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Draft:John Beardsley (art historian)

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John Beardsley
OccupationArt historian
SpouseSteph Beardsley
Websitejohnbeardsley.com

John Beardsley is an art historian,[1] curator,[1] writer,[1] and educator[1] specializing in the fields of contemporary art[1] and landscape architecture.[1] His career has included exhibitions,[1] publications,[1] and teaching roles.[1] that have emphasized diversity.[2][3]

Career

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Exhibitions

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In 1982, Beardsley co-curated the exhibition Black Folk Art in America, 1930–1980 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., alongside Jane Livingston.[4] The exhibition showcased the creativity of self-taught African American artists who persevered despite social, political, and economic barriers during the Jim Crow era. [5]

In 1987, he co-curated the exhibition Hispanic Art in the United States: Thirty Contemporary Painters and Sculptors at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), co-curated with Livingston.[6] [7] The exhibition featured a group of Latino artists, both trained and self-taught, representing a range of backgrounds, including Mexican-American,[6] Cuban-American,[6] Puerto Rican,[6] and Latin American immigrant communities.[6][8]

In 2002, he collaborated with Livingston[9] and Alvia Wardlaw[9] to curate The Quilts of Gee’s Bend at MFAH.[9] This exhibition highlighted the abstract, improvisational quilt designs created by women from the predominantly Black community of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. [9] [10] [11] [12]

Environmental art, outsider art, and landscape architecture

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In 1977, he organized an exhibition of land art at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.[13][14] This led to the publication of his book Earthworks and Beyond: Contemporary Art in the Landscape (1984), which has since gone through four editions, the latest in 2006.[15]

In 1997, he curated Human/Nature: Art and Landscape in Charleston and the Low Country for the Spoleto Festival USA,[16] featuring site-specific installations by artists and landscape architects. His interests in landscape and outsider art converged in the publication of Gardens of Revelation: Environments by Visionary Artists (1995).[17] [18] His most recent book, James Castle: Memory Palace (2021),[19] continues his exploration of self-taught art. [20][21]

Beardsley has contributed essays to Landscape Architecture Magazine.[22] [23] Later, he wrote extensively on contemporary design for Harvard Design Magazine and for anthologies and monographs on individual designers and design firms.[24][25][26] [27]

Academic contributions

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Beardsley has held teaching positions in the departments of landscape architecture at several institutions,[16] including the University of Virginia,[16] the University of Pennsylvania,[16] and Harvard University.[16] He was an adjunct professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design from 1998 to 2013.[16][28]

From 2008 to 2019, he served as the director of Garden and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks,[16] Harvard’s research institute for the humanities in Washington, D.C. He continues to act as a consulting curator for visual arts at Dumbarton Oaks and served as the inaugural curator of the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize for the Cultural Landscape Foundation, Washington, D.C., from 2019-24.[29]

Recognition

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John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, 1996-97.[30] Graham Foundation for Advanced Study in the Fine Arts, fellowship, 1992. [31] Art Critic's Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts, 1984-85; 1979-80.[32]

Education and Personal Life

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Beardsley earned an A.B. from Harvard and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.[33] John Beardsley is married to Steph Beardsley. They reside in Virginia.[34]

Other Activities

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Lectures at museums, universities, and art schools in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Japan. [35]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "John Beardsley, Oberlander Prize Curator". The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  2. ^ Ebony, David (30 September 2021). "James Castle's Silent Universe: Interview with John Beardsley". Yale University Press. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  3. ^ "Stanley H. White Lecture: John Beardsley, Writer, Curator, Historian, and Professor". University of Illinois. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  4. ^ Campbell, M.S. (1 March 1982). "Black Folk Art in America". Art Journal. Vol. 42, no. 4. pp. 345–346. doi:10.1080/00043249.1982.10792823. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  5. ^ Hughes, Robert (1 March 1982). "Finale for the Fantastical: Washington's Corcoran mounts a fiery, marvelous folk show". Time Magazine. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e "The Varied Palette of Hispanic Art". New York Times. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  7. ^ Ramirez, Mari Carmen. HISPANIC ART IN THE UNITED STATES: THIRTY CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS, MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON, 1987". Resisting Categories: Latin American and/or Latino?. Yale University Press. doi:10.12987/9780300187151-159. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  8. ^ Stevens, Mark (7 September 1982). "Review". Newsweek.
  9. ^ a b c d Wallach, Amei (October 2006). "Fabric of Their Lives". Smithsonian Magazine.
  10. ^ Stevens, Mark (12 December 2002). "Quilts of Personality". New York Magazine. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  11. ^ Plagens, Peter (17 November 2002). "A Quilting Bee Bounty". Newsweek. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  12. ^ Kimmelman, Michael (29 November 2002). "Review". New York Times. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  13. ^ Richard, Paul (1977). "Big, Brutal Earth Works". Washington Post. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  14. ^ Kaiser, Philip. "Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974". caareviews. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  15. ^ Beardsley, John (2006). Earthworks and Beyond: Contemporary Art in the Landscape. Abbeville Press. p. 240. ISBN 0789208814.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Cite error: The named reference Oberlander was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Beardsley, John (1995). Gardens of Revelation. Abbeville Press. p. 224. ISBN 1558593608.
  18. ^ Grooms, Red (20 August 1995). "Book Review: Backyard Visionaries". New York Times. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  19. ^ Beardsley, John (2021). James Castle: Memory Palace. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300253498.
  20. ^ Martin, Andrew (13 January 2022). "Castle's Kingdom". New York Review. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  21. ^ SMith, Greg (8 March 2021). "Q&A:John Beardsley". Antiques and the Arts Weekly. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  22. ^ Beardsley, John (1988). "Storm King's Muse". Landscape Architecture. 88 (8): 140–239. JSTOR 44672919. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  23. ^ Beardsley, John (1998). "Making Waves". Landscape Architecture. 88 (3): 64–97. JSTOR 44670928. Retrieved 1 April 2025.
  24. ^ Beardsley, John. "A Word for Landscape Architecture". Harvard Design Magazine. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  25. ^ Beardsley, John. "Improving Informal Settlements: Ideas from Latin America". Harvard Design Magazine. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  26. ^ Beardsley, John. "Kiss Nature Goodbye". Harvard Design Magazine. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  27. ^ Beardsley, John. "A Billion Slum Dwellers and Counting". Harvard Design Magazine. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  28. ^ "John Beardsley". The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  29. ^ Wennerstrom, Nord (11 February 2020). "John Beardsley is the Inaugural Curator of the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize". The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  30. ^ "John Beardsley". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  31. ^ "John Beardsley". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 4 February 2025.
  32. ^ "John Beardsley". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 4 February 2025.
  33. ^ "John Beardsley". The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
  34. ^ "Steph Ridder". Headwaters Foundation. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
  35. ^ "Stanley H. White Lecture: John Beardsley, Writer, Curator, Historian, and Professor". University of Illinois. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
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Personal website



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