David Anfam

---

David Anfam (born 1955) is a writer, art historian and international curator based in central London. A noted scholar of Abstract Expressionism and modern American art, Anfam's scholarship encompasses a wide range of art movements and cross-cultural references. He holds a B.A. Hons. degree 1st Class (1976) and Ph.D. (1984) from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Since 1999, Anfam has been managing director of Art Exploration Consultancy Ltd., London. Anfam has also been an Advisory Board member for the Clyfford Still Museum (2006–10) and is a director of the International Catalogue Raisonné Association (2019–present). He lectures globally and has acted as an external Ph.D. examiner for the University of Essex, the University of St. Andrews, Scotland; the New York University Institute of Fine Arts; and the University of Texas at Austin.

Personal Life

Anfam was born in Kensington, London. He cites childhood illnesses (measles left Anfam profoundly deaf at the age of five) as a catalyst: “Being stuck in bed propelled me into the world of art.”. Anfam's parents encouraged him towards the arts. Anfam’s life partner of forty years, Frederick Bearman (1949–2016), was a noted conservator, bookbinder and educator in the field of rare books and archives. In 2017 the Institute of Conservation (ICON) established the Frederick Bearman Research Grant in his memory. A documentary on Anfam, Of First and Last, by the French filmmakers Ron Kenley and Meriel Kenley is in production.

Curator

Anfam curates exhibitions around the globe in both commercial galleries and museums. Notable exhibitions include Bill Viola: Ocean Without a Shore (52^nd Venice Biennale, San Gallo, Venice, 2007); Abstract Expressionism — A World Elsewhere ( Haunch of Venison, New York, 2008); Pier Paolo Calzolari (Ronchini Gallery, 2015); The Figure in Process: de Kooning to Kapoor, 1955-2015, for Paul Allen's Pivot Art + Culture, Seattle (2015) [1]; Abstract Expressionism (The Royal Academy of Arts [2], 2016-17] and Guggenheim Bilbao, 2017); Stanley Casselman: Labyrinths of Light (Gazelli Art House, Baku, 2019); Pier Paolo Calzolari: Muitos estudos para uma casa de limão (Repetto Gallery, London, 2019 [3]); Lynda Benglis: In the Realm of the Senses, at the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art for NEON, Athens [4]; and Joshua Hagler: The Living Circle Us (Unit London, 2021) [5].

Art Historian

Anfam has written on, curated and researched the art and artists of Abstract Expressionism for over thirty years. In a Brooklyn Rail interview he says,

“I came to Abstract Expressionism through the canonical, signature style works—you know, Rothko’s rectangles, Pollock’s skeins of paint, Still’s abstract cartographies, but for me the really urgent question, and I feel John Golding pointed me in that direction, was to learn about what preceded those works. Even then, early Abstract Expressionism was a closed book.”

In 1990 Thames & Hudson published Anfam's book Abstract Expressionism in their World of Art series. The book has been reprinted multiple times with a revised second edition in 2015. It has been translated into French, Spanish and Portuguese. Anfam continues to curate individual and group shows on the movement, including the aforementioned Royal Academy of Arts exhibition, described by The Guardian newspaper as "a colossal event."

In writings and lectures, Anfam often follows the practice of shortening the movement’s name to Ab Ex, i.e. Ab Ex Painters or Ab Ex painting.

Mark Rothko

Anfam is closely associated with the legacy and work of Mark Rothko as author, curator and critic [6] [7]. His interest in Rothko stems from studies at the Courtauld Institute as an undergraduate and was consolidated during a year-long research trip to the United States in 1977–78 .

The exhibitions on which Anfam has worked in this field include Mark Rothko: The Chapel Commission (Guest Curator, Menil Collection, Houston, 1996); Mark Rothko (Curatorial Consultant, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1997–98); and Mark Rothko: A Retrospective (Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum of Art; Marugame MoCA; Nagoya City Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 1994–95). The latter was the first Rothko retrospective to be held in Japan.

Anfam is also the author of Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas—A Catalogue Raisonné (National Gallery of Art, Washington and Yale University Press, 1998) which received the 1999 and 2000 Mitchell Prize for the History of Art; the 1998 George Wittenborn Memorial Award; and was listed as a book of the year in the New York Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Daily Telegraph and the Irish Times.

