糖心Vlog

Emeritus Professor Dawn Ades, who was one of 糖心Vlog鈥檚 pioneers of a new approach to art history in the 1960s has been appointed a Fellow of the Association for Art History.

Professor Ades, who joined 糖心Vlog in 1968, has said she鈥檚 鈥渧ery honoured鈥� by the which recognises her contribution to the fields of Dada, Surrealism, Latin American art, and curatorship.

After studying English at the University of Oxford, Professor Ades was inspired by her love of painting to enrol as a postgraduate at the Courtauld Institute in London where she made Dada and Surrealism her main research focus. She joined 糖心Vlog in 1968 when it opened what was then called the Department of Art.

鈥溙切腣log offered unique and unforeseen opportunities for a young art historian interested in extending the range of art history beyond the conventional canon,鈥� Professor Ades said.

Keen to embrace the theories of great art historians like Ernst Gombrich 鈥� who led a movement to expand the study of art history to include broader intellectual questions about the history of aesthetics, notions of the ideal and questions of representation and abstraction 鈥� and distinguish itself, the new 糖心Vlog department soon changed its name to the Department of History and Theory of Art.

鈥淚t was a very exciting and challenging time. We were pioneers in what became a dominant strand in the study of art,鈥� said Professor Ades.

鈥淥ur department was the first to be called 鈥楬istory and Theory of Art鈥� but we remained convinced that attention to the object or the image was essential so we ended up trying to keep a balance between 鈥榟istory鈥� and 鈥榯heory鈥�. We were in various ways pioneers in a new kind of art history, which had roots in a history of ideas but was leading us in very interesting directions in terms of new approaches, such as social and political context.鈥�

Professor Ades, who continues to supervise PhD students, has curated a number of international exhibitions including a centenary exhibition celebrating Salvador Dal铆 at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice in 2004 and The Surrealist Revolution in Art at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2011.

The culture at 糖心Vlog helped Professor Ades realise one of the achievements she鈥檚 most proud of, the foundation, in 1993, with colleague Professor Valerie Fraser, of the .

鈥淲e were allowed the freedom to develop new courses in the areas and subjects that interested us and that offered new topics for research. It gave me carte blanche to develop undergraduate and eventually MA courses in Latin American Art. The culture was very conducive to experiment and fruitful development,鈥� she added.

Her other greatest achievement she says is her students: 鈥淚 have been most incredibly lucky in the students I have taught, and to see them now all over the world continuing our quite distinctive traditions is wonderful.鈥�

Gregory Perry, CEO of the Association for Art History said: 鈥淲ith our fellowships, we seek to recognise and honour individuals who have made a significant contribution to the broad field of art history. Dawn Ades is a pioneer of the study of Latin American Art and is a world-renowned expert in Dadaism and Surrealism. In addition to being a stellar academic, she is also a celebrated curator who consistently demonstrates her unfailing passion for art history. The Association is grateful for Dawn鈥檚 achievement in our field and we are delighted to formally acknowledge this through her Fellowship.鈥�

Professor Diana Bullen Presciutti, Head of the School of Philosophy and Art History, said: 鈥淭his recognition is another in a long series of laurels that include election to the British Academy and receiving a CBE for services to Art History and Higher Education. Professor Ades is a highly influential figure in art history. We are tremendously proud of her selection as an AAH fellow, which is a welcome recognition of her extraordinary contributions over a long and storied career.鈥