I am a lecturer, researcher and writer in Art History and English Literature, specialising in the Long Nineteenth Century, most particularly the Victorian era.
I have 20 years experience of designing and teaching courses at university level, for Liverpool University (Continuing Education), LJMU, Bradford University, and in a freelance capacity at other educational venues. I have lectured and taught courses at a number of art galleries over the years, including the Walker Art Gallery, the Lady Lever, the Atkinson and Tate Liverpool.
My main areas of expertise are the Pre-Raphaelites and Aestheticism, the Arts and Crafts movement, the Rossettis and the Brontës. Much of my teaching over the years has been interdisciplinary, looking at both art and literature together in subjects such as the femme fatale and fallen woman, as well as genres such as landscape. In recent years, I have also taught Museum Studies and Cultural Appropriation.
My 2013 doctorate on the Pre-Raphaelite poet-painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, presented new analyses of his art, design and written work within the retrieved historical and cultural context of Victorian spiritualism and Swedenborgianism.
I am currently returning to my research on Rossetti, with a view to writing and future publication. My other research interests include the Liverpool shipping magnate and art patron Frederick Richards Leyland, a subject I have taught extensively, and the Victorian-Edwardian artist John Maler Collier. I am currently working towards a future exhibition on Collier at the Atkinson Art Gallery.
I am a member of the Association for Art History, the Pre-Raphaelite Society, the Brontë Society and the Tate.
See the ‘Classes and Courses’ section for upcoming talks, lectures and courses.
See also my Facebook Page Art History with Dr. Anna Maddison (@arthistorywithanna).