Clyfford Still

The artist and scholar John Golding CBE encouraged Anfam to research Clyfford Still for a Ph.D., setting his student on a path that eventually led to a senior position at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver. His research on Still has featured in The New York Times[8].

Anfam is Senior Consulting Curator [9] and Director of the Research Center at the Clyfford Still Museum [10] for which he chose the first Senior Fellow, Prof. Allan Antliff. His exhibitions at the CSM include Drawing/Painting/Process (co-curator, 2013); Memory, Myth & Magic (curator) [11]; Repeat/ Recreate: Clyfford Still’s ‘Replicas’ (co-curator, 2015); The War Begins (curator, 2014 [12]); Still & Art (curator, 2017) and Still & Photography (curator, 2019). His books on Still are Clyfford Still: The Artist’s Museum (Skira-Rizzoli, 2012 [13]) and Clyfford Still: The Late Works (Rizzoli-Electa, 2020). Most recently for the CSM Research Center Anfam commissioned the distinguished British Composer, James Clarke, to write his Symphony No. 2, which will premiere with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

Jackson Pollock

Anfam has written extensively on the work of Jackson Pollock. He curated Jackson Pollock’s ‘Mural’: Energy Made Visible at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (2016): it toured to the then-Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle, Berlin and the Museo Picasso, Malaga (2016). Publishers Weekly described Anfam's accompanying book of the same title (Thames & Hudson, 2015) as "a passionately argued text"

Lectures and Teaching Positions

Since 1976 Anfam has delivered guest lectures and spoken at symposia at numerous universities and institutions around the world, including the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University; Kettle's Yard, University of Cambridge; Tate Modern; the National Portrait Gallery, London; Tate St Ives; Bolesworth Castle, Chester; Tate Liverpool; the American Academy in Rome; Fondation Beyeler, Basel; the University of Iowa; the University of Washington; Boston College; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Hunter College, CUNY; University of Chicago; Yale University; Boston University; the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles; the Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils, Latvia; the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; the University of São Paulo; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; and the Asia Institute, Hong Kong. In 2003 he was the Henry Luce Visiting Scholar and Professor in American Art at the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University.

Other teaching positions and seminar courses include:

• 1987 – The School of Architecture, University of North London
• 1985-89 – City and Guilds of London Art School
• 1984-89 – The School of Architecture, North-East London Polytechnic (now University of East London)
• 1981–82 – Falmouth School of Art
• 1980 – University College London

Awards

• 2009 – The Umhoeffer Prize for Achievement in Humanities
• 1999 & 2000 – Mitchell Prize for the History of Art
• 1998 – George Wittenborn Memorial Award

Publishing

Anfam reviews exhibitions and publications for several magazines, including The Burlington Magazine [14];The Art Newspaper [15]; Artlyst [16]; The Brooklyn Rail [17]; Hyperallergic; Artforum [18]; and Art in America. After eight years in Washington D.C. at the National Gallery of Art preparing the catalogue raisonné of Mark Rothko's works on canvas, Anfam returned to London and joined Phaidon Press in 1997 as a commissioning editor. Subsequently, he become Phaidon's Commissioning Editor for Fine Art. He remained at Phaidon until 2015 and commissioned numerous books and series, including many titles in the Art & Ideas list, the Phaidon Focus series [19], and Leonardo (Colour Library series), Painting Today, Sculpture Today, The Music of Painting and Silent Theatre: The Art of Edward Hopper.

Other single-author publications include Sam Francis in New York: 1958–1960 (Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 1997); Richard Pousette-Dart: Predominantly White (The Phillips Collection, Washington DC, 2010); Brice Marden: Ru Ware, Marbles, Polke (Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, 2013); Robert Rauschenberg: Jammers (Gagosian Gallery, London, 2013); Ed & Nancy Kienholz: Berlin/ Hope (LA Louver, Los Angeles, 2014); Wayne Thiebaud (White Cube, London, 2017); Pier Paolo Calzolari (White Cube, London, 2018); Joan Mitchell: Paintings from the Middle of the Last Century 1953–1962 (Cheim & Read, New York, 2018 [20]); Lee Krasner: The Umber Paintings, 1959–1962 (Kasmin Gallery, New York, 2018).

