Dr Rebecca Birrell
Degrees
- Phd in History of Art, University of Edinburgh
- MSt in Women’s Studies, University of Oxford
- BA in English Literature, University College London
Research Interests
My research interests include: still life; feminist and queer art history and archival practices; women painting the nude; Jewish artists, designers, collectors and art critics in twentieth century Europe and Britain; twentieth century religious painting by women and queer artists; representations of saints; women artists’ life writing; fictional representations of artists; dialogue between artistic and literary modernisms.
Biography
Rebecca Birrell is a Research Affiliate at The Fitzwilliam Museum, where she was Curator of 19th and 20th Century Paintings and Drawings between 2021-2023. She curated the rehang of Galleries 1-5 that opened in March 2024. She is currently a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at University of St Andrews.
Her first book, This Dark Country: Women Artists, Still Life and Intimacy in the Early 20th Century was published by Bloomsbury in 2021. It was awarded an Antonia Frazer Award for a Biography in Progress by the Society of Authors in 2019. A Guardian/Observer Art Book of the Year 2021, it was described as ‘a striking act of collective empathy.’ It was also longlisted for the William M B Berger Prize for British Art History 2022 and shortlisted for the PEN Hessell Titlman Prize, 2022.
Prior to her PhD, she occupied curatorial positions at The Charleston Trust, The Department of Prints and Drawings at The British Museum, and The Jewish Museum, working on research, exhibitions and displays. During her PhD, she undertook a fellowship at The Yale Center for British Art. She also worked on the photographic archive at the Wilhelmina Barns-Graham Trust.
She continues to work on curatorial projects and write regularly for exhibition catalogues. This includes the lead essay for Vanessa Bell: A World of Form and Colour at MK One Gallery (opening October 2024) and an essay on Gwen John’s nudes as part of the retrospective on her work opening at National Museum Wales in 2026. She also writes about contemporary artists, such as Sofia Mitsola, Yulia Iosilzon and (for the 2024 Kettle’s Yard exhibition catalogue) Megan Rooney.