Ben Read (guitarist)
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Benedict William Read FSA (26 March 1945 – 20 October 2016) was an English art historian. Usually known as Ben Read, he was the author of numerous books, essays and articles on nineteenth and twentieth century
art history Art history is the study of Work of art, 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. Tradit ...
, and was one of the most authoritative writers in the second half of the twentieth century on British Victorian sculpture.


Early life

Read was born in
Seer Green Seer Green is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, east-north-east of Beaconsfield and south-west of Chalfont St Giles. History Local legend has it that the "Seer" refers to King Arthur's Court v ...
,
Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of central London and southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe. The ...
,
Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...
, but grew up in the village of
Stonegrave Stonegrave is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. At the 2011 Census the population was less than 100 and so the details are included in the civil parish of Nunnington. By 2015, North Yorkshire County Council estimated the po ...
,
North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...
. He was the son of art critic and poet Sir
Herbert Read Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read wa ...
and the viola player Margaret Ludwig, the younger brother of the writer
Piers Paul Read Piers Paul Read FRSL (born 7 March 1941) is a British novelist, historian and biographer. He was first noted in 1974 for a book of reportage, '' Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors'', later adapted as a feature film and a documentary. Read ...
and younger half-brother of BBC documentary maker John Read.University of Leeds, Obituary
/ref> Through his parents he grew up surrounded by people from the art world like Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Peggy Guggenheim and in later life enjoyed recounting anecdotes of life in the Read household. He went to
Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding and day school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition. It opened in 1803 as a boys' school. It is near the villa ...
, a Roman Catholic boarding school run by
Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
monks.


Academic career

Read studied
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 ...
and
English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...
at
The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...
and then
art history Art history is the study of Work of art, 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. Tradit ...
at the
Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...
in London. As well as teaching at the Courtauld Institute, Read was Deputy Witt Librarian there until 1990. Whilst at the
Courtauld Courtauld is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adam Courtauld Butler or Adam Butler (British politician), DL (1931–2008), British Conservative Party politician and MP *Augustine Courtauld (1904–1959), often called August Cou ...
, Read contributed photographs to the
Conway Library The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...
that are currently being digitised by the
Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...
as part of the wider Courtauld Connects project. In 1990 Read was appointed senior lecturer in art history at the
University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...
, where he was also director of the MA Sculpture Studies programme from 1990 to 1997, under the auspices of the
Henry Moore Foundation The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore, and to promote the public appreciation of sculpt ...
. He also taught on the History of Carving course at
City & Guilds of London Art School Founded in 1854 as the Lambeth School of Art, the City and Guilds of London Art School is a small specialist art college located in central London, England. Originally founded as a government art school, it is now an independent, not-for-profit ...
where his lectures on monumental 19th- and 20th-century sculpture coupled with his depth of knowledge were widely appreciated by both staff and students. In 1991 the first ever exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite Sculpture at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, which Read co-curated with Joanna Barnes, was considered groundbreaking and favourably received. Read was the first chairman of the
Public Monuments and Sculpture Association In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
having been involved from its embryonic beginnings at the ''Sculpture in'' ''the North'' conference in 1991 and was instrumental in having the word "sculpture" included in the association’s title. He was also closely involved with setting up the prestigious academic ''
Sculpture Journal The ''Sculpture Journal'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal of sculpture published by Liverpool University Press. It was established in 1997 by the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA), with Marjorie Trusted as founding e ...
'' and was chair of its editorial board, from its inception in 1997 until his death. This relationship led to Read becoming a consultant and advising on restoration programmes at the
Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...
, the
Albert Memorial The Albert Memorial is a Gothic Revival Ciborium (architecture), ciborium in Kensington Gardens, London, designed and dedicated to the memory of Albert, Prince Consort, Prince Albert of Great Britain. Located directly north of the Royal Albert Ha ...
and
Salisbury Cathedral Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Salisbury, England. The cathedral is regarded as one of the leading examples of Early English architecture, ...
. He also contributed essays to the books ''The Albert Memorial'' and ''The Houses of Parliament'.''   On his retirement from Leeds University in 2010, he was made senior visiting research fellow in
fine art In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...
.


Honours

Benedict Read was a Fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...
. In addition to his
festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
, ''Sculpting Art History : Essays in Memory of Benedict Read'', he was honoured, following his death, by The Henry Moore Institute with the publication ''of Benedict Read’s life in sculpture: His father never told him about things like this'' which included a reprint of the Introduction to ''Sculpture in Britain Between the Wars'' by Benedict Read and Peyton Skipwith; considered an extremely important volume.


Wider interests

Benedict Read was external examiner for the
Cyprus College of Art The Cyprus College of Art (CyCA) is an artists' studio group, located in the village of Lempa on the west coast of Cyprus. It was founded in 1969 by the artist Stass Paraskos; the current director is the Cyprus-based artist Margaret Paraskos. H ...
, Chairman of the Leeds Art Collections Fund for 9 years until his retirement in 2012, and a keen
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
supporter. A committed
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
, Read was particularly interested in 20th-century Christian art and sat on the Roman Catholic Church's Historic Churches Committee for the Diocese of Leeds.


Selected publications

* ''Henry Moore and the Arts Council Collection'', exhibition catalogue with foreword by Caroline Douglas, London : Hayward Publishing, 2012, * ''British Sculpture in India : new views and old memories'' Mary Ann Steggles and Richard Barnes (introduction by Tapati Guha-Thakurta & preface by Benedict Read), Norwich : Frontier, 2011, * ''Edwardian Sculpture'' in ‘The Edwardians : secrets and desire’, ed. Anne Gray, exhibition catalogue, Canberra : National Gallery of Australia ; Seattle, WA : Distributed in the U.S.A. by University of Washington Press, 2004, * ''Herbert Read : A British Vision of World Art'', edited by Benedict Read and David Thistlewood, exhibition catalogue,  Leeds : Leeds City Art Galleries in association with the Henry Moore Foundation and Lund Humphries, London, 1993, * ''The Alliance of Sculpture and Architecture : Hamo Thornycroft, John Belcher and the Institute of Chartered Accountants Building'' (with Terry Friedman, Derek Lindstrum, Daru Rooke, Helen Upton), Leeds : Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture, 1993, * ''Pre-Raphaelite Sculpture: nature and imagination in British sculpture 1848-1914'', exhibition catalogue edited by Benedict Read & Joanna Barnes, London : The Henry Moore Foundation in association with Lund Humphries, 1991, * ''Sculpture in Britain between the Wars'', exhibition catalogue, (with Peyton Skipwith), London : Fine Art Society,1986. * ''Victorian Sculpture'', New Haven & London : Yale University Press, 1982,


References


External links

*Archival Material at {{DEFAULTSORT:Read, Benedict 1945 births 2016 deaths English art historians English Roman Catholics Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Academics of the Courtauld Institute of Art Academics of the University of Leeds People educated at Ampleforth College Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London