Melinda McCurdy, curator of British art at The Huntington, received her Ph.D. in art history from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She curates exhibitions and writes and lectures on historical British and European art from an interdisciplinary perspective, examining the political and social forces that shape visual culture of the past. Much of her work at The Huntington has focused on its world-renowned collection of 18th-century British portraiture, including Thomas Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy. McCurdy is a firm believer in the relevance of the humanities beyond academia, and many of her projects emphasize the meanings and continuities of the historical in contemporary life.
Verso
Thomas Daniell (British, 1749–1840), On the Ganges, ca. 1788, watercolor, Gilbert Davis Collection, 59.55.398. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
A placid river lazily…
Henry Moore, Five Reclining Figures, 1979, lithograph, 19 x 25 in. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation. © The Henry Moore…
George Stubbs (British, 1724–1806), Zebra , exhibited 1763, oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.
What do a zebra and a musical genius have in common? In the case of…
William King (British, active mid to late 18th century), Granadilla Foliis Trilobatis, 1763, watercolor on vellum. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Have you ever found…
Thomas Gainsborough, Portrait of Elizabeth Beaufoy, ca. 1780, oil on canvas. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
The Huntington is rightfully known for its collection of…
Cover for the second issue of Blast, 1915, designed by Wyndham Lewis (British, 1879–1939), woodcut. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, and New York: John Lane Company, 1914–1915. The Huntington…
David Wilkie, Supper at Emmaus, 1841, oil on board, gift of Anne and Tooey Durning in memory of their grandmothers, Mabel B. Roberts and Lola F. Durning. The Huntington Library, Art Collections,…
George Romney (British, 1734-1802), page from Sketchbook, 1796 [?], graphite, ink and wash. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. On view in "Eccentric Visions: Drawings by…