David Alan Mellor Explained

David Alan Mellor (1948–2023) was a British curator, professor and writer.^[1] He was awarded the Royal Photographic Society's J. Dudley Johnston Award and Education Award.^[2]

Life and career

David Mellor - as he was called before he began using his full name professionally to avoid confusion with the politician of the same name - grew up in Leicester as the child of a lorry-driver and a hairdresser; he attended school intermittently due to his severe asthma. As an undergraduate he studied art at Sussex University under Quentin Bell. During this time Asa Briggs, then Vice-Chancellor of the University, received the archive of Mass-Observation from Tom Harrisson. For his first job Mellor catalogued this archive, and he then published and curated exhibitions about the substantial collection of pre-war photographs of working-class life contained within it.

Exhibitions curated by Mellor include Paradise Lost: The New Romantic Imagination in Britain (Barbican Centre, 1987);^[3] The Sixties (1993); and Co-Optic & Documentary Photography Group (Brighton Photo Biennial, 2014).^[4] As a professor of art at Sussex University, his students included Jeremy Deller.

He died in September 2023.^{[5] [6]}

Awards

• 2005: Royal Photographic Society's J. Dudley Johnston Award, shared with Ian Jeffrey^[7]
• 2015: Royal Photographic Society's Education Award^[8]

Publications

• Cecil Beaton. London: Jonathan Cape, 1994; ; coedited with Philippe Garner
• Arthur Tress: Centric 52: Requiem for a Paperweight. Long Beach: California State University, University Art Museum, 1994;
• David Hiscock. London: Zelda Cheatle, 1995.
• Sixties London: The Photographs of Robert Whitaker 1965–70. Sydney: Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1996.
• The Only Blonde in the World: Pauline Boty, 1938–1966. London: AM Publications, 1998. ; with Sue Watling.
• Chemical Traces: Photography and Conceptual Art, 1968–1998. Kingston upon Hull: Kingston upon Hull City Museums & Art Galleries, 1998; .
• The Barry Joule Archive: Works on Paper Attributed to Francis Bacon. Dublin: Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2000; .
• The Sixties: Britain and France, 1962–1973: The Utopian Years. London: Philip Wilson, 2001; .
• Tracing Light. Maidstone: Photoworks, 2001; ; with Garry Fabian Miller.
• The Art of Robyn Denny. London: Black Dog, 2002; .
• Interpreting Lucian Freud. London: Tate, 2002; .
• Van Gogh vu par Bacon. Arles: Actes sud, 2002; ; Vincent van Gogh as seen by Francis Bacon, edited by Mellor and Yolande Clergue
• Liliane Lijn: Works 1959–80. Warwick: Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, 2005;
• No Such Thing as Society: Photography in Britain 1967–1987: From the British Council and the Arts Council Collection. London: Hayward Publishing, 2007; .
• Antonioni's "Blow-up". Göttingen: Steidl, 2010. ; with Philippe Garner.
• The Essential Cecil Beaton: Photographs 1920–1970. Munich: Schirmer Mosel, 2012. ; with Philippe Garner.
  • The Essential Cecil Beaton: Photographien 1920–1970. Munich: Schirmer Mosel, 2012. ; translated into German by Martina Tichy.
  • The Essential Cecil Beaton: Photographies 1920–1970. Malakoff: Hazan, 2012. ; translated into French by Patrick Bouthinon.
  • Cecil Beaton: Retrospectiva. Barcelona: Lunwerg, 2012. ; translated into Spanish by Arturo Muñoz Vico.
• The Bruce Lacey Experience: Paintings, Sculptures, Installations and Performances. London: Camden Arts Centre, 2012; ; with Bruce Lacey.
• Conflict, Time, Photography. London: Tate, 2014. ; with Simon Baker and Shoair Mavlian.
• A Guide for the Protection of the Public in Peacetime. London: Archive of Modern Conflict, 2014; .

References

1. News: David Alan Mellor: Image maker. 1 March 2005 . 26 October 2016 . Chris . Arnot . . London .
2. Royal Photographic Society. Past Award Recipients https://rps.org/about/awards/history-and-recipients/ Accessed 30 October 2023
3. http://visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibitions/exhibition/a-paradise-lost-the-neo-romantic-imagination-in-britain-1935-55-1987 "A Paradise Lost the Neo-Romantic Imagination in Britain 1935-55"
4. "Co-Optic & Documentary Photography Group|BPB14", Brighton Photo Biennial. Accessed 2 November 2014.
5. Web site: Howard . Emeritus Professor Maurice . Obituary: Professor David Alan Mellor . 2023-10-29 . The University of Sussex . en.
6. Web site: 2023-10-26 . Obituary: David Alan Mellor (1948-2023) . 2023-10-29 . British Photographic History.
7. "Art history professor recognised for contribution to photography, University of Sussex, 4 October 2005; accessed 2010-10-22.
8. http://www.rps.org/about/awards/history-and-recipients/education-award "Education Award"