Reader
- About
-
- Email Address
- joanne.anderson@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 272619
- School/Department
- School of Divinity, History, Philosophy & Art History
Biography
Joanne is Reader in Art History and Honorary Curatorial Fellow. Prior to Aberdeen, she worked at the Warburg Institute in London (2015-2019) and in the art history departments at Birkbeck College, the University of Sussex and the University of Warwick.
Joanne is a leading specialist of Mary Magdalen and has appeared on BBC4's Britain's Lost Masterpieces and BBC R4's In Our Time on the topic of the saint. She was a member of the scholarly advisory committee for Mary Magdalene: the Exhibition (Museum Catherijneconvent, Utrecht, 2021-22) and contributor to its accompanying publication (2022). More broadly, she works on late medieval art in the mountains, mobility and experience of art, artistic production and patronage, as well as 20th-century exhibition history.
Qualifications
- PhD History of Art2010 - University of Warwick
- MA History of Art2003 - Courtauld Institute of Art
- MA (Hons) English and History of Art2001 - University of Aberdeen
Memberships and Affiliations
- Internal Memberships
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Head of Art History Department
Honorary Curatorial Fellow, University Collections
Director: MLitt Christianity and the Visual Arts
- External Memberships
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External Examiner for Art History, The Open University (2020-24).
Member of the Renaissance Society of America
Latest Publications
Mary Magdalene and Pilgrimage: North and South
The Oxford Handbook of Mary Magdalene. Apostolos-Cappadona, D. (ed.). Oxford University Press (OUP)Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)Late Medieval Italian Art and its Contexts.: Essays in Honour of Professor Joanna Cannon
English Historical ReviewContributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/ceae189
The Magdalene: cultural icon
Mary Magdalene: Chief Witness, Sinner, Feminist. Wijnia, L. (ed.). 1st edition. Waanders & de Kunst Publishers, pp. 78-85, 8 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersNext to Chur We are Still Poor: Art and the relationality of Poverty in the Rhaetian Alps
The Art of the Poor: The Aesthetic Material Culture of the Lower Classes in Europe 1300-1600. Duits, R. (ed.). 1st edition. Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 65-76, 12 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781838602284.0012
- [ONLINE] Link to the book
Arming the Alps through Art: Saints, Knights and Bandits on the Early Modern Roads
Travel and Conflict in the Early Modern World. Gelléri, G., Willie, R. (eds.). First edition. Taylor and Francis Ltd., pp. 81-107, 27 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003057871
- Research
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Research Overview
Joanne is a specialist of Mary Magdalen and particularly her late medieval cult and image. More broadly her research encompasses late medieval art in the mountains, mobility and experience of art, artistic production and patronage, as well as 20th-century exhibition history.
Research Areas
Accepting PhDs
I am currently accepting PhDs in Art History.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.
Research Specialisms
- History of Art
- Gender Studies
- History of Religions
- Cultural Studies
- Museum Studies
Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Current Research
Slow Art - Late Medieval Art in the Mountains
Joanne’s current research project focuses on art in the landscape, proposing a new way of approaching images and objects from the standpoint of experiential viewing. She is particularly in interested in how environment and time influences the production, function and perception of art produced for Alpine communities as linked to the seasonal migrations of artistic workshops. The project springs from her previous work in the Alps and questions raised whilst travelling on foot in the mountains during varying weather conditions.
This research builds on her recent publications on the experience of looking at imagery on the outsides of buildings when travelling through the mountains and the relationality of art to poverty in this environment.
Frescoes from Florence
Joanne's second project is a monograph dedicated to the touring exhibition, Frescoes from Florence/The Great Age of Fresco (1968-72). The book focuses on questions of logistics, educational strategy and reception in popular and academic domains as it moved across continents and between diverse institutions in the name of cultural patrimony.
Past Research
Joanne has published extensively on Mary Magdalen, her late medieval cult and cultural icon status since 2012, including her 2019 monograph, Moving with the Magdalen. She maintains this research interest.
Knowledge Exchange - Mountains
Read my research spotlight for the Mountains in the Humanities: Past, Present and Future 'unconference', held in December 2022, and organised by Jason Konig and Dawn Hollis at the University of St Andrews as part of their larger Leverhulme funded project on Mountains in the Classical Tradition:
https://mountains.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2023/03/24/mountain-research-spotlight-joanne-anderson/
Collaborations
Joanne was the Co-Investigator of the AHRC Research Network, A Vision for Europe: Academic Action and Responsibility
Principle Investigator: Mick Finch (Central St Martins, University of the Arts London)
Project Partner: Johannes von Müller (Bilderfahrzeuge Project, The Warburg Institute)
The network investigated the material archive of the 1941 exhibition, English Art and the Mediterranean, organised by Fritz Saxl and Rudolf Wittkower, then director and photographic collection curator of the Warburg Institute. This exhibition, and its later publication, British Art and the Mediterranean, argued for a common European cultural tradition in a time of international crisis. The network brought together artists, historians, media theorists, curators, journalists, photographers and activists to reactivate this unique archival resource and explore its historical significance and contemporary resonance in the current Brexit climate.
