Picturing Whiteness: Race Representation in the National Collection of British Art 1700s–1990s

Principal supervisor: Professor Paul Goodwin, University of the Arts London
Second supervisor: Dr Martin Myrone, Tate

The doctoral project will develop new ways of addressing raced representation in the national collection of British Art by focusing on the visualisation of white identities and ‘whiteness’ in specified artworks, their institutional and historiographical interpretation and the critical challenges of recognising whiteness in a specifically national art-historical context.

The project will take the Tate display Picturing Blackness in British Art 1700s–1990s (1995–96) as its point of departure. The exhibition was controversial and divisive in its time and the project will build on the history of this discussion and tackle the debates in a way which should actively engage with and inform curatorial practice at Tate Britain and beyond.

Like the 1995–6 display, ‘Picturing Whiteness’ should seek to address some of the ‘myths of Britishness’ and show how ‘radical differences have been a persistent feature of artistic expresssion’ and that ‘the complex and shifting symbolism of “race” has been important to several generations of artists’.

You will become part of a vibrant cohort of collaborative doctoral researchers and benefit from staff-level access to Tate collections, resources and training programmes. You will also benefit from the dedicated programme of professional development and networking events delivered by the Tate in tandem with the other museums, galleries and heritage organisations affiliated with the AHRC CDP scheme.

For entry criteria, how to apply and more information about the studentship and the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme, please visit https://www.tate.org.uk/research/studentships2/picturing-whiteness