School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies

Lecturer

Mark Westgarth

BA Leeds, PGCHE Salford, MA Leeds, PhD Southampton

Find information on

Mark Westgarth Research Interests Teaching Interests Supervision Topics Key Publications Forthcoming Publications Current PGRs Contact Details Back to Main Staff Page

Research Interests

My research interests are focused on the history and theory of museums and the history of the art market and histories of collecting, especially in relation to the agency of the antique and curiosity dealer in the 19th and 20th centuries. My research has mapped the emergence of the antique and curiosity dealer during the opening decades of the 19th century, a project that placed the functions and practices of the dealer against a broader cultural framework, incorporating the commodification of historical objects and the emergence of a distinctive historical consciousness in the period.

I am particularly interested in exploring the relationships between a discourse (art history) and elements of its formation (the art market); for example, I am working at present on the relationships between the market for 'antique furniture' and evolving discourse of furniture history in the 19th and 20th centuries and an investigation into the cultural biography of the art and antique dealer.

In relation to museums, I am interested in philosophies of history and the meaning of 'heritage', and in particular the relationships between contemporary heritage practices and their roles in the construction of the meanings of the past. I am also working on a number of projects in relation to museum studies that address the interface between theory and practice and how this dialectic can be negotiated in the contemporary museum.

[back to top]

Teaching Interests

My current teaching at both UG and PG levels encompasses the history and theory of museums, galleries and heritage and the histories of the art market, as well as Leeds collections in context.

[back to top]

I am willing to supervise PhDs on the following topics:

The History of the Art Market, especially, but not exclusively, in the 19th and 20th centuries The History of Museums and Galleries in the 19th and 20th centuries The History of Collecting, especially, but not exclusively, in the 19th and 20th centuries Furniture History Current theory and practice in museums, galleries and heritage

[back to top]

Key Publications

Mark Westgarth, The Emergence of the Antique and Curiosity Dealer 1815-1850: the commodification of historical objects, (Ashgate, 2011).

Mark Westgarth, 'Florid-looking Speculators on Art and Virtu: the London Picture Trade c.1850', in Anne Helmreich & Pamela Fletcher (eds.), The Birth of the London Art Market 1850-1939 (Manchester University Press, 2010).

Mark Westgarth, 'A Biographical Dictionary of 19th Century Antique and Curiosity Dealers', (Regional Furniture Society, 2009).

Mark Westgarth, 'The Art Market and its Histories', in The Art Book, (Blackwells), volume 17, Issue 1, May, 2009.

[back to top]

Forthcoming Publications

Mark Westgarth & Abigail Harrison Moore (eds.), Dealers and Collectors: the market for Decorative Art 1815-1945, (forthcoming).

[back to top]

Current PGRs

Ebony Andrews: 'Transforming Nature: changes in the presentation and display of taxidermy in contemporary British museums’, submission date 2013

Annalea Tunesi: 'Stefano Bardini (1836-1922): Heritage, Scenography, Museology, Market, 1865-1922’, submission date 2013

Rebecca Wade: 'Pedagogic Objects: the formation, circulation and exhibition of teaching collections in British Art and Education 1837-1857', submission date 2013

[back to top]

Contact Details

Tel: +44 (0)113 343 9430
Fax: +44 (0)113 34 37226
Email: m.w.westgarth@leeds.ac.uk

School of Fine Art, History of Art & Cultural Studies
Old Mining Building
University of Leeds
Leeds
West Yorkshire
LS2 9JT
UK

[back to top]