A consulting advisor on the catalogues raisonné for Jack Tworkov and Iberê Camargo, Anfam has also written on the photographer Renate Aller [21], Milton Avery, Lothar Baumgarten, Koen van der Broek, John Chamberlain, Carroll Dunham, Jeff Elrod, Hans Hartung, Howard Hodgkin, Gary Hume, Robert Motherwell [22],Barnett Newman, Sigmar Polke, Larry Poons, Aaron Siskind, Gerhard Richter and James Turrell.

Selected Books and Exhibition Catalogues (Single or Principal Author)

• Abstract Expressionism (Thames & Hudson, London and New York, 1990; reprinted 1994, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2010). Revised second edition 2015.
• Franz Kline – Black & White: 1950-1961 (The Menil Collection, Houston, 1994).
• Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas – A Catalogue Raisonné (National Gallery of Art, Washington and Yale University Press, 1998; 6th printing, 2019).
• John Chamberlain: Sculpture 1988-2001 (Waddington Galleries, London, 2002).
• Arshile Gorky: Portraits (Gagosian Gallery, New York, 2002).
• Richard Pousette-Dart: The East River Studio Paintings, 1948-1953 (Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, 2006).
• Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman: The Sublime is Now! (Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2007).
• Conrad Marca-Relli (Alfieri Editore, Milan, 2008).
• Anish Kapoor (Phaidon Press, 2009).
• Wayne Thiebaud (White Cube, London, 2017).
• Ilse D’Hollander (Victoria Miró Gallery, London, 2018).
• Cy Twombly. In Beauty It is Finished: Drawings 1951 - 2008 (Gagosian Gallery, New York, 2018).
• Hans Hofmann. Fury: Painting After the War (London: Bastian, 2020).
• Lynda Benglis: In The Realm of the Senses (NEON, Athens, 2020).

Selected Books and Exhibition Catalogues (Multiple Authors)

• The Dictionary of Painting and Sculpture (Mitchell Beazley, London, 1981).
• American Art in the 20th Century (Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1993).
• The Dictionary of Art (Macmillan, London 1996). Entries on abstract expressionism, action painting, color-field painting, Franz Kline, Barnett Newman, Aaron Siskind and Clyfford Still.
• Charles Simonds (IVAM, Valencia, 2003).
• Edward Hopper (Tate Modern, London & Museum Ludwig, Cologne, 2004).
• Where Are We Going? Selections from The Francois Pinault Collection (Palazzo Grassi, Venice, 2006).
• David Smith: A Centennial (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2006).
• No Limits, Just Edges: Jackson Pollock Paintings on Paper (Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, 2005; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2006).
• The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2007).
• Dorothea Rockburne: In My Mind’s Eye (Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, N.Y., 2011).
• Philip Guston: Late Paintings (Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, 2014).
• The Schlumberger Collection (Sotheby’s New York, 2014).
• Repeat/Recreate: Clyfford Still’s ‘Replicas’ (Clyfford Still Museum Research Center, Denver, 2015).
• Seen and Imagined: The World of Clifford Ross (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2015).
• Gianpietro Carlesso – Monograph and Survey (Hatje Cantz, Ostfilden, 2015).
• Go Figure! New Perspectives on Philip Guston (New York Review of Books, New York, 2015).
• Abstract Expressionism (Royal Academy of Arts, 2016). Editor.
• Philippe Vandenberg (Hauser & Wirth, New York, 2017).
• Jonas Burgert: Lotsucht (Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna, 2017).
• Pierre Skira (Les Editions du Palais, Paris, 2018). [23]
• Ali Banisadr Volume Two (Blain|Southern, London, 2018).
• Zeng Fanzhi (Hauser & Wirth, Zürich & London, 2018).
• Thomas Downing (Yares Art, New York, 2018).
• Es War Einmal in Amerika, 300 Jahre US-Amerikanische Kunst (Wallraf-Richartz Museum und Fondation Corboud, Köln, 2018).
• Pier Paolo Calzolari: Painting as Butterfly (MADRE, Naples, 2020).
• John Hoyland: The Last Paintings (Ridinghouse, London, 2021).
• Stefan Gierowski (Skira, Milan, 2021).
• Frisson: The Richard E. Lang and Jane Lang Davis Collection (Seattle Art Museum & University of Washington Press, 2021).

References

This article "David Anfam" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:David Anfam. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

This page exists already on Wikipedia.

---