Joanne co-curated the exhibitions, Bilder auf Wanderschaft. Das Warburg Institute und eine britische Kunstgeschichte (Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich 29 May-30 June 2019) and Ruins in the Archive: Constructing Visual Histories in Photography and Broadcast Media (British School at Rome, 14-430 Nov 2019) and co-edited the accompanying catalogue, Image Journeys. The Warburg Institute and a British Art History (Passau: Klinger Verlag, 2019).
https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/central-saint-martins/research-at-csm/a-vision-for-europe
Information about the 2016 pilot event can be found at: http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/whats-on/events/vision-europe
Supervision
My current supervision areas are: Art History.
I am currently supervising a doctoral research project on the late medieval cult and image of St Catherine of Alexandria in England and France. Prior to working at Aberdeen, I co-supervised doctoral projects on pre-modern miraculous imagery, medieval and early modern art and visual culture, and 20th-century art collectors.
Funding and Grants
Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Network Grant, 2019-20 - A Vision for Europe: Academic Action and Responsibility in Times of Crises.
- Teaching
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Programmes
- Postgraduate, 3 semester, September start
- Postgraduate, 1 , September start
Courses
Teaching Responsibilities
Joanne contributes to teaching across all levels of the undergraduate Art History programme. She offers (on rotation) three research-led courses and one vocational course at honours level:
- Materialising Faith: Women, Art and Religion, 1150-1500 co-taught with Dr Marie-Luise Ehrenschwendtner (Divinity and History)
- Italian Mural Painting and the Making of Visual Cultures, 1400-1500
- Art and the City - Florence
- Curation: Theory and Practice, co-taught with University Collections
She also contributes to School interdisciplinarity by teaching sessions for:
- Power and Piety (History)
Joanne directs the MLitt Christianity and the Visual Arts, co-taught with Divinity (campus and online). She coordinates:
- Researching Art and Faith
- Materialising Faith: Women, Art and Religion, 1150-1500 co-taught with Marie-Luise Ehrenschwendtner (Divinity and History);
- Dissertation in Christianity and the Visual Arts
Non-course Teaching Responsibilities
Joanne is a personal tutor and provides support to students in and beyond the Department of Art History across all levels of study.
- Publications
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Page 1 of 2 Results 1 to 10 of 15
Mary Magdalene and Pilgrimage: North and South
The Oxford Handbook of Mary Magdalene. Apostolos-Cappadona, D. (ed.). Oxford University Press (OUP)Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)Late Medieval Italian Art and its Contexts.: Essays in Honour of Professor Joanna Cannon
English Historical ReviewContributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/ceae189
The Magdalene: cultural icon
Mary Magdalene: Chief Witness, Sinner, Feminist. Wijnia, L. (ed.). 1st edition. Waanders & de Kunst Publishers, pp. 78-85, 8 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersNext to Chur We are Still Poor: Art and the relationality of Poverty in the Rhaetian Alps
The Art of the Poor: The Aesthetic Material Culture of the Lower Classes in Europe 1300-1600. Duits, R. (ed.). 1st edition. Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 65-76, 12 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781838602284.0012
- [ONLINE] Link to the book
Arming the Alps through Art: Saints, Knights and Bandits on the Early Modern Roads
Travel and Conflict in the Early Modern World. Gelléri, G., Willie, R. (eds.). First edition. Taylor and Francis Ltd., pp. 81-107, 27 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003057871
The Loom, the Lady, and Her Family Chapels: Weaving Identity in Late Medieval Art
Medieval Clothing and Textiles. Wright, M. L., Netherton, R., Owen-Crocker, G. R. (eds.). Boydell & Brewer, pp. 157-181, 25 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)Cultural Life and Politics in Wartime London
Image Journeys: The Warburg Institute and a British Art History. Anderson, J., Finch, M., Von Mueller, J. (eds.). Dietmar Klinger Verlag, pp. 43-51, 8 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersImage Journeys: The Warburg Institute and a British Art History
Books and Reports: AnthologiesMoving with the Magdalen: Late Medieval Art and Devotion in the Alps
Bloomsbury Visual Arts, New York. 272 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksReview: Ruth S. Noyes, Peter Paul Rubens and the Counter-Reformation Crisis of the Beati Moderni
Renaissance Quarterly , vol. 72, no. 1, pp. 274-275Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/rqx.2018.35