Frances Spalding Explained

Frances Spalding (née Crabtree, born 16 July 1950)[1] is a British art historian, writer and a former editor of The Burlington Magazine.

Life

Frances Crabtree studied at the University of Nottingham and gained her PhD for a study of Roger Fry. She taught art history at Sheffield City Polytechnic (19781988) before becoming a freelance writer and curator. She returned to academic work to take up the post of professor of Art History at Newcastle University in 2000.[2]

Spalding specialises in 20th-century British art, biography and cultural history and her work includes essays, criticism and reviews. She curated the 2003 exhibition "John Piper in the 1930s: Abstraction on the Beach" at Dulwich Picture Gallery in south London.[3] She has also written a study of poet Stevie Smith and a biography of John and Myfanwy Piper. When reviewing John Piper, Myfanwy Piper: Lives in Art, The Independent said of Spalding "At her scintillating best, she is both a brilliant encapsulator and shrewd summer-up; above all, an enthusiast and advocate whose wisdom makes you eager for her subject."[4]

Spalding was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984.[5] She was appointed as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Birthday Honours 2005 for services to literature. She is a trustee of the Charleston Trust.

Spalding became the Editor of The Burlington Magazine in September 2015, leaving in August 2016.[6]

In 1974, Crabtree married Julian Spalding; the couple divorced in 1991.

Selected publications

Reviews

Notes and References

  1. Book: Spalding, Prof. Frances . Who's Who 2013 . . 2013 . 12 January 2013 . Oxford University Press, December 2012; online edition, November 2012.
  2. Book: The International Who's Who of Women 2002. London. Europa Publications. 2001. 540. 9781857431223 .
  3. Web site: John Piper in the 1930s – Abstraction on the Beach . Studio International . 14 February 2014 .
  4. News: Dunnett, Roderic . John Piper, Myfanwy Piper: lives in art, By Frances Spalding . . 20 November 2009 . 15 February 2014 .
  5. Web site: Royal Society of Literature: All Fellows . . 10 August 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100305070326/http://www.rslit.org/content/fellows . 5 March 2010 . dmy .
  6. News: Editor quits oldest art magazine after brush with staff . Malvern . Jack . 7 October 2016 . . 25 July 2019.
  7. Web site: Vanessa Bell by Frances Spalding . Goodreads . 12 January 2016.