Interview with Paul Stirton,
Editor-in-Chief of West 86th
Paul Stirton, associate professor, was educated as an art
historian at the University of Edinburgh, the Courtauld Institute, and Glasgow
University. He taught art and design history in several universities in
the United Kingdom before taking up his present position at the Bard Graduate
Center in 2009. He has published widely on nineteenth- and twentieth-century
British and Central European (mostly Hungarian) art and design. His
publications include Is Mr. Ruskin Living Too Long?
Selected Writings of E. W. Godwin on Victorian Architecture, Design and Culture (with
Juliet Kinchin); Britain and Hungary: Contacts
in Architecture and Design (vols. 1–3); Renaissance Painting; The Blue Guide to Provence; and
numerous exhibition catalogues and articles. A founding member of the
Design History Society, he has also curated numerous exhibitions.
What is West 86th?
Well, a
lot is explained by the subtitle: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material
Culture. In many respects, West
86th is continuing what Studies
in the Decorative Arts accomplished. It is a scholarly
journal that aims to place the study of the decorative arts at the center of
serious academic discourse, above all in the fields of history and material
culture. But it also does a lot of new things that were not attempted in
the previous journal, including translations of primary sources, and expanded
reviews to cover exhibitions and new media. We hope that the reviews will
be slightly more polemical, and more engaged in contemporary debate. Our
intention is to examine not only the details of new scholarship, but also to
explore how people are thinking about the bigger picture; surveying whole areas
of scholarship - say, ‘mid-century modernism’ or ‘Art Nouveau’ about which
there are numerous books. The reviews in West
86th do more than
simply score points or provide a shorthand report on an author’s work.
Books and exhibitions are analyzed and evaluated by scholars with expertise in
the relevant fields, but they are also an engagement with deeper problems of
meaning and feeling, with which even the casual reader should be able to
connect. West 86th will
be open to new approaches and include diverse topics, such as fashion, film,
and graphic design, alongside the more mainstream decorative arts. We
have no narrow manifesto and no methodological axe to grind.
How did it evolve?
I was a BGC visiting professor in 2008/09 when I was asked take
on this project. I was delighted because I feel the BGC should be actively
involved in publishing and promoting new scholarship in this field.
Who is involved?
The
primary editorial team is our managing editor, Dan Lee, and myself, but we rely
on assistance from other members of BGC faculty and staff. Dan was
previously with Harvard and Yale University Presses, and he is particularly
interested in digital and on-line publishing. This is very useful
for us because West 86th will
not only be available in print and digitally through JSTOR, but we will also be
operating a website (west86th.bgc.bard.edu) which will include a range of
digital projects, debates, and related material that will expand upon the
articles and, increasingly become a free-standing forum for new scholarship.
Additionally, Laura Grey, our art director, is handling the design and layout
of both the print and on-line versions. I think you will be impressed by the
strong, very clean and modern, look of West 86th.
The journal is being published by the University of Chicago
Press, who will handle the printing, subscription fulfillment, marketing and
distribution, among other vital areas. It’s gratifying for us to be working
with such an established and experienced journal publisher, which ensures that
we will be able to get our scholarship out to the widest possible audience.
What’s in the first
issue?
In our inaugural issue Nick Pearce writes about the first
exhibition in China to attempt a survey of Chinese fine and decorative arts
(mostly ceramics) that took place in 1908, and which set the stage for serious
study into the history of Chinese art in the West. Lourdes Font’s article
begins with the question “What is left say about Christian Dior?”, and goes on
to explore the couturier’s early work before the ‘New Look’. Finally, Pat
Kirkham writes on the collaboration between the graphic designer Saul Bass and
the film director Alfred Hitchcock, addressing some controversial questions
about the authorship of the famous shower scene in Psycho.
Pat is finishing a biography of Saul Bass and this material came to light from
interviews she conducted with Bass. We also have a translation of writings by
Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, the Austrian architect-designer who was responsible
for the famous 1926 ‘Frankfurt Kitchen’.
How often will it
be published?
Initially, we’re planning two editions a year, in Spring and
Fall. Our first issue this year will be slightly earlier; we’re launching
February 9 to coincide with the CAA conference here in New York. By 2014,
we hope to be a quarterly.
An
extended video interview with Dr. Stirton is available at /research/publications/west86th.html
