Elisabeth Darby

PhD and MA, Courtauld Institute BA (Hons), Leeds University

Lis Darby's research and teaching focuses on 19th, 20th and 21st century decorative arts, design and craft, with particular emphasis on furniture. She developed and was Programme Director of the MA in Contemporary Design at Sotheby's Institute in London from 2008 to 2016 and now teaches on the MA in Fine and Decorative Art and Design, for various semester courses and public programmes, and also runs the MA elective Contemporary Design and its Markets. Her research and specialist areas also includes late-18th to early-20th century sculpture. Lis is Visiting Researcher and PhD supervisor at Central St. Martins (University of the Arts London) and lectures regularly at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She has contributed to various publications and journals on both sculpture and the decorative arts and is currently writing a book on contemporary design for Lund Humphries.

Publications

The Cult of the Prince Consort (co-author with Nicola Smith) (Yale University Press, 1983)

'Marcel Breuer's Wassily chair: A Design Icon of the 1920s' in Godfrey, T. (ed.) Understanding Art Objects: Thinking Through the Eye (Lund Humphries, 2009)

'Issues of Authenticity in Contemporary Design: The Smoke Series by Maarten Baas' in Aldrich, M. and Hackforth-Jones, J. (eds.) Art and Authenticity (Lund Humphries, 2012)

'Design Art and its Markets' in Hackforth-Jones, J. and Robertson, I. (eds.) Art Business Today 20 Key Topics (Lund Humphries, 2016)

Creative Britain. Perspectives on Twentieth Century and Contemporary Design (edited with Christine Lalumia, Sotheby's Institute of Art, 2012)

Materials & Methods Markets & Mediation. Perspectives on Twentieth Century and Contemporary Design (edited with Christine Lalumia, Sotheby's Institute of Art, 2014)