Briony Fer, FBA is a British art historian, critic, and curator; professor of history of art at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. She has written extensively on diverse topics of 20th century and contemporary art. She has written essays on numerous contemporary artists, such as

Gabriel Orozco Gabriel Orozco (born April 27, 1962) is a Mexican artist. He gained his reputation in the early 1990s with his exploration of drawing, photography, sculpture and installation. In 1998, Francesco Bonami called Orozco "one of the most influentia ...

Vija Celmins Vija Celmins (pronounced VEE-ya SELL-muns;Hilarie M. Sheets and Randy Kennedy (September 24, 2015)''New York Times''. lv, Vija Celmiņa, pronounced TSEL-meen-ya) is a Latvian American visual artist best known for photo-realistic paintings and dr ...

, Jean-Luc Moulène,

Roni Horn Roni Horn (born September 25, 1955) is an American visual artist and writer. The granddaughter of Eastern European immigrants, she was born in New York City, where she lives and works. She is currently represented by Xavier Hufkens in Brussels an ...

Ed Ruscha Edward Joseph Ruscha IV (, ''roo-SHAY''; born December 16, 1937) is an American artist associated with the pop art movement. He has worked in the media of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography and film. He is also noted for creating severa ...

, and

Rachel Whiteread Dame Rachel Whiteread (born 20 April 1963) is an English artist who primarily produces sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She was the first woman to win the annual Turner Prize in 1993. Whiteread was one of the Young British Ar ...

. A focus of her research is on the art of American sculptor

Eva Hesse Eva Hesse (January 11, 1936 – May 29, 1970) was a German-born American sculptor known for her pioneering work in materials such as latex, fiberglass, and plastics. She is one of the artists who ushered in the postminimal art movement in the 196 ...

, as when she wrote for the catalogue for the artist's 2002 retrospective curated by Elisabeth Sussman at San Francisco's

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in 2002. Fer has also curated numerous exhibitions, such as the recent show of Gabriel Orozco at the

Fruitmarket Gallery The Fruitmarket Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. Since its opening in 1974, the gallery has become part of the Scottish contemporary art scene. After a period of closure to undergo a significant renovation, the ga ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

in 2013.

Education and career

Studying art history at Sussex University, Fer gained her BA in 1979. She finished her PhD in 1988 with a dissertation on the Soviet and French avant-gardes, written at

Essex University The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Ess ...

(where she worked with Professors

Dawn Adès Josephine Dawn Adès, (''née'' Tylden-Pattenson; born 6 May 1943), also known as Dawn Adès, is a British art historian and academic. She is professor emeritus of art history and theory at the University of Essex. Early life and education Ad ...

and Michael Podro. In 1980 she joined the Art History Department at the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

(OU), where she developed the essays published in the ''Modernity and Modernism'' textbooks, released in 1993 by the OU and

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

. She joined the Department of History of Art at University College in 1990, where she was promoted to Professor in 2005.

Publications

Publications by Fer

*''On Abstract Art'' (2000, Yale University Press) *''The Infinite Line'' (2004, Yale University Press)

Catalogues with essays by Fer

*''Jean-Luc Moulene'' (2009) *''Karla Black - Brains are Really Everything'' (2011) *''Gabriel Orozco - Thinking in Circles'' (2013)

References

External links

UCL Art History Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fer, Briony British art historians Academics of University College London Living people Women art historians Fellows of the British Academy British women historians Year of birth missing (living people)