The Burlington Magazine
Encyclopedia
The Burlington Magazine is a monthly academic journal
that covers the fine
and decorative arts. It is the longest running art journal in the English language and it is a charitable organisation since 1986. It was established in 1903 by a group of art historians and connoisseurs which included Roger Fry
, Herbert Horne
, Bernard Berenson
, and Charles Holmes
. Its most esteemed editors have been Fry (1909-1919), Herbert Read
(1933-1939), and Benedict Nicolson
(1948-1978). The journal's structure was loosely based on its contemporary British publication The Connoisseur, which was mainly aimed at collectors and had firm connections with the art trade. The Burlington Magazine, however, added to this late Victorian
tradition of market-based criticism new elements of historical research inspired by the leading academic German periodicals and thus created a formula that has remained almost intact to date: a combination of archival and formalist object-based art historical research juxtaposed to articles on collectors’ items and private collections, enlivened with notes on current art news, exhibitions and sales. The lavishness of this publication almost immediately created financial troubles and Fry embarked on an American tour to find sponsorship to assure the survival of the journal.
The Burlington Magazine was founded as a journal of ancient art but already in its first decade, especially under the editorship of Fry articles on modern art became prominent. Topics covered in detail were: Paul Cezanne
and Post-Impressionism
in a debate between Fry and D. S. MacColl
, a debate on a bust of Flora ascribed to Leonardo da Vinci
and later discovered to be a forgery, and the role of archival research in the art historical reconstruction, with contributions by Herbert Horne and Constance Jocelyn Ffoulkes.
The Burlington Magazine, especially in its first decades, was also preoccupied with the definition and development of formal analysis
and connoisseurship in the visual arts and consistently observed, reviewed and contributed to the body of attributions to various artists, notably Rembrandt, Poussin
, and Caravaggio
. The journal had also many notable contributions by visual artists on other artists, notably Walter Sickert
on Edgar Degas
.
The first issues of The Burlington Magazine were printed on expensive high-quality paper, had an elegant typeface designed by Herbert Horne and were richly illustrated with black and white photographs - many by the arts and crafts artist Emery Walker
.
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
that covers the fine
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
and decorative arts. It is the longest running art journal in the English language and it is a charitable organisation since 1986. It was established in 1903 by a group of art historians and connoisseurs which included Roger Fry
Roger Fry
Roger Eliot Fry was an English artist and art critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent developments in French painting, to which he gave the name Post-Impressionism...
, Herbert Horne
Herbert Horne
Herbert Percy Horne was an English poet, architect, typographer and designer, art historian and antiquarian. He was an associate of the Rhymer's Club in London...
, Bernard Berenson
Bernard Berenson
Bernard Berenson was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. He was a major figure in pioneering art attribution and therefore establishing the market for paintings by the "Old Masters".-Personal life:...
, and Charles Holmes
Charles Holmes
Sir Charles John Holmes, KCVO was a British painter, art critic and museum director. His writing on art combined theory with practice and he was an expert on the painting techniques of the Old Masters, from whose example he had learned to draw and paint.Holmes was the son of a clergyman, Charles...
. Its most esteemed editors have been Fry (1909-1919), Herbert Read
Herbert Read
Sir Herbert Edward Read, DSO, MC was an English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art. He was one of the earliest English writers to take notice of existentialism, and was strongly influenced by proto-existentialist thinker Max Stirner....
(1933-1939), and Benedict Nicolson
Benedict Nicolson
Benedict Nicolson, MVO was a British art historian and author.Nicolson was the elder son of authors Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West and the brother of writer and politician Nigel...
(1948-1978). The journal's structure was loosely based on its contemporary British publication The Connoisseur, which was mainly aimed at collectors and had firm connections with the art trade. The Burlington Magazine, however, added to this late Victorian
Victorian
Victorian may mean:*Of or relating to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom*Victorian era , a term derived from the lengthy 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria and particularity various styles, ideas, and trends associated with that era:...
tradition of market-based criticism new elements of historical research inspired by the leading academic German periodicals and thus created a formula that has remained almost intact to date: a combination of archival and formalist object-based art historical research juxtaposed to articles on collectors’ items and private collections, enlivened with notes on current art news, exhibitions and sales. The lavishness of this publication almost immediately created financial troubles and Fry embarked on an American tour to find sponsorship to assure the survival of the journal.
Content
From its very first editorial, The Burlington Magazine presented itself as synthesising opposing traditions - historicist versus aestheticism and academic versus commercial- by defining itself an an exponent of "Austere Epicureanism". Against the perceived "sameness" of the contemporary art panorama, The Burlington Magazine was to act as a disinterested guide, directing the public's attention to high-quality art on offer both on the market and on institutional settings and educating its readers on the elevating qualities of ancient art. The Burlington Magazine editors and contributors were part of the institutional sphere of museums and academia and yet, unlike their German counterparts, they participated in the emerging world of the commercial galleries. The magazine remained independent from any institution and yet it was instrumental in the establishment of academic art history in Britain: its dialectical dynamic between market and institution contributed to the creation of a original and multifaceted publication.The Burlington Magazine was founded as a journal of ancient art but already in its first decade, especially under the editorship of Fry articles on modern art became prominent. Topics covered in detail were: Paul Cezanne
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th...
and Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
in a debate between Fry and D. S. MacColl
Dugald Sutherland MacColl
Dugald Sutherland MacColl was a Scottish watercolour painter, art critic, lecturer and writer. He was keeper of the Tate gallery for five years.- Life :...
