Jennifer Thatcher

HEI: University of Edinburgh

Funding: AHRC DTP

Project Title: The lives of the interview: the development of the artist interview in twentieth-century Britain and the United States

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What was your research about?

This thesis examines interviews with artists in Britain and the United States, mapping changes in their form, function and status over the twentieth century, and highlighting Transatlantic connections. Using case studies, this study demonstrates the complexity of artist interviews, overturning the simplistic perception of interviews as journalistic tools, apparently ‘neutral’ historical documents or as forms of oral history. I build on recent research into author interviews to determine what is specific about the artist interview. Based on a model of the interview as performative and co-constructed, this research shifts the emphasis away from the biography of the artist to the ‘biography’ of the interview itself. I track the stages in the production and dissemination of each case-study interview, emphasising the network of stakeholders and institutions involved.