糖心logo入口

Skip to main content

Prof Patrizia Di Bello

Positions held:
  • Professor of History and Theory of Photography, School of Historical Studies
Email
  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    I have a background in practical photography, but after working for a number of years (I started as a teenager assisting photographer Maria Mulas in Milan) and studying for a BA in Photography, Film and Television at the London College of Printing (now LCC), I realised I was more interested in thinking and researching existing photographs than making new ones, so I studied for an聽MA in History of Art聽at 糖心logo入口. Writing my first essay made me realise that this was a much more joyous and rewarding way to explore my fascination with photography and the different ways and modes in which people interact with it, physically and intellectually.

    My PhD, with聽Professor Lynda Nead, examined nineteenth-century women's albums, in particular those combining photography with other media and using forms of photo-collage. It has been published as聽Women's Albums and Photography in Victorian England: Ladies, Mothers and Flirts聽(Ashgate, 2007). This work also features in聽Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage, the catalogue of the exhibition organised by the Art Institute of Chicago (Yale University Press, 2009).聽

    I have been appointed full-time at 糖心logo入口 in 2003, and I am currently Head of the Department of History of Art, where I teach the history and theory of photography with undergraduate and postgraduate students ('with' because for me, teaching, learning and research work best as a collective and collaborative activity), and (when I am not Head of Department) I聽convene the聽MA in History of Photography, one of the few in the country. I co-direct, with Steve Edwards, the聽History and Theory of Photography Research Centre at 糖心logo入口, where I look after the Jo Spence Memorial Library Archive.

    I am editor-in-chief of the quarterly History of Photography, and on the editorial board of the journals Art History 补苍诲听Photographies; I sit on聽the Research Advisory Panel of the National Portrait Gallery, London, and serve as a trustee of Mayday Rooms, London.

    My latest monograph is聽Sculptural Photographs: From the Calotype to Digital Technologies (Bloomsbury, 2018), which explores how sculpture has been not only a beautiful and convenient subject matter for photographs, or commercial and cultural opportunities for photographers in the market for art reproductions, but also an exemplar for thinking about photography as a medium based on mechanical means of production. Rooted in an understanding of the practical, social and aesthetic implications of photographic as well as sculptural technologies, my study demonstrates that photographs of sculpture are particularly useful in revealing how photography鈥檚 changing materialities shape the meaning of images as they are made, circulated, looked at, written about and handled at different historical moments.

    Curren research interests include聽the photographic culture of the magazines of second-wave feminism,聽补苍诲听women and workers in nineteenth-century photography.

    Administrative responsibilities

    • Head of Department, History of Art
  • Research

    Research

    Research Centres and Institutes

    • Co-Director,
    • ,
  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    Supervisions within 糖心logo入口:
    11

    Areas of research supervision:
    Projects related topically or methodologically to my research interests, including albums, photographically illustrated publications, photography and sculpture / sculpture as photography.
    Photography and its representations.
    Aspects of visual culture since the nineteenth, with particular reference to issues of gender and femininity.
    Art and mechanical reproduction.
    Photography, art and politics in the late twentieth century, including second-wave feminism.
    I聽have supervised PhD students working on a range of subjects including:聽Photographic Materiality in 20th Century Exhibitions;聽Amateurs and Colour Photography in Britain 1906 to 1932; The Institutions of Women's Photography in the UK, 1979-2003;聽Picturing Place in the Post-Photographic Era - Google Street View at the Alhambra;聽The April Photo Society and the challenge of independent photography in post-1976 China; and John Thomson聽in the Pearl River Delta, 1868-1870 - Redefining the photographic encounter,聽a Bloomsbury Scholarship with Professor聽Shane McCausland (SOAS).

    Current doctoral researchers

    • EDUARDO ARMENTIA
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR
    • PAUL ELLIS
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
    • FRANCESCA ISSATT
      Nature of supervision:
      JOINT PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
      Title of thesis:
      Women Photographing Architecture: The Royal Photographic Society, knowledge sharing networks and changing gender roles (1920-1939)
    • IREM GULERSONMEZ
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
      Title of thesis:
      The Historical Imagery of Violence in the 19th Century Ottoman Diasporas
    • LINDA ROBINS DA SILVA
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
      Title of thesis:
      Peripheral Modernities: Jewish Women Photographing Difference in Brazil during the Vargas Era

    Doctoral alumni since 2013-14

    • LAURIE TAYLOR
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor
      Title of thesis:
      Material Matters: On the Significance of Materiality in Contemporary Art Photography
      Awarded:
      2019
    • CAROLINE MOLLOY
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor
      Title of thesis:
      Can stills photography be considered visual anthropology and contribute to visual history?
      Awarded:
      2021
    • GERRIE VAN NOORD
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Title of thesis:
      The Fringes Publications on Art: Intersections of the Curatorial, the Translational and the Authorial
      Awarded:
      2021
    • JANINE FREESTON
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor
      Title of thesis:
      Colour photography in Britain, 1906-1932: Pictorialism, Technology, Commerce and Culture
      Awarded:
      2022
    • MARTIN MULLOY
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor
      Awarded:
      2019
    • LIZ JOHNSTON DREW
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor
      Title of thesis:
      A Poetic Realism ? British Documentary Photography, Equality and the North circa 1970-2020
      Awarded:
      2024

