Sir John Boardman, (; 20 August 1927 – 23 May 2024) was a British classical archaeologist and

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

ancient Greek art Ancient Greek art stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude male figures were generally the focus of innovation. The rate of stylistic d ...

. Educated at Chigwell School in Essex and at

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, Boardman worked as assistant director of the

British School at Athens The British School at Athens (BSA; ) is an institute for advanced research, one of the eight British International Research Institutes supported by the British Academy, that promotes the study of Greece in all its aspects. Under UK law it is a reg ...

between 1952 and 1955 before taking up a position as an assistant keeper at the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University ...

, part of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. He succeeded John Beazley as Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art at the university in 1978, remaining in post until his retirement in 1994. Boardman's academic work focused on the art and archaeology of ancient Greece, with a particular focus on

Greek colonisation Greek colonisation refers to the expansion of Archaic Greeks, particularly during the 8th–6th centuries BC, across the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. The Archaic expansion differed from the Iron Age migrations of the Greek Dark Ag ...

, jewellery and vase-painting. He was made a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (post-nominal letters FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in t ...

, which awarded him its

Kenyon Medal The Kenyon Medal is awarded every two years by the British Academy 'in recognition of work in the field of classical studies and archaeology'. The medal was endowed by Sir Frederic Kenyon and was first awarded in 1957. List of recipients SourceB ...

in 1995. He was also awarded the Onassis Prize for Humanities in 2009.

Personal life and education

Boardman was born in

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, on 20 August 1927. He was educated at Chigwell School (1938–1945); then

, where he read

Classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

beginning in 1945. After completing two years'

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the Intelligence Corps he spent three years in Greece, from 1952 to 1955, as the Assistant Director of the

. He married Sheila Stanford in 1952 (died 2005), and had two children. He died in

Woodstock, Oxfordshire Woodstock is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish, north-west of Oxford in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. The United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census recorded a parish population of 3,521, up from t ...

on 23 May 2024, at the age of 96.

Career

On his return to England in 1955, Boardman took up the post of Assistant Keeper at the

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, thus beginning his lifelong affiliation with it. In 1959 he was appointed Reader in Classical Archaeology in the

, and in 1963 was appointed a Fellow of

Merton College Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor ...

. There he remained until his appointment as Lincoln Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology, a position previously held by John Beazley, and the concomitant Fellowship of Lincoln College in 1978. He was knighted in 1989 and retired in 1994, and was thereafter Emeritus Professor. Boardman was a

, from which he received the

in 1995. He was awarded the Onassis Prize for Humanities in 2009. He was an Honorary Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and of Merton and Lincoln Colleges in Oxford, as well as the holder of many other academic distinctions. He carried out archaeological excavations at many sites, including in

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

, Crete, Emporio on

Chios Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...

and at Tocra in Libya. His voluminous publications focus primarily on the art and architecture of

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

, particularly sculpture, engraved gems and painted vases. Boardman wrote the book ''The Greeks Overseas'',The Greeks Overseas: Their Early Colonies and Trade, Google Books reviewLibrary Thing review
/ref> on the ancient

Greek diaspora The Greek diaspora, also known as Omogenia (), are the communities of Greeks living outside of Greece and Cyprus. Such places historically (dating to the ancient period) include, Greeks in Albania, Albania, Greeks in North Macedonia, North Maced ...

throughout the Mediterranean, in which Greek populations from the Aegean region, Greek coastal mainland and Western Turkey settled the coastal regions of Italy, North Africa, southern France, reaching as far as southern Spain. The book has now undergone four editions, as new archaeological research emerges.

Selected publications

* The Cretan Collection in Oxford (1961) * ''Excavations at Emporio, Chios'' (1964) *''The Greeks Overseas'' (1st ed. 1964; rev. ed. 1973; 3rd ed. 1980; 4th ed. 1999) *''Excavations at Tocra'' (with J. Hayes, 1966, 1973) *''Archaic Greek Gems'' (1968) *''Greek Gems and Finger Rings'' (1970, 2001) *''Greek Burial Customs'' (1971) with D.C. Kurtz * ''The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity'' *''Persia and the West'' (2000) *''The History of Greek Vases'' (2001) *''The Archaeology of Nostalgia'' (2002) *''Greece and the Hellenistic World'' (2002) *''The World of Ancient Art'' (2006) *''The Marlborough Gems'' (2009) *''The Relief Plaques of Central Asia and China'' (2009/10) *''The Triumph of Dionysos'' (2014) *''The Greeks in Asia'' (2015) *''Greek Art'', ' The World of Art Library' series (first ed. 1964; latest ed. 2016) *''Alexander the Great: From His Death to the Present Day'' (2019)

References

Sources

* ''

Who's Who A Who's Who (or Who Is Who) is a reference work consisting of biographical entries of notable people in a particular field. The oldest and best-known is the annual publication ''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who'', a reference work on contemporary promin ...

'', 2006.
Dictionary of Art Historians:Boardman, John

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boardman, John 1927 births 2024 deaths English archaeologists English art historians British classical archaeologists English classical scholars Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Knights Bachelor Lincoln Professors of Classical Archaeology and Art English male non-fiction writers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Runciman Award winners