, a debate on a bust of Flora ascribed to Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
and later discovered to be a forgery, and the role of archival research in the art historical reconstruction, with contributions by Herbert Horne and Constance Jocelyn Ffoulkes.
The Burlington Magazine, especially in its first decades, was also preoccupied with the definition and development of formal analysis
Formal analysis
A formal analysis is an established method for analyzing works of art. First introduced by Roger de Piles , in his book the Principles of Painting, the technique of formal analysis is more fully developed by Roger Fry in Vision and Design .For a particular work of art, a formal analysis consists of...
and connoisseurship in the visual arts and consistently observed, reviewed and contributed to the body of attributions to various artists, notably Rembrandt, Poussin
Poussin
Poussin refers to:*Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin Belgian mathematician*Charles-Louis-Joseph-Xavier de la Vallée-Poussin Belgian geologist and mineralogist, father of Charles Jean*Nicolas Poussin , French painter...
, and Caravaggio
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque...
. The journal had also many notable contributions by visual artists on other artists, notably Walter Sickert
Walter Sickert
Walter Richard Sickert , born in Munich, Germany, was a painter who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century....
on Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...
.
Production
The journal appears monthly, and features a wide cross-section of writers.The first issues of The Burlington Magazine were printed on expensive high-quality paper, had an elegant typeface designed by Herbert Horne and were richly illustrated with black and white photographs - many by the arts and crafts artist Emery Walker
Emery Walker
Sir Emery Walker was an English engraver and printer.Born in London, Walker took an active role in many organisations that were at the heart of the Arts and Crafts movement, including the Art Workers Guild, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and the Arts and Crafts Exhibition...
.
Notable contributors
- Anthony BluntAnthony BluntAnthony Frederick Blunt , was a British art historian who was exposed as a Soviet spy late in his life.Blunt was Professor of the History of Art at the University of London, director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, Surveyor of the King's Pictures and London...
- Roger Fry
- Bernard Berenson
- Christiana HerringhamChristiana HerringhamChristiana Jane Herringham was a British artist, copyist and art patron. She is noted for her part in establishing the National Art Collections Fund in 1903 to help preserve Britain's artistic heritage....
- Abraham BrediusAbraham BrediusAbraham Bredius , was a Dutch art collector, art historian and museum curator.-Life:He travelled widely visiting various art collections in his youth, and worked at the Dutch Museum for History and Art before becoming director from 1889 to 1909 of the Mauritshuis...
- Clive BellClive BellArthur Clive Heward Bell was an English Art critic, associated with formalism and the Bloomsbury Group.- Origins :Clive Bell was born in East Shefford, Berkshire, in 1881...
- Laurence BinyonLaurence BinyonRobert Laurence Binyon was an English poet, dramatist and art scholar. His most famous work, For the Fallen, is well known for being used in Remembrance Sunday services....
- Tancred BoreniusTancred BoreniusCarl Tancred Borenius was a Finnish art historian working in England, who became the first professor of the history of art at University College London...
- Robert RossRobert RossRobert Ross may refer to:*Robert Ross, 5th Lord Ross , Scottish nobleman*Robert Ross, 9th Lord Ross , Scottish nobleman*Robert Ross , British botanist...
- Walter Sickert
- Maurice DenisMaurice DenisMaurice Denis was a French painter and writer, and a member of the Symbolist and Les Nabis movements. His theories contributed to the foundations of cubism, fauvism, and abstract art.-Childhood and education:...
- Oskar KokoschkaOskar KokoschkaOskar Kokoschka was an Austrian artist, poet and playwright best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes.-Biography:...
- Bridget RileyBridget RileyBridget Louise Riley CH CBE is an English painter who is one of the foremost proponents of Op art.-Early life:...
- Charles Holmes
- Harold Child
- Martin ConwayMartin ConwayWilliam Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington , known as Sir Martin Conway between 1895 and 1931, was an English art critic, politician, cartographer and mountaineer....
- Kenneth ClarkKenneth ClarkKenneth McKenzie Clark, Baron Clark, OM, CH, KCB, FBA was a British author, museum director, broadcaster, and one of the best-known art historians of his generation...
- Ernst GombrichErnst GombrichSir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich, OM, CBE was an Austrian-born art historian who became naturalized British citizen in 1947. He spent most of his working life in the United Kingdom...