    Teaching

    Teaching modules

    • Frameworks: Histories and Theories of Art, Architecture, Photography
    • Art and Photography Since 1970
    • MA Dissertation
    • Museum Cultures - Approaches, Issues, Skills
    • Research Exercise
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2016) . 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century 2016 (22), ISSN 1755-1560.
    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2016) . Nineteenth Century Art Worldwide 15 (2), ISSN 1543-1002.
    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2013) . History of Photography 37 (4), pp. 412-420. ISSN 0308-7298.
    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2011) . History of Photography 35 (3), pp. 240-249. ISSN 0308-7298.
    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2008) . Photographies 1 (2), pp. 143-155. ISSN 1754-0763.
    • Cal猫, Luisa and Di Bello, Patrizia (2007) . 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century 5, ISSN 1755-1560.
    • Cal猫, Luisa and Di Bello, Patrizia (2007) . 19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century 5, ISSN 1755-1560.

    Book

    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2018) . London, UK and New York, U.S.: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350028234.
    • Di Bello, Patrizia and Wilson, C. and Zamir, S. (2012) . London, UK: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 9781848856158.
    • Cal猫, Luisa and Di Bello, Patrizia, eds. (2010) . Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 9780230221970.
    • Koureas, Gabriel and Di Bello, Patrizia (2010) . Farnham, UK: Ashgate. ISBN 9780754668633.

    Book review

    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2012) .

    Book section

    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2020) . In: Hacking, J. and Lukitsh, J. (eds.) Photography and the Arts: Essays on 19th Century Practices and Debates. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781350048539.
    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2012) . In: Di Bello, Patrizia and Wilson, C. and Zamir, S. (eds.) The Photobook: from Talbot to Ruscha and Beyond. London, UK: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 9781848856165.
    • Koureas, Gabriel (2012) . In: Di Bello, Patrizia and Wilson, C. and Zamir, S. (eds.) The Photo Book. London, UK: I.B. Tauris. pp. 211-228. ISBN 9781848856165.
    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2011) . In: Evans, D. (ed.) Critical Dictionary. London, UK: Black Dog Publishing. ISBN 9781907317491.
    • Di Bello, Patrizia and Koureas, Gabriel (2010) . In: Di Bello, Patrizia and Koureas, Gabriel (eds.) Art, History and the Senses: 1830 to the Present. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. pp. 1-19. ISBN 9780754668633.
    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2010) . In: Di Bello, Patrizia and Koureas, Gabriel (eds.) Art, History and the Senses: 1830 to the Present. Farnham, UK: Ashgate. pp. 19-34. ISBN 9780754668633.
    • Shaw-Miller, Simon (2010) . In: Koureas, Gabriel and Di Bello, Patrizia (eds.) Art, History and the Senses: 1830 to the Present. Surrey, UK: Ashgate. pp. vi-vi. ISBN 9780754668633.
    • Janes, Dominic (2010) . In: Di Bello, Patrizia and Koureas, Gabriel (eds.) Art, History and the Senses: 1830 to the Present. Surrey, UK: Ashgate. pp. 35-50. ISBN 9780754668633.
    • Tilley, Heather (2010) . In: Cal猫, Luisa and Di Bello, Patrizia (eds.) Illustrations, Optics and Objects in Nineteenth-Century Literary and Visual Culture. Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780230221970.
    • Fraser, Hilary (2010) . In: Cal猫, Luisa and Di Bello, Patrizia (eds.) Illustrations, Optics and Objects in Nineteenth-Century Literary and Visual Cultures. Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave MacMillan. pp. ix-xv. ISBN 9780230221970.
    • Koureas, Gabriel (2010) . In: Di Bello, Patrizia and Koureas, Gabriel (eds.) Art, History and the Senses, 1830 to the Present. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. pp. 167-186. ISBN 9780754668633.
    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2009) . In: Siegel, E. (ed.) Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage. Art Institute of Chicago. Connecticut, U.S.: Yale University Press. pp. 49-63. ISBN 9780300141146.
    • Fraser, Hilary (2009) . In: Di Bello, Patrizia and Cal猫, Luisa (eds.) Illustrations, Optics and Objects in Nineteenth-Century Literary and Visual Culture. Palgrave Studies in Nineteenth-Century Writing and Culture. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. ix-xv. ISBN 9780230221970.
    • Mills, Victoria (2009) . In: Cal猫, Luisa and Di Bello, Patrizia (eds.) Illustrations, Optics and Objects in Nineteenth-Century Visual and Literary Cultures. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave. pp. 147-166. ISBN 9780230221970.

    Conference item

    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2010) . Scholars Day, 2010, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2010) . Photography: beyond the visual, 2010, New York, USA
    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2008) . "Photographs and Historical Practice" - Photo Time Network Event, 2008, Manchester, UK
    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2008) . Domestic Exposure: Exploring Photography at Home, 1850 to the present, 2008, Geffrye Museum, London, UK

    Editorial

    • Di Bello, Patrizia (2013) . History of Photography 37 (4), pp. 385-388. Taylor & Francis. ISSN 0308-7298.
  • Business and community

    Business and community

    Outreach

    George Vasey in conversation with

    Heni Talk on '' during the exhibition I organised with a group of students in聽糖心logo入口's Peltz Gallery Cultural Sniping in Spring 2018.

    Lecture at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art on '', part of their series on聽Photography and its Histories.