Director's Welcome

Welcome to this issue of PMC Notes, which takes us from winter to spring. This period of transition, of course, is famously one of regeneration and reinvigoration, and these qualities are powerfully expressed in the programme of “New Directions” research seminars that we are running over the coming months. These highlight some of the most original approaches and subjects being pursued within the field of British art studies. Subjects being addressed by a sparkling array of speakers include food and the senses, the technologies of film and empire, indigenous objects, and art and artificial intelligence. We hope you’ll be able to join our conversation around all these lively topics: as always, you’ll find more details in the wrap-around events listing.

The articles we are publishing in this issue of PMC Notes also have the freshness and liveliness we associate with the transition to spring. In addition, they testify to the variety of ways in which the Centre promotes and disseminates new thinking on British art and architecture. Ella Nowicki’s fascinating article on the communist murals painted by Viscount Jack Hastings at Buscot Park, Oxfordshire, for example, emerges from our British Art in Motion undergraduate film competition. The launch of the competition in 2021 generated a series of remarkably mature, sophisticated, and visually stunning short films, all of which we screened at our inaugural film festival in October 2022. Ella’s film was one of these works and I’d urge you, having read her article, to watch her film along with those of her fellow contestants on our website and YouTube channel.

This issue also features a lively article on the impact and afterlife of The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli, written by my colleague Martin Myrone; it is based on a talk he gave as part of the Georgian Provocations Public Lecture Course we ran last autumn. I remember the talk well, not only for the brilliance of its contents, but also for the suitably gloomy and portentous music that greeted attendees as they walked into our lecture room. Its chilling thrum provided a nice example, I thought, of the ways in which we try and make British art as exciting and intriguing as possible for our audiences. Again, if you’d like to enjoy Martin’s lecture, and those given by the other contributors to Georgian Provocations, please go to the events recordings section of our website.

Our third and final feature is an article written by the art historian Christina J. Faraday on the subject of liveliness itself, to mark the publication of her new book Tudor Liveliness: Vivid Art in PostReformation England, which will be released in April. Christina’s book testifies to the continuing vitality and ambition of another, longstanding strand of the Centre’s activities: our book publications list, which has recently included the winners of both the 2022 Berger Prize and the 2022 Apollo Book of the Year prize. As you will quickly find in reading her article, Christina’s thinking and writing has all the liveliness of her topic; her similarly vibrant book is much anticipated and will be a perfect spring read.

The Centre itself will soon be pursuing its own form of renewal and regeneration, as it completes the process of appointing my successor. As many of you may know, I will be leaving the Centre in March, to take up a new role as the Märit Rausing Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art. I will do so having enjoyed every day of the decade I have spent leading this unique centre of research and learning. It has been both a privilege and pleasure to work with my lively, stimulating, and supportive colleagues in both Bedford Square and New Haven, and to engage with the passionate, knowledgeable, and ever-expanding community that the Centre serves to support. I look forward to watching the Centre continue to thrive and develop in the seasons to come.

Mark Hallett Director