Biography
I am a Junior Research Fellow in History of Art at Fitzwilliam College. Prior to this, I received a BA in History of Art from the University of Cambridge and an MSt in Women's Studies from the University of Oxford. I stayed at Oxford for my Dphil in Contemporary Art History and Theory, completed under the supervision of Jane Garnett and Jason Gaiger.
Research
My research analyses the global development of modernist art in the aftermath of World War II by focusing on the work of diaspora artists. I am interested in concepts of anachronism and regression as they manifested in the art of the period, and in how these intersected with broader social and political currents such as decolonisation, sexual liberation, and the worldwide spread of capitalism.
My first book takes up these questions. Entitled Never Ending: Modernisms Past and Future, it will be published by Yale University Press in Spring 2024.
Publications
Books
Saul Nelson, Never Ending: Modernisms Past and Future (Forthcoming: Yale University Press, Spring 2024).
Articles
Saul Nelson, ‘Fashioning Modernism: Rose Piper’s Painting and Fabric Design’, Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities, Volume 27 (2022) Issue 3-4, pp.125-142.
Saul Nelson, ‘Abstract Nationalisms: Barnett Newman and Buried History’, American Art, Volume 36, Issue 1 (Spring 2022), pp.60-89.
Saul Nelson, ‘Writing to Barnett Newman: F.N. Souza and the End of Modernism’, Art History, Volume 44, Issue 4 (September 2021), pp.742-768.
Saul Nelson, ‘“I Was Not a Surrealist. I Was an Existentialist”: Louise Bourgeois Reconsidered’, Oxford Art Journal, Volume 40, Issue 3 (1 December 2017), pp.469-490.