- Herbert Cook
- Douglas Cooper
- Joan EvansJoan EvansJoan Evans may refer to:* Joan Evans , British art historian* Joan Evans , American film actress* Joan Evans , Australian religious sister and charity activist-See also:...
- Ananda CoomaraswamyAnanda CoomaraswamyAnanda Kentish Coomaraswamy was a Ceylonese philosopher and metaphysician, as well as a pioneering historian and philosopher of Indian art, particularly art history and symbolism, and an early interpreter of Indian culture to the West...
- Cecil GouldCecil GouldCecil Hilton Monk Gould was a British art historian and curator who specialised in Renaissance painting. He was a former Keeper and Deputy Director of the National Gallery in London.-Life:...
- Margaret JourdainMargaret JourdainMargaret Jourdain was a prominent writer on English furniture and decoration. She began her career ghost-writing as Francis Lenygon for the firm of Lenygon & Morant, dealers in furnishings with a royal appointment, who were also the fabricators of carefully crafted reproductions, especially of...
- Julia FrankauJulia FrankauJulia Frankau, née Julia Davis was a successful novelist under the name of Frank Danby.She was the sister of Owen Hall, Harrie Davis and Eliza Davis. She was home-schooled by Laura Lafargue, the daughter of Karl Marx.She married the cigar importer Arthur Frankau...
- Enriqueta Harris
- Erika Tietze-Conrat
- Philip HendyPhilip HendySir Philip Anstiss Hendy was a British art curator who worked both in Britain and overseas, notably the United States. In 1923 he began his career in art administration as an Assistant Keeper and lecturer at the Wallace Collection in London, despite his having no formal training in art history...
- Herbert Read
- Otto KurzOtto KurzOtto Kurz FBA was a historian and Slade Professor of Fine Arts, University of Oxford.-Career:...
- Michael LeveyMichael LeveySir Michael Vincent Levey, LVO was a British art historian and was director of the National Gallery for thirteen years, from 1973 to 1986.-Biography:...
- Nikolaus PevsnerNikolaus PevsnerSir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
- Denis Mahon
- Erwin PanofskyErwin PanofskyErwin Panofsky was a German art historian, whose academic career was pursued mostly in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime. Panofsky's work remains highly influential in the modern academic study of iconography...
- May MorrisMay MorrisMary "May" Morris was an English artisan, embroidery designer, socialist, and editor. She was the younger daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite artist and designer William Morris and his wife and artists' model Jane Morris....
- John Pope-Hennessy
- Bernard Rackham
- Oswald Siren
- Randolph Schwabe
- David SylvesterDavid SylvesterAnthony David Bernard Sylvester CBE, was a British art critic and curator. Although he received no formal education in the arts, during his long career he was influential in promoting modern artists, in particular the work of Joan Miró, Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon.Born into a well connected...
- Hans Tietze
- Ellis K. Waterhouse
Editors
- Robert Dell: March – December 1903
- Charles Holmes and Robert Dell: January 1904 – October 1906
- Charles Holmes: October 1906 – September 1909
- Harold Child Assistant Editor with the advice of a Consultative Committee: October and November 1909
- Roger Fry and Lionel CustLionel CustSir Lionel Henry Cust, KCVO FSA was an English art historian and museum director. He was director of the National Portrait Gallery from 1895 to 1909 and co-edited The Burlington Magazine from 1909 to 1919....
: December 1909 – December 1913 - Roger Fry, Lionel Cust, and More Adey: January 1914 – May 1919
- Charles Hope-Johnstone: July 1919 – December 1920
- Robert Tatlock: Early 1921–1933
- Herbert Read: 1933–39
- Albert Sewter: 1939–40
- Tancred BoreniusTancred BoreniusCarl Tancred Borenius was a Finnish art historian working in England, who became the first professor of the history of art at University College London...
: 1940–44 - Edith Hoffmann (Assistant Editor who ran the Magazine with advice from Read): 1944–45
- Ellis WaterhouseEllis WaterhouseSir Ellis Kirkham Waterhouse was an English art historian specialized in Roman baroque and English painting...
acting editor (the magazine was officially without an editor): 1945–47 - Benedict Nicolson: 1947 – July 1978
- Editorial Board of Directors: August – October 1978
- Terence Hodgkinson: November 1978 – August 1981
- Neil MacGregorNeil MacGregorRobert Neil MacGregor, OM, FSA is an art historian and museum director. He was the Editor of the Burlington Magazine from 1981 to 1987, the Director of the National Gallery, London, from 1987 to 2002, and was appointed Director of the British Museum in 2002...
: September 1981–February 1987 - Caroline ElamCaroline ElamCaroline Mary Elam is a British art historian specializing in Florentine architecture, art and patronage in the Renaissance.-Career:Having obtained a BA in classics from the University of Oxford in 1967 and an MA in the history of art from the Courtauld Institute of Art in 1970, Elam was...
: March 1987 – July 2002 - Andrew Hopkins: August 2002 – February 2003
- Richard Shone: March 2003 – present