Ysanne Holt

Biography

Ysanne Holt is Professor of Art History in the Department of Arts. Her research is focussed on themes relating to 20th and 21st century art in Britain, its critical discourses and institutions, as well as the broader processes and practices of cultural landscapes. Ysanne Holt , Art History , Northumbria University , Newcastle.In both of these contexts she has led the development of multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional academic research networks as well as collaborative projects with national museums such as Tate Britain. She has a strong interest in the social and historical relations between forms of cultural production, and in this spirit was founding editor of the Routledge journal Visual Culture in Britain, now in its fifteenth volume. Her most recent preoccupations are with the experience and representations of the UK north, in particular with the shifting historical and present-day identities of marginal or ‘at edge’ sites such as borders and island locations. She is currently writing a book on art and visual culture in the 1920s and editing an anthology of essays on subjects relating to visual culture and the northern British archipelago. At Northumbria I teach art history and visual theories to undergraduate Fine Art students and contribute to the MRes Arts programme. I am a Research Lead in the Dept of Arts and lead the Visual and Material Culture research group.

Research Interest

My research interests are in the field of British art of the first half of the twentieth century, in cultures of landscape and ruralism, as well as artists’ relations with collectors and with the wider art market, its networks and surrounding critical discourses. I am currently writing a monograph on visual and material culture in the 1920s. My focus has extended recently too to examine the processes and practices associated with specific past and contemporary northern landscapes and environments and I am developing a series of interdisciplinary and collaborative events and publications on the theme of ‘Northern Peripheries’. I am currently principal supervisor for 3 PhDs on subjects relating to visual culture and walking, and to arts participation, sustainability and social change.