Martin_Butlin

Martin Butlin

Martin Butlin

British art historian (born 1929)

Martin Richard Fletcher Butlin, CBE, FBA (born 7 June 1929) is a British art historian. His main field of study is British art history and his published works reflect, in particular, a study of art of the 18th and 19th centuries. He is an authority on J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) and William Blake (1757–1827).

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Early life

Butlin was born on 7 June 1929,[1] his birth registered in West Bromwich.[2] He was educated at Rendcomb College in Gloucestershire before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge, and later the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.[1]

Career

Butlin was appointed Assistant Keeper of the Historic British Collection at the Tate Gallery in 1955, a post he held until 1967, when he was then appointed Keeper, a post he held for 22 years, ending in 1989.[3] Since that time he has been a consultant to Christie's in London.[4]

Butlin was appointed CBE in the 1990 New Year Honours.[5] He is a Fellow of the British Academy.[6]

Throughout his working life Butlin has researched assiduously, producing a number of publications in his area of expertise. Amongst these is included a catalogue raisonné of the paintings and drawings of William Blake.[7]

Butlin co-authored with Evelyn Joll The Paintings of J. M. W. Turner, first published in 1977, both authors receiving the Mitchell Prize for the History of Art a year later. The book was described in Joll's obituary as a "... fully rounded catalogue raisonné of some 560 paintings..."[8]

Photographs attributed to Butlin appear at the Courtauld Institute's of Art's Conway Library.[9] This is a collection of mainly architectural images containing glass and film negatives as well as prints. The collection is currently being digitised as part of the wider project Courtauld Connects.[10]

Selected publications

Works on William Blake

  • William Blake (1757-1827): A Complete Catalogue of the Works of William Blake in the Tate Gallery, Tate Gallery, 1957, 2nd edition 1971. British Library General Reference Collection L.R.413.l.21.
  • William Blake, Tate Gallery little book series, Tate Gallery, 1966. British Library General Reference Collection X419/2657
  • William Blake, Tate Gallery, 1978. British Library General Reference Collection BS.4/193
  • William Blake in the Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria (with Ted Gott and Irena Zdanowicz), The Gallery, 1989. British Library General Reference Collection YA.!999.b.1935
  • The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, New Haven, 1981. British Library General Reference Collection LR410.cc.7/26
  • On the Morning of Christ's Nativity: Milton's Hymn with Illustrations by William Blake with note on the illustrations by Martin Butlin, Whittington Press & Angscot Productions,1981. British Library General Reference Collection Cup.510.dga.30

Works on J.M.W. Turner

  • The Paintings of J. M. W. Turner (with Evelyn Joll), Yale University Press, 1977. British Library General Reference Collection LR.410.cc.7/17
  • Turner Watercolours with an Introduction by Martin Butlin, Barrie and Jenkins, 1975. British Library General Reference Collection L.R.407.a.4.
  • Turner (with Sir John Rothenstein), Heinemann, 1965. British Library General Reference Document Supply fL71/1256
  • The Paintings of J. M. W. Turner (with Evelyn Joll), Tate Gallery, 1977. British Library General Reference Collection LR.410.cc.7/17
  • The Later Works of J. M. W. Turner, Tate Gallery, 1965. British Library General Reference Collection X.429/1086
  • Turner at Petworth: Painter and Patron (with Mollie Luther and Ian Warrell), Tate Gallery, 1989. British Library General Reference Collection LB.31.4330
  • The Oxford Companion to J. M. W. Turner (ed. with Evelyn Joll and Luke Herrmann), Indiana University Press, 2001. British Library General Reference Collection YC.2001.b.294

Other works

  • Samuel Palmer’s Sketchbook of 1824, Introduction and Commentary by Martin Butlin, Trianon Press,1962. British Library General Reference Collection Document Supply X23/7786
  • The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture (with Mary Chamot and Dennis Farr), Tate Gallery Catalogue, 1964. British Library General Reference Collection X.421/5754
  • The Blake-Varley Sketchbook of 1819 in the collection of M.D.E. Clayton-Stamm, Heinemann, 1969. British Library General Reference Collection X.429/4208
  • Aspects of British Painting 1550–1800, from the Collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation (exhibition catalogue), Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, 1988. British Library General Reference Section Document Supply 88/26876

References

  1. [1]
    BUTLIN, Martin Richard Fletcher, Who's Who 2016, A & C Black, 2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2015)
  2. [2]
    Ancestry Library Edition[verification needed]
  3. [3]
    "Search Results for Martin Butlin". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  4. [4]
    International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004 (Psychology Press, 2003), entry 'Butlin, Martin (Richard Fletcher)', page 85
  5. [5]
    "No. 51981". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1989. p. 7.
  6. [6]
    "Fellows of the British Academy". The British Academy. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  7. [7]
    "Martin Butlin, The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake | Robert N. Essick | Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly | Volume 16, Issue 1". bq.blakearchive.org. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  8. [8]
    Egerton, Judy (11 April 2001). "Obituaries: Evelyn Joll". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  9. [9]
    "Who made the Conway Library?". Digital Media. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  10. [10]
    "Courtauld Connects". Courtauld Connects. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
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