Read about the discoveries and insights of staff and researchers working at Tate. These short articles and interviews offer insights into the different subjects and types of research undertaken in the museum.
Research Features
Hogarth’s Materials and Techniques: How was A Rake’s Progress made?
Exploring new understandings of these paintings’ making and materials, and what the research tells us about the artist’s working practice
The Development of Hogarth’s series A Rake’s Progress : From Paintings to Prints
Technical imaging of the paintings has uncovered changes the artist made to the compositions as he painted them
Nothing to See Here: A Visual Culture of (Tate) Exchange
Founded in proximity and exchange, but cancelled due to COVID-19, this project asks: who has the right to be seen?
Open Access Repository: Enhancing Research in Cultural Organisations
The repository is one among many initiatives being undertaken by Tate to make its research more visible, accessible and reusable
Conservation as Investigation
Luisa Karman reflects on arts conservation and shares insights from her internship with the Learning and Research teams
Traces of Human Tragedy: The David King Collection
Archive Cataloguer Peter Eaves on a large collection relating to the Russian revolution, the Soviet Union and communist China
Two Soviet Cartoonists in the David King Collection at Tate
Library Cataloguer Andrey Lazarev explores the life and work of cartoonists Konstantin Rotov and Boris Efimov
Muilman, Crokatt and Keable in a Landscape : Interview with John Chu
In Focus author John Chu reflects on his approach to the research and some surprises learnt along the way
Shigeo Anzaï
Lena Fritsch interviews Shigeo Anzaï, whose photography career began by documenting the 1970 Tokyo Biennale
Susumu Koshimizu
Artist Susumu Koshimizu discusses his practice and the art scene in 1970s Japan with Assistant Curator Lena Fritsch
The Doll’s House : Interview with Samuel Shaw
Samuel Shaw on his In Focus study including analysis of a sketchbook from William Rothenstein’s teenage years in Paris
Heroic Symbols : Interview with Christian Weikop
In Focus author Christian Weikop on collaborating with other scholars and interviewing Anselm Kiefer
The Girl Chewing Gum : Interview with Erika Balsom
Erika Balsom on artists’ moving image and the notion of truth in documentary filmmaking
David Sylvester: A British Critic in New York
Tate PhD researcher James Finch traces the development of the critic’s distinctive focus on artists’ working processes
A Bigger Splash: Interview with Catherine Wood
Jonah Westerman talks to curator Catherine Wood about performance, performativity and painting
Between Action and Image: Performance as ‘Inframedium’
Postdoctoral Research Associate Jonah Westerman asks, what would it mean to think of performance as a medium?
Performance at Tate: The Scholarly and Museological Context
Part of the Performance at Tate project, Gabriella Giannachi examines performativity and performance in the Tate collection
J.M.W. Turner: Fire at the Tower of London
Cataloguer Matthew Imms reports on new research which solves the mystery of Turner’s blazing watercolours
On Three Posters : Interview with Chad Elias
Chad Elias talks about his research into a poignant and disturbing work by Lebanese artist Rabih Mroué
Dating J.M.W. Turner: Another Visit to the Netherlands
New research has helped to date one of Turner’s sketchbooks from a trip along the river Rhine
J.M.W. Turner’s Remedy: A Cure for Bilious Bowels
Cataloguer Alice Rylance-Watson shares Turner’s medical recipe for travel sickness
Wrestlers : Interview with Sarah Turner
Sarah Turner on Henri Gaudier-Brzeska’s relief sculpture and researching early-twentieth-century wrestling gyms
Applause and The Singer : Interview with Jason Edwards
Jason Edwards talks about his research into two sculptures by Edward Onslow Ford and the value of close looking