Research
Original research in the visual arts
Art in Wales
Much of my research into the history of art has been in a Welsh context, and stems from my work with Peter Lord on the ‘Visual Culture of Wales’ project. This series of books and CD-ROMs, published between 1998 and 2004, created not only a framework for the further study of the art of all periods in Wales, but also encouraged an approach to visual culture that was not dominated by English, Continental or Internationalist models, or bound by connoisseurial value judgements.
This approach has enabled the recovery and appreciation of much visual art that had been largely ignored, including the kind of work done on the ‘Imaging the Bible in Wales’ project and that I have developed in the study of stained glass. These areas have served to further expand the field of art history in Wales, which is so much richer that it was in the 1980s when it was doubted that there was any tradition of visual art in Wales at all.
While I have subsequently forged my own routes through particular ecclesiastical and medievalist pathways, doing so in Wales constantly brings me into contact with the many other areas of art in Wales that were touched upon in the printed and electronic publications of the project.