, 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Postle, Martin Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British art historians British art curators British non-fiction writers Alumni of the University of Nottingham University of Delaware faculty British male writers Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Male non-fiction writers