This paper discusses writing ‘a life in art’ by focussing on three transitions in the life of artist Rosa Branson (b.1933): transitions in the 1930s and 1940s to school and to and from art college into work as an independent artist during the 1950s. The paper frames these transitions methodologically through two assemblages – art-life and art-politics – through which thread aspects like the body, affect, materiality and place. The paper also explores the artistic metaphor of layered painting drawn from Renaissance art through which ongoing work on Rosa’s biography is being structured. It also highlights the range of textual and visual sources on which the biography draws.
Joyce Goodman, Writing a Life in Art: Educational Transitions in the Career of Rosa Branson (b.1933), presented at the History of Education Society Annual Conference, UCL, 9 November 2019
Image: Rosa Branson, “We’ll Meet Again” in University of Winchester collection, with permission from Rosa Branson
