A collaboration between Courtauld Institute of Art and Tate providing a fully funded AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Award starting September 2017.

Principal supervisor: Dr. Gavin Parkinson (The Courtauld Institute of Art); second supervisor: Dr Matthew Gale (Tate)

For enquiries, please contact Dr Gavin Parkinson at gavin.parkinson@courtauld.ac.uk

The Courtauld Institute of Art and Tate

AHRC COLLABORATIVE Doctoral Award commencing October 2017

Research Project: Global Surrealism: Tracing International Networks

Principal supervisor: Dr. Gavin Parkinson (The Courtauld Institute of Art); second supervisor: Dr Matthew Gale (Tate)

The Courtauld Institute of Art and Tate invite applications for a full-time collaborative PhD studentship, funded for 3.5 years by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, to commence in October 2017.

The proposed doctoral research will examine the complex international networks and modes of transmission that shaped the growth of surrealism in many parts of the world from the 1920s to the 1960s. Looking in depth at areas beyond France, Britain and America, the doctorate will re-evaluate the reach, transmission and hybridisation of the surrealist movement when studied through its international connections, drawing on the theories and studies of postcolonialism, orientialism and globalism. The doctorate will also contribute to the planning of a major exhibition on this subject at Tate Modern, scheduled for 2020.

In recent years surrealism has been seen as multi-centered but studies of the wider geographies of the movement have tended to maintain and reinforce the centrality of Paris. This doctoral project will aim to test this notion, examining the transnational interconnections that linked groups and individuals and rethinking conventional understandings of the international character of surrealism. Original research into the movement’s longevity and persistence in the later 1930s and into the 1960s, which was sustained in large measure through international exhibitions, periodicals and personal communications, will help create more complex understandings of the notion of a ‘global’ surrealism and in so doing may lead to a fresh understanding of the movement’s impact and influence.

Many approaches are possible but in general terms the student will be expected to investigate:
•      issues arising from the geographical de-centering of surrealism through an investigation of the role of key participants and fellow-travellers.
•      the differences and shared concerns of the positions taken by individuals, groups or networks in one centre in relation to those in others, so as to identify local as well as shared characteristics.
•      how far the exigencies of cultural and political specificity were reflected in the ways in which surrealism was understood and manifested.
•      to what extent and in what ways was surrealism seen as vital and relevant outside of Europe and North America, particularly in the post-war period.
In exploring these themes, the student will elucidate fresh cultural constellations and reposition neglected artists and groupings through detailed archival study and close study of individual artworks.
In addition, the student will engage with tasks at Tate that will furnish him or her with the sorts of experience and practical skills that could subsequently be taken into the workplace, especially in the museum and heritage sector, and would also benefit the gallery and the wider research community. These include:
•       working with Tate curators in new research towards a major exhibition of ‘Global Surrealism’ (title to be confirmed).
•       preparing c.30 summary online texts on surrealist works in Tate’s expanding international collection that relate to the areas of research.
•       selecting archival material and preparing texts in preparation for the exhibition or for publication on Tate’s website as part of Tate’s scholarly activities.