Prof Natalie Adamson

Deputy Head of School

Professor

Phone: +44 (0)1334 46 2412
Email: na14@st-andrews.ac.uk

Biography

My research and teaching concerns twentieth-century modern visual culture, particularly with regard to the art and politics of France after 1940 and its international and transnational relations around the world; abstract art; surrealism; art criticism and its reception; the practice of painting; and the history and theory of photography, especially related to modernism, colour and the photobook. My specialism in post-war French art informed my books Painting, Politics and the Struggle for the École de Paris, 1944-1964 (Ashgate 2009/Routledge 2016) and In Focus: Around the Blues 1957, 1962-3, by Sam Francis (Tate Research Publications, 2019), as well as the co-edited publications Academics, Pompiers, Official Artists and the Arrière-Garde: Defining Modern and Traditional in France, 1900-1960 (Cambridge Scholars Press, 2009) and Material Imagination: Postwar European Art, 1946-1971 (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017). Major grants from the Leverhulme Trust, the Getty Research Institute, the AHRC and the Carnegie Trust have supported my research. I served as Deputy Editor of the International, UK-based journal of record for the discipline, Art History, from 2012 to 2017.

I am currently completing two major research projects. The first is a monograph that examines the abstract painting practice of French artist Pierre Soulages (b.1919) in relation to philosophies of temporality, existentialism and phenomenology, poetic theory, and the cultural politics of the post-45 decades (forthcoming with Yale University Press). The second is the Companion to French Art, 1782 the Present, co-edited with Richard Taws (UCL) for Wiley Blackwell. Other research that is ongoing concerns women artists and abstraction, photography during the 1950s, the representation of ideas of Europe, and transnational networks and artistic relationships between Paris/France and elsewhere.

I have guided nine PhDs to completion and currently supervise or co-supervise five others on research topics in both art history and history of photography. I invite enquiries from potential students who wish to pursue research topics related to my interests for entry from 2026.

PhD supervision

Jacqueline Donnelly Russell
Bridget Hardiman
Brittany Jones
Esther Laforge
Weerada Muangsook

Selected publications

... and painting continues
Adamson, N., Oct 2025, ... and painting continues. Atkin, W., Julius, C. & Rawlinson, M. (eds.). Nottingham: Office of Extension Activities, p. 11-12
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Other contribution
La vie des formes
Adamson, N., Quéré, D. & Voltz, A., 1 Apr 2025, Pierrette Bloch: la peinture par d'autres moyens. (Saint-Étienne), M. D. M. (ed.). Saint Étienne, France: Bernard Chauveau Éditions & MAMC+
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
New realities in Paris: abstract art and internationalism, 1946-1950
Adamson, N., 31 Oct 2024, Between point zero and the Iron Curtain: international cooperation in art at the postwar moment, 1945-1948. Forgács, É. (ed.). Leiden: Brill, p. 205-245 41 p. (Avant garde critical studies; vol. 45).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
La Peinture au présent
Adamson, N., 6 Jul 2023, Les derniers Soulages 2010-2022. Soulages, M. (ed.). Paris: Gallimard, p. 25-31 7 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Bouquet for Vincent
Adamson, N., 3 Jul 2021, John Hoyland : the last paintings. Cornish, S., Kullmann, S. & Kelly, W. P. (eds.). London: Ridinghouse, p. 40-52 13 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
“Le voisinage le plus difficile à supporter”: Soulages et Hartung
Adamson, N. A., 2020, Hans Hartung et l’abstraction « Réalité autre, mais réalité quand même ».. Kirchner, T., Schieder, M. & Kramer-Mallordy, A. (eds.). Paris: Les presses du réel
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
Open access
In Focus: Around the Blues 1957, 1962-3 by Sam Francis
Adamson, N. A., Adamson, N. A. (Editor), Buhe, E. & Winther-Tamaki, B., 15 Jul 2019, Tate Gallery On-Line Research Publications : Tate Publishing. (Tate In Focus Research Publications)
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Open access
Sam Francis and Painting in Paris
Adamson, N. A., 15 Jul 2019, In Focus: Around the Blues 1957, 1962-3 by Sam Francis. Adamson, N. (ed.). Tate Gallery On-Line Research Publications : Tate Publishing, Chapter 2. (Tate In Focus Research Publications).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Open access
The Painting - An International Itinerary
Adamson, N. A., 15 Jul 2019, In Focus: Around the Blues 1957, 1962-3 by Sam Francis. Adamson, N. (ed.). Tate Gallery On-Line Research Publications : Tate Publishing, Chapter 1. (Tate In Focus Research Publications).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
The Nouvelle École de Paris
Adamson, N. A. & Cornu, J.-F. (Translator), 8 Nov 2018, Traverser la lumière: Bazaine, Bissière, Elvire Jan, Le Moal, Manessier, Singier. Rodari, F. (ed.). Milan: 5 Continents Editions, p. 27-37
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

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