Esmé Whittaker is a British art historian and curator of art collections at English Heritage.[1]

Whittaker attended the University of Bristol, obtaining a bachelor's degree in art. She received a master's degree, and then a doctorate from the Courtauld Institute of Art for her dissertation The Arts and Crafts house in the Lake District: buildings, landscapes and communities, under the supervision of Professor Caroline Arscott.[2] This work elucidated the influence of William Wordsworth and John Ruskin on the Arts and Crafts houses in the Lake District, and has been lauded.[3]

Her book, co-written with Matthew Hyde, Arts and Crafts Houses in the Lake District won the 2015 Bookends Prizes for Arts and Literature.[4]

Whittaker worked at the Word & Image Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum.[5] She also assisted in exhibitions, including The Cult of Beauty - The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900 (2011).[6]

In 2011, Whittaker curated an exhibition on William Morris at Two Temple Place.[7]

In 2017, she appeared in the BBC Four documentary In Search of Arcadia.[8]

Whittaker is a curator for the English Heritage's Chiswick House and Marble Hill House.[9]

Selected works edit

  • Whittaker, Esmé (2010). "Self-Conscious Regionalism: Dan Gibson and the Arts and Crafts House in the Lake District". In Guillery, Peter (ed.). Built from Below: British Architecture and the Vernacular. Routledge. pp. 99–122. ISBN 9781136943140.
  • Whittaker, Esmé (2011). "Owen Jones". In Orr, Lynn F.; Calloway, Stephen (eds.). The Cult of Beauty: The Victorian Avant-Garde 1860-1900. Victoria & Albert Museum.
  • Whittaker, Esmé (2011). William Morris - Story, Memory, Myth. Two Temple Place. ISBN 978-0957062801.

References edit

  1. ^ "The Attingham Summer School Members 2015" (PDF). Attingham Trust Newsletter (13). The Attingham Trust for the Study of Historic Houses and Collections: 8. 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  2. ^ "PhD Supervision (Recently Completed)". Courtauld Institute of Art. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  3. ^ Green, Adrian (August 2008). "SAHGB Symposium, 7 MAY 2008: 'British Architecture and the Vernacular'" (PDF). Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain Newsletter. 95. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  4. ^ Hyde, Lily (15 December 2015). "Matthew Hyde - Obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  5. ^ Griffin, Dustin (2010). Swift and Pope: Satirists in Dialogue. Cambridge University. p. ix. ISBN 978-0-521-76123-9.
  6. ^ "Exhibition Catalogue: The Cult of Beauty (2011)". York Art History Collaborations. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  7. ^ "Winter Exhibition at Two Temple Place" (PDF). Bulldog Trust. 2013.
  8. ^ "In Search of Arcadia". BBC. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Chair's Report". The Marble Hill Society Newsletter (111). The Marble Hill Society. October 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2017.