What would an art history of ageing ‘look like’, beyond simply exploring images of the aged body, or elegiac notions of ‘late style’? How,Ìýfor instance,Ìýdoes the problem of ‘ageing’ figure in works of art that are abstract, or which do not take age as their recognisable ‘subject matter’?ÌýOf course,Ìýeverything ages: bodies, artworks, ideas, politics, and materials.ÌýYet atÌýcertain historical moments, these issues have come into focus in newÌýand especially chargedÌýways. In 1960s America ageing became a feminist issue. Despite its status as a decadeÌýtypically defined by youthful revolution,ÌýthisÌýwas also a time whenÌýquestions ofÌýageingÌýand generational difference came to the fore,Ìýas ³Ù³ó±ðÌýnotion of ‘ageing successfully’ or ‘well’ wasÌýtouted widelyÌýas a guiding moral and social imperative.ÌýIn contrast, this lectureÌýwill look at work by women artists who instead elected to age badly,Ìýor who for various reasonsÌýfound themselves doing so.
Jo Applin, Walter H. Annenberg Professor in the History of Art
Jo ApplinÌýis a specialist in modern and contemporary art, with a particular emphasis on American and British art since 1945. She studied at the University of Essex and at UCL, where she was subsequently Henry Moore Postdoctoral Fellow. She joined The Courtauld in 2016, after eleven years teaching at the University of York. From 2018 to 2021 she was Head of the History of Art Department at The Courtauld. Jo is currently an Elected Member of the Courtauld’s Governing Board and Director of the Centre for American Art.
In 2008 Jo was Associate Scholar at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, and in 2012 she was the recipient of a Philip Leverhulme Prize. In 2016 she was Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies, a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, and Senior Scholar at the Terra Foundation Summer Residency in Giverny. In spring 2022 she was invited professor at Université Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne.
Jo’s research addresses questions of abstraction, feminism, sexuality, and subjectivity. She is the author ofÌýLee Lozano: Not WorkingÌý(Yale University Press, 2018),ÌýAlison WildingÌý(Lund Humphries, 2018),ÌýEccentric Objects: Rethinking Sculpture in 1960s AmericaÌý(Yale University Press, 2012), andÌýYayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Room-Phalli’s FieldÌý(Afterall and MIT Press, 2012). Her most recent book,ÌýLee Lozano:ÌýNot Working,Ìýwas awarded the Suzanne and James Mellor Book Prize from the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C. She is currently working on a book about art and ageing.
Jo’s edited books includeÌýLondon Art Worlds: Mobile, Contingent and Ephemeral Networks 1960-1980Ìý(Penn State University Press, 2018), with Catherine Spencer and Amy Tobin, andÌýFleshÌý(York Museums Trust, 2016). She has also co-edited special issues ofÌýOxford Art Journal,ÌýTate Papers, andÌýArt Journal.ÌýIn 2016 Jo co-curatedÌýFlesh, a major loan exhibition of over eighty works at York Art Gallery. Artists included Francis Bacon, Lynda Benglis, Belinda de Bruyckere, Chardin, Sarah Lucas, Steve McQueen, Bruce Nauman, Rodin, Donald Rodney, Rubens, and Jenny Saville.
Jo has also published widely on contemporary art and is an active critic. She has written reviews for scholarly journals includingÌýOxford Art Journal,ÌýThe ArtÌýBook,ÌýJournal of American Studies,ÌýMap,ÌýSculpture Journal,ÌýWest 86th, andÌýModernism/Modernity.ÌýShe has also written forÌýArtforum,ArtReview,ÌýTimes Literary Supplement,Ìýand ³Ù³ó±ðÌýLondon Review of Books.
Jo is an editor ofÌýOxford Art Journal,Ìýwhere from 2014 to 2020 she was reviews editor. She also sits on the editorial boards ofÌýArchives of American Art JournalÌýandÌýTate Papers. She previously served on the Advisory Board of the Terra-Tate Research Project ‘Refiguring American Art 1945-1980’ andÌýARTMargins. Jo is a Trustee of the Eva Hesse Charitable Foundation and is a member of the Advisory Council of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.