Dr Peter Black
Curator (Dutch, Flemish, Italian Art; Sculpture)
The Hunterian
University of Glasgow
Glasgow G12 8QQ
Short Biography
Peter studied Literae Humaniores at Oxford and then worked as an art dealer, first in London and later in Cambridge, where he was also part-time lecturer in the History of Printmaking at Anglia Ruskin University. In the early 1990s, as a freelance curator, he organised exhibitions for Ipswich Museum, The Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the Österreichische Galerie im Oberes Belvedere, Vienna and Manchester City Art Galleries. He came to the Hunterian in 1998 as curator of prints. He is a Trustee of the Cosman Keller Art and Music Trust and Member of Glasgow University Library's Sitrling Maxwell Centre.
Research Interests
Printmaking; Dutch and Flemish painting, especially head studies in Rubens’s studio practice; Parmigianino and Renaissance portraiture; the paintings of Marie-Louise von Motesiczky. Peter is currently studying the collection of drawings formed by the founder of The Hunterian Dr William Hunter (1718-1783).
Recent Publications
‘A Rubens tronie of an “Old Man with Curly Beard” in Glasgow. The life and afterlife of a head study painting.’ In Krempel, León and Dagmar Hirschfelder (eds), Tronies: Das Gesicht in der Frühen Neuzeit. Berlin (Mann) 2014. ISBN-13: 978-3-7861-2694-2.
Rembrandt and the Passion. London, Prestel 2012
Peter Black and William Murray. ‘The Child in the Womb in its Natural Situation, a painted lead sculpture made for the anatomist William Hunter: a question of authenticity.’ In Hermens, Erma and Tina Fiske (eds), Art, Conservation and Authenticities: Material, Concept, Context. London Archetype, 2009. ISBN 13- 978-1904982517, pp. 50-59.
Peter Black and Magne Bruteig. Edvard Munch: Prints. London, Philip Wilson 2009.
‘Mariette’s Collection of Etchings by Filippo di Liagno (Filippo Napoletano), with some general observations on Filippo’s prints’. Print Quarterly, XXVI/4, (London, December 2009).
Peter Black (ed), My Highest Pleasures: William Hunter’s Art Collection. London, Holberton Publishing, 2007.
‘A Rubens Drawing for the Hunterian: The Fragment of a Memory Exercise’. Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History, Vol. 10, (Oxford, 2005, ISSN 1362-248X), pp. 15-21.
Geoffrey Clarke - Symbols for Man: Sculpture and Graphic Work 1949 - 1994. Lund Humphries, London 1995 (ISBN 085331 6651).
Peter Black and Désirée Moorhead. The Prints of Stanley William Hayter; a Complete Catalogue. Phaidon, London 1992. (ISBN: 1-55921-049